In an effort to escape the suffocation of being indoors all day, you’ve packed up the kids and headed to your nearest trail, park, or open space. After you’ve applied sunscreen or layers of clothing, leashed the dog, strapped the baby in the stroller, and embarked on that healthy activity called “getting outside,” one of the kids whines, “I’m tired. When can we go back to the car?” ... or “There’s nothing to do here. Let’s go home!”
You slammed the minivan door shut just 15 minutes ago. What do you do next?
Nothing is more disheartening to a parent than making the Herculean effort to get kids outside only to have the initial excitement fizzle into complaints. While most parents agree that being outside is healthy, they often struggle from getting pushback from their children. And they can’t understand why. Boomers, Gen X-ers, and most Millennials can remember rollicking outside for hours as kids without any coordination or motivation from their parents.
The iGeneration, on the other hand, can’t remember a time when an entertainment center wasn’t within reach of their fingertips. The result is that today’s youth might seem helpless when it’s time to “go play outside,” much to their parents’ dismay.
Forgoing the outdoors isn’t an option, however. Not only are children missing out on adventures in the great outdoors, but there’s also mounting evidence that lack of “green time” is detrimental to children’s health. Spending time in nature helps kids’ brains function, improves attention spans, and lessens anxiety. These benefits are especially important for children with attention deficit disorder or struggling with depression, both of which are on the rise in the United States.
The next time you’re able to tear yourself and the family away from the enslaving screens, don’t give up when the resistance comes rolling in. Rather than handing the phone or iPad over in exasperation, here are five activities to jumpstart your kids into loving the outdoors.
Describe, Share, and Search
Tell your kids to get outdoors for a short distance and find something interesting. When they’ve found it, have them describe it in detail without revealing what it is. Next, you look for it, using their words as a guide. This is an excellent vocabulary-building activity, as well as a way to build interest in things outside.
