How To Keep Your Kids Healthy By Getting Them To Play Outside

Chances are, you probably have fond memories from your childhood of playing outdoors for hours and hours, until your parents forced you to come inside. In the winter, you played in the snow; in the fall, you played in the leaves; and in the spring and summer, you played whatever games your imagination came up with! Perhaps you played outside with your siblings also, or with other children from the neighborhood you grew up in. And you would play sports or play make believe with these friends and siblings all the way until dark.

Nowadays, however, it seems like a lot of kids never go outside unless they are walking to or from school. And as for the rest of their free time, they spend it plopped down on the couch watching television or playing video games, or they sit staring at a computer screen. While all these things are fine in moderation, it is also important for children to play outside; this will increase their health, will strengthen their mind, and will cut down on the prevalence of childhood obesity. Here are a few things that you can try doing if your goal is to encourage your own children to start playing outside.

One of the things that is important for you to recognize is the fact that most children do not want to be "told" what to do; do not "force" your children to play outside, as they will then be less likely to enjoy it. Instead, you should provide your children with opportunities to "discover" playing outdoors on their own. There are a couple ways by which this can be effectively accomplished: 1) Put a limit on how much "media time" they are allowed each day; 2) Take some time to play outside with them!

As you limit the amount of time they are allowed to spend with video games, television, and computer each day, they will begin to naturally fill their extra time with time outdoors! And if you go outside and play with your children a few times, it will further draw them out of the house and help them get started.

There are some children who will take to the outdoors quite naturally and automatically; but even if this is not the case with your children, do not despair - as you follow these tips, your children will begin to play outside more and more.