Parenting is arguably more difficult now than it has ever been in the preceding century. Adults in the United States work greater hours than ever before. Families with two working parents are the norm. We schedule practically every waking hour of children’s lives—school, organized sports, music lessons, sleepovers, summer camps—fearing that they will be “left behind.” We rack up miles driving them to and fro. We keep kids locked indoors under effective “house arrest” because we are afraid of stranger danger. There is hardly any room for outside activities like unstructured play anymore.
What Is Outdoor Play?
It’s true play, unrestricted play. Building makeshift forts and dens, holding back the water with stone walls, creating small cities in the garden, being a firefighter one minute and a paramedic the next, shortly followed by a superhero—these are the types of activities that constitute true play. Children choose it and direct it themselves, with no external objective or reward.
The Downfall of Outside Play
The most fundamental of childhood activities—outdoor play—is one of the worst results of this interior shift. Kids that are overworked don’t have time for it. Over-screened kids prefer to play in virtual worlds created by others. Furthermore, overprotected kids are confined to their rooms and are constantly monitored.
The Advantages of Playing
Authentic play, according to play researchers, is (and has always been) the most important activity of early childhood, providing kids with a variety of benefits, including:
- Promoting emotional and social growth, as well as creativity and imagination, problem-solving, and higher IQ scores.
- Instilling a feeling of self and place in youngsters, helping them to appreciate their independence as well as their dependency.
- Especially in outdoor settings, encouraging cognitive, emotional, and moral development.
- Balance, coordination, and agility are all-important motor skills for growing bodies.
- Play is the fuel that fuels healthy brain growth and the crucible of learning, far from being frivolous.
So, how can we encourage outside activities and play while reducing hazards and coping with our fears?
Make “Hummingbird Parenting” A Habit
We’ve all heard stories about helicopter parents who constantly hover over their children, shielding them from harm. Given children’s developing demand for autonomy, most of us intuitively know that a helicopter approach isn’t the greatest method to supervise them.
What, on the other hand, is the alternative? Michele Whitaker, a mom and writer, proposes a viable alternative: “hummingbird parenting.” Kids begin to want more isolation and independence from adults around the age of five or six. One of the most difficult tasks for parents and other caregivers is to respect this need while resisting the urge to be constantly present.
Hummingbird parenting entails providing children the freedom and space to take risks, lingering on the periphery sipping nectar for the most part, and zooming in only when required. If hanging back makes you nervous, start close and gradually work your way back to observe how it feels. Keep an eye on how the kids are reacting to your separation. Increase the distance between them as they get older to give them the flexibility to take bigger chances, make errors, and deal with the repercussions.
In other words, eliminating risk should not be the goal. Kids must learn how to deal with potentially dangerous situations, or they will suffer far more serious consequences as teenagers and adults.
Make Time for Unstructured Play
You can keep your kids safe while allowing them to take acceptable risks and test limits by scheduling nature play and honing your flight skills as a hummingbird parent. If we succeed, another generation of self-assured, free-range kids will be born! Encourage children to make up their own imaginative games and activities with readily available natural materials such as water, sticks, soil, and pebbles. Feel free to gather some of these stray components yourself or, better yet, enlist the help of the kids. Larger pieces, such as huge sticks, can be utilized to build improvised constructions such as forts or bridges. Smaller items can be employed in a virtually limitless number of activities.
Allow Kids To Interact Fully With Nature
A kid’s encounters with nature are all too often dominated by a look-but-don’t-touch directive these days. We often do far more harm than good because we feel compelled to defend nature and our kids at any cost. The ability to connect with nature relies on direct, multisensory experiences. Picking leaves and flowers, turning over rocks, holding squirming worms, and swimming in ponds is a nasty, filthy job. Take a big breath and cheer them on instead of shouting “no” every time your kid wants to pick up a stick, throw a rock, climb a tree, or jump into the mud. Remember that cuts heal and clothes can be washed.
Outside activities are the best way for kids to have fun, experience new things, and use their creativity, all while being themselves.
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