How Children Can Get the Most Out of the Outdoors From Home

It’s no secret, especially to the outdoorsman, that the more time children (and adults) spend outdoors, the more healthy they will be. A new study shows that the outdoors activities required to spur a multitude of benefits does not have to involve getting away to a remote location far from your house, but a simple two-hour hike or walk around the neighborhood will positively impact your child’s health.

An Austin American Statesman report stated that letting children walk around outside your house can stimulate “independent thought, behavior and responsibility to self and others on their own, with appropriate levels of supervision and freedom.” The issue is that parents take a risk that seemingly did not exist before by letting their children wander outside of a controlled environment. Simply put, most parents fear letting their children far away from the house without supervision. But the report states that without that appropriate risk, “what can responsible parents do to reinvent living neighborhoods where the sounds of life don’t come from a TV screen?”

The Statesman writer gives advice to what parents can do from home on a daily basis: Impose a time limit on screen time then turn off the TV. There should only be one or two TVs in the house and children should not have their own personal TV to begin with. Second, place mesh screens in your doors and windows, turn off the air conditioning and open your doors and windows until it’s too hot to bear and children will want to go outside. For those in northern United States, wait till the summer.

For those utterly concerned about the safety of your child without your supervision outside the house walls, enable your child to organize a group play-date his/herself. On another note, if your children’s school is within walking distance to home, stop driving them there. Walk with him/her or set up a group to walk there together.

And of course, if you would like your child to develop a love for the outdoors so that he/she yearns to spend time out there, lead by example. At your child’s impressionable age, he/she will spend more times outdoors if you do. Take a book outdoors, set up comfortable lawn accessories outside, bike together, or just start eating your lunches outside.

For more information and resources, The Statesman compiled these links:

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