Every generation winces when the previous one recalls how much better life was in their day. But one thing everyone remembers is playing outside as a child.
If current trends are anything to go by, however, outdoor play could soon be a thing of the past as modern children spend more and more time glued to TV and computer screens or playing indoors because their parents are worried for their safety.
This not only adds to our growing problem of obesity but also limits the developmental scope for children who, according to experts, need to spend time connecting with the outside world every day.
In fact, the issue is deemed so important that there are several major conferences taking place this month to discuss the importance of outside play and ways to help Irish children get as much out of their natural environment as possible.
One of the gatherings involves educators, carers, occupational therapists and even landscapers and builders to highlight the significance of providing spacious, attractive play areas for children in pre-school facilities.
Being outdoors for at least three hours per day is considered essential for growing children, according to many experts.
The benefits of outdoor play are multi-faceted and span the entire gambit of a child’s development; physical, mental, sensory and social.
Through play, children make sense of their world. Children learn through their senses and through movement. Outdoors, children’s senses are naturally stimulated through the ever-changing sights, sounds, smells, taste and touch of the world.
While television has been around for decades, tablets and smart phones have only become ubiquitous in recent years so unsurprisingly, they’ve been eating into the time children would have historically spent outdoors.
The more time children spend looking at screens the less time they have to discover the world.
So it’s time to go back and change some things, isn’t it?