Experts fear today's empty playgrounds

Experts fear today's empty playgrounds

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By Jennifer Torres
July 09, 2007
Record Staff Writer

Heat on Friday nudged outdoor playtime earlier and cut it shorter than
scheduled for nearly 70 children at Stockton's Seifert Community
Center day camp.

Once it got going, though, campers cheered on teammates during a
running, jumping, twirling relay race, while other groups played
basketball or made up their own games on playground equipment.

Some outdoor play - any outdoor play - is important, recreation leader
Michaiah Martin said. "Keeping them inside compresses a lot of the
negative energies."

According to environmentalists, child-development specialists and
other advocates, telling kids to "Go out and play" can keep them
healthier, less stressed and more imaginative.

But, those advocates worry, what used to be something children just
did - playing outside - is becoming increasingly rare amid the wide-
ranging allure of television, video games and other indoor pursuits,
as well as parents' worries about sending their kids out-of-doors
without supervision.

If he was at home instead of at day camp, 12-year-old Alonzo Easter
said, he would probably "ride my bike, play with my friends."

He would like to play video games, he said, but his parents limit that
to 30 minutes a day.

Most children Alonzo's age spend much more time in front of a screen
or monitor.

A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that kids ages 8 to 18
spend more than six hours every day with TV, music, video games,
computers and movies.

Children 6 and younger, the foundation determined, spend two hours per
day using computers or televisions - about as much time as they spend
playing outside.

Parents also have a role in keeping kids indoors.

According to U.S. Census figures, more than half of children younger
than 6 in San Joaquin County have two working parents; there might not
be time for a family walk in the woods.

Outside might also be a scary place.

"Fear is the most potent force that prevents parents from allowing
their children the freedom they themselves enjoyed when they were
young," Richard Louv writes in his book, "Last Child in the Woods:
Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder."

"Fear of traffic, of crime, of stranger-danger - and of nature
itself."

Fifth-grader Christiana Smith said she is spending a lot of time this
summer singing and practicing guitar. She likes to ride her bike, too,
she said. "I just have to ask first."

Children who are decidedly "plugged-in" risk tuning out some of
nature's benefits, advocates say. According to research cited by the
National Wildlife Federation, children who experience free time
outdoors have lower stress levels, play more creatively and are in
better shape than those who do not.

The federation urges a "green hour," time every day for children to
enjoy unstructured, outside play.

The U.S. Forest Service, too, is advocating for increased outdoors
activities. In May, the agency announced $1.5 million in funding for
programs that help connect kids with nature. California recipients
were the Outdoors Experiences Program in Inyo National Forest
($92,000), and SSTARS Summer Camp in Sequoia National Forest
($29,400).

Susie Douglas is San Joaquin program coordinator at the Center for
Land-Based Learning.

San Joaquin County teens participate in the center's FARMS Leadership
program, which aims to teach students the relationship between
agricultural practices and the environment, as well as the Student and
Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship, or SLEWS, program,
which involves participants in habitat-restoration projects.

"They go out into the woods and they being to look at their
neighborhoods differently," Douglas said about teens' experiences with
nature.

"Are they spending too much time indoors? Well, I think once you
motivate them by exciting them about the opportunities, about
something that makes a difference ... they want to know more," Douglas
said. "They care."

On Friday, Diantha Devers was among 10 Stockton child-care providers
who met for a play date at Stockton's Weber Point fountain.

They watched their charges laugh and scream and splash in the water.

"Children learn by playing," Devers said. "When they are outside ...
they can touch the grass. They learn the grass is important. They
learn the trees are important. They learn what the water sounds like."