Posted on 1st Jun 2010 @ 2:22 PM

Free-Range Kids

There have been articles on children and their health in the news and media for years now, and how our children are growing up in a culture dictated by television. Smaller backyards as well as fears for the safety of our children also contribute to how little time they spend outdoors playing.  According to “research” and “statistics” children don’t want to be outside playing anymore, they apparently prefer to sit inside and be plugged into T.V and computer games….Really?

This surprises me, with two beautiful daughters of my own, who are 5 and 8 years old, and like most children, full of energy and fizz for life, my children NEVER want to come inside, it is a battle sometimes, when it is getting on dark to get them to come in and have baths and dinner. The constant refrain emanating from the twilight gloom is “But we’re playing”.

I wonder though that if some of this being plugged in to T.V and computers is our fault as parents? I mean it is sometimes so much easier, when you’ve had a long day at work and your battling to get in the door and start dinner, homework, and demands of little darlings who haven’t seen you all day, to turn on the T.V and plug them in, just for some peace and quiet. I know I’ve done it.

The reason that I think that my children love being outside is that we (my husband and I) are always outside. They have been brought up in an environment where even their extended family is always outside, doing SOMETHING. From the moment our children were born they were put in a pram or sling and taken with us while we gardened, went for walks, worked, or played with our animals.

I was brought up “outside” here at the nursery, and even as an adult I find it difficult to stay inside. I tried working in an office once, with very few windows to the outside, I didn’t last long.

So maybe the key to having free-range kids is having free-range parents?

We have even gone one step further and chosen a school for our children, which promotes the outside life, and appreciation for nature. So when I am calling my girls in the twilight and I hear “but mum, we’re playing” I smile and wonder at my free-range kids.