I recently had the opportunity to attend a talk by Angela Hanscom, pediatric occupational therapist and author of the new book "Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children," and was fascinated by what she had to say about how lack of outside time is affecting many kids today. That we have become so obsessed with keeping our kids "safe" in the short term that we may actually be doing long-term harm.
The ringer: "Spiritually, mentally, physically...children are being negatively affected by lack of outdoor play."
In her presentation Hanscom talked about how the rise in sensory issues in children today can be directly linked to their lack of exposure to nature. Due to the scheduled nature of childhood today many kids have never had the experience of splashing in a muddy puddle, climbing a high tree, rolling down a grassy hill, or building a fort in the woods.
You know she had my heart when she told a story about driving through a neighborhood in her town and wondering aloud, "where are all the children?" I wonder the same thing out loud almost daily.
Through her research, Hanscom has found that only 1 in 12 kids today have the same core strength and balance as kids in 1984. I know that in 1984 when I got out of first grade at 2:45 in the afternoon I would run home from school with my sister and best friends in the neighborhood, grab a quick snack, and then rush back outside until dinnertime to ride bikes, skateboard, play dodgeball, and tear around our backyards.
A far cry from the after school routine today: the never-ending car line where kids single file out of the building, climb in the car and get shuttled to a scheduled activity.
This book makes a lot of sense to me.
Specifically, Hanscom believes, the muscle control issues presenting in kids today can be directly related to the fact that most children spend their entire waking hours upright -- sitting at a desk at school, walking around the playground at recess, going through drills at soccer practice after dinner. Kids today don't climb trees, hang upside down on monkey bars, or turn cartwheels at recess.
Why not? Because they're not allowed to. Because we've all decided that the kids might get hurt by doing these things. But in reality, we're creating a whole host of other issues by not letting kids play like kids.
As a result of all of this "uprightness" Hanscom and her colleagues are seeing huge increases in lack of balance, attention, emotional regulation, and increased aggression in their pediatric patients.
She writes, "More and more teachers and parents everywhere are reporting that children are starting to fall out of their seats in school, are becoming more aggressive and easily frustrated, are having trouble paying attention, are showing more anxiety, and are spending less time in imaginary play than ever before. These symptoms are due in part to underdeveloped motor and sensory skills, which leave children underprepared for academics and overwhelmed by daily life and social situations."
Physiologically, the problem stems from the fact that when we don't use our bodies in a way besides being upright (no tumbling, climbing upside down, flipping over) the fluid in our inner ears thickens up and causes problems with our sensory responses. For example, many of us as adults can't stomach spinning rides at the amusement park like we used to. Because this ear fluid is mostly stationary (we don't flip, jump, or scramble anymore), it has thickened up and affected our sense of balance. But the problem is, children today are being affected in the same way because of a lack of natural movement.
What's a modern parent to do?
The first step is easy: just get the kids outside.
"Outdoors is the best place because there are no limits," Hanscom said. "Nature is the ultimate sensory experience."
She writes in the book, "My professional training had taught me that movement -- and a lot of it -- is key to preventing many of these problems. And through my own research, and in my personal life, I discovered that movement through active free play -- particularly in the outdoors -- is absolutely the most beneficial gift we as parents, teachers, and caregivers can bestow on our children to ensure healthy bodies, creative minds, academic success, emotional stability, and strong social skills." 
What can you do as a parent?
1) Make sure the kids have time for unstructured play.
2) Let them be bored and create their own adventures.
3) Let them get dirty.
4) Let them play with sticks, rocks, mud.
5) Let them climb up the slide and slip down on their bellies.
6) Let them hang upside down from the monkey bars.
7) Take them to the woods.
8) Let them jump off the couch and roll on the floor.
9) Allow them more time to play. Not scheduled activities. Just play.
You get the idea. Give them the childhood you had. Kids need to spin, to go upside down, to tumble, and jump to reset their systems. What they don't need? More time standing in line awaiting their turn at soccer practice or dance class. They need to tear around the backyard and actually use that trapeze on the swingset. They need to zoom down the slide headfirst. They need to create their own adventures.
As Hanscom states in Barefoot and Balanced, "Active free play outdoors is a kind of play that promotes healthy sensory and motor development in children. It is the antidote to your child spending hours sitting indoors and staring at screens, and to you as a parent being too busy and overscheduled with kid activities to enjoy parenting. The outdoors awakens and rejuvenates the mind and engages all the senses at once."
In response to this phenomenon (and because it is just not possible for many parents to hang in the woods with their kids) Hanscom has founded an outdoor summer camp called Timbernook where children are encouraged to play independently in the woods. To get dirty, to build forts, hunt for rocks, climb trees, and to fall down and get back up again.
If you are interested in a Timbernook camp, there are actually two sessions taking place here in Western Mass this summer -- a half day program for ages 4-8 taking place July 25-29 in Conway and a full day program for ages 8-12 being held August 1-5 in Haydenville. You can find out more here.
Also, if you're kids would like to tear around the backyard please let me know. Cause we're still searching our neighborhood for some playmates....
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