Why It Is Better For Children To Play Outside
One of the best things parents can do for the health and future of their children is to let them play freely outside.
Mothers and fathers are concerned that their children learn healthy habits: good nutrition, exercise, hygiene, etc. But, according to Dr. Claire McCarthy, a professor at Harvard University, there is an activity that is not given its value and that is very important: that they spend as much time as possible playing outdoors.
Children today spend far too much time indoors, far more than any previous generation.
Most of the blame lies with consoles, computers and mobiles. The design of the cities does not help either, as there are no spacious and safe places to play. So parents need to make an effort to get their children out, but there are good reasons.
How to play outside boosts children’s health
Dr. McCarthy explains the top 6 reasons children benefit from spending more time under heaven.
1. Receive the sun’s rays
It is true that excessive exposure to the sun is a risk due to the relationship between burns and skin cancer, but it is also true that the child’s body needs the sun.
The sun’s rays are necessary for the skin to synthesize vitamin D, a substance that is crucial for many physiological processes to develop properly.
It is absolutely essential for the development of bones and muscles, for immunity and for the nervous system (and consequently for sleep and mood.
For the child to receive the benefits of the sun safely, it is only necessary to avoid the central hours of the day (between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.) in the months of April to September, and not over time.
2. Exercise
Children need to be active for a minimum of an hour every day, and going out to play is one way to make sure that happens.
Ball games, cycling or swimming are especially recommended activities, because exercise is carried out continuously, with a variety of gestures and with a good degree of intensity.
3. Enhance “executive function”
In neuropsychology “executive function” is called the set of intellectual abilities that serve to achieve a goal. They are skills such as memory, planning or cognitive flexibility, essential for self-control, decision-making, creating or solving problems.
What does this have to do with the outdoors? Well, to develop these activities it is necessary to have “unstructured” time, that is, not ordered by adults, as is done in classrooms or at home.
Children need time alone and with other children, and allowed to create their own games, resolve conflicts and challenges, and be entertained. Being outside gives them the opportunity to practice these important life skills.
4. Take risks
“It’s not necessary,” parents might think, but kids really need to take some risks. If we keep children in bubbles of complete safety and never allow them to take any risks, they will not know what they can do for themselves, and they will not gain confidence and courage.
It is true that they can break an arm climbing a tree, or they can feel humiliated when they try to make a friend and are rejected, but that does not mean they should not try.
The lessons learned from failure are important, and the satisfaction of achieving something that you have set out for yourself is greater than fulfilling the wishes of others.
5. Socialize
Children need to learn to work together, to make friends, and to share. If they only interact in highly structured settings, like school or sports teams, they won’t learn everything they need to know.
In outdoor activities with other children this learning occurs naturally and spontaneously.
6. Appreciate nature
We are distancing ourselves from nature a little more every day, but the human being has become what it is thanks to the continuous relationship with it. Can we continue to be ourselves by separating ourselves from the natural?
If a child grows up without walking through the woods, digging holes in the ground, seeing animals in their habitat, climbing a mountain, playing in a stream, or looking at the infinite horizon, they may never understand what we will lose if we destroy nature.
The future of the planet and of humanity depends on today’s children loving nature because they have been amused and excited about it.
After all, it all comes down to us doing with our children what our parents did with us: letting us play out there until we get tired. If you miss it, you can go with them.
