The GREAT Outdoors and the Children

[Rachel Butler]

I love kids. As a young girl, I wanted to have 6 children, load us all into a van and travel around the country singing and dancing when I grew up. I also wanted to be President, an astronaut and Wonder Woman.

The education portion of what we are doing at FOOGS.org is so important to me, especially when it comes to educating the kids. I have been researching and ran across the National Wildlife Federation website and their Get Outside- Be Out There initiative. They have a GREAT site by the way!

http://www.nwf.org/Get-Outside/Be-Out-There.aspx

Some interesting information from their site:

* Children are spending half as much time outdoors as they did 20 years ago. (Juster et al 2004); (Burdette & Whitaker 2005); (Kuo & Sullivan 2001)

* Today’s kids spend 6.5 hours plugged into electronic media. (Juster et al 2004); (Burdette & Whitaker 2005); (Kuo & Sullivan 2001)

* In a typical week, only 6% of children ages 9-13 play outside on their own. (Children & Nature Network, 2008)

* Children who play outside are more physically active, more creative in their play, less aggressive and show better concentration. (Burdette and Whitaker, 2005; Ginsburg et al., 2007)

* Sixty minutes of daily unstructured free play is essential to children’s physical and mental health. (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2008)

* The most direct route to caring for the environment as an adult is participating in “wild nature activities” before the age of 11. (Wells and Lekies, 2006)

A daily dose of the outdoors will improve your family's overall well-being and inspire a life-long appreciation of wildlife and nature. Whether you are an aunt, uncle, cousin or friend, make some time for the children around you. I know that if I had 6 kids and we were traveling around in a bus, I would welcome the assistance and guidance of my friends :)

Check out the activities and events listed at http://www.nwf.org/Get-Outside/Be-Out-There/Activities.aspx and make time for a Green Hour today!

Share this post with the people around you. It is after all, For Our Own Good(s) and for the kids!

Love ya! Rache

[Rachel Butler]

Thanks Yvone. I will have to put this to the test when i head back to Springfield in May and spend time with Avery and Lillie! :)

[Yvone Martinez]

You’re doing a great job! By being informative about events, you are putting activities out there for families to do together, in order to stay active in friendly healthy environments. Sometimes it’s the smallest gestures that have the biggest effects.