Playing outside was once a rite of passage for children, and for many of us, it's something that we carried into adulthood. Just the other day, I had to drag myself inside to get to work after spending an hour or two goofing off in my garden, doing nothing I'd consider particularly important. And it's not because I didn't want to work — I really love what I do — but I love to play outside, too.
Well, as it turns out, playing outside is particularly important, and kids today just aren't doing much of it and haven't been for years.
- A 2022 survey of 5,000 parents of five to thirteen-year-olds in the United States found that over 55% of them felt their kids didn't play outside enough, and even more of them said that they were concerned that their kids didn't really want to play outside.
- Research from 2021 suggests that kids spent so much time inside during COVID lockdowns that they became less inclined to play outside and have even been discouraged from doing so.
- Several studies from the last decade or so indicate that kids spend less time outside than their parents' and grandparents' generations. One particular study from the United Kingdom found that only half of kids participate in unstructured outdoor activities, and only 27% play outside regularly.
- A 2019 study indicated that 75% of kids ages twelve and under do not get enough "active free play."
- A recent study from Mattel found that 37% of children don't play much at all, outdoors or indoors.
You get the idea.
To be honest, these numbers didn't shock me too much. Most of the sites I read blamed a few things for kids' lack of outdoor play and play in general. Too much screen time was often cited as the number one reason, of course. Being too busy was another. Kids' lives are often overscheduled and overstructured with activities these days, or they're spending more and more time at schools and daycare centers where playtime has been reduced. The third-most common reason I saw mentioned is that parents fear for the kids' safety. And lastly, many experts blamed the fact that more and more kids live in urban areas where they just don't have decent access to well-kept playgrounds, safe parks, and other similar spaces, which kind of ties in with number three.
Also recommended for VIPs: The Most Important 15 Minutes of a Child’s Day Are Disappearing
As stated above, COVID lockdowns also added to the decline. Not only that, but the lockdowns also changed the way kids play. A study published last November found that "The COVID-19 pandemic induced changes in play behavior." While the study focused on kids with chronic physical conditions, it found that children who didn't go outside and didn't get the chance to play with friends or family members during that time don't have the same mental and physical well-being as their peers who did.
Whatever the reason, the fact that kids aren't playing or spending time outside is concerning. Last week, I wrote about how parents aren't reading to their children anymore, and while researching all of this, I've found that there are many other activities that most of us took for granted as children that are on the decline. It's almost like we're ripping away an entire generation's right to be a child at all.
Reading, playing outside, and playing in general shouldn't be optional; taking that away can be detrimental to a child's long-term mental and physical health. Some of the benefits are obvious, but some of them are ideas we may not often think about.
For example, obviously playing outside is a great way for kids to get physical exercise and move their bodies. It's a great way to improve motor skills, such as balance, agility, and dexterity, but it also teaches kids about taking risks in the real world and becoming resilient. Harvard Health puts it this way:
Children need to take some risks. As parents, this makes us anxious; we want our children to be safe. But if we keep them in bubbles and never let them take any risks, they won’t know what they can do — and they may not have the confidence and bravery to face life’s inevitable risks. Yes, you can break an arm from climbing a tree — and yes, you can be humiliated when you try to make a friend and get rejected. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try; the lessons we learn from failure are just as important as those we learn from success.
That sort of risk-taking builds confidence, too. Harvard also points out that this sort of unstructured playtime that forces kids to amuse themselves by making up fun activities and figuring things out on their own allows kids to practice important cognitive skills like planning, troubleshooting, multitasking, prioritizing, and negotiating.
Kids who take part in unstructured physical activity, whether it's indoors or outside, tend to sleep better, be in a better mood afterward, and have better social skills.
Other potential benefits of playing outdoors include an increased appreciation and curiosity for nature, independence, engagement of all five senses (which can be especially beneficial for toddlers and preschoolers), more creative thought, and, in settings where there are other kids to play with, better communication skills. Kids aren't going to get all of that from a phone, computer, or TV.
Many experts do believe that, well, where there's a will, there's a way. In other words, some say parents just aren't making the effort, whether that's due to their own over-scheduled lives or the fact that they find screentime to be an acceptable alternative to playtime. Or they simply have their own noses stuck in a screen all day. (I've witnessed the latter on numerous occasions while spending time with friends and family members with kids.)
I remember when I was a kid, my parents and grandparents would walk at a local track some evenings. The middle was a big green grassy field with not so much as a swing, but my cousins and I spent hours in that field making up games, dancing, playing pretend, and just playing with no rules. I know times have changed, but I'd like to think that it could still be that simple, that taking time to go for a walk, spending half an hour in your backyard, or going to a local park or playground on a Sunday afternoon shouldn't be a difficult task for most people.
