Children spend half as much time outside as the previous generation

[KateMumsnet]

Hello all

Interesting story in the news today - new research has found that today's children spend less than half the time playing outdoors than their parents did.

Children spend just under five hours a week playing outside – less than half the 11 hours a week of their parents' generation - meaning that outdoor activities like splashing in puddles, building sandcastles, and making mud pies or daisy chains are becoming less and less common.

What do you think? How much time do your DC spend outside - and did you have a different experience as a child? What are your children doing instead?

I think this must depend on where people live. I chuck mine out in the morning and they only come in to eat. Sometimes they take sandwiches so they don't even have to do that.

There's a definition connection, meh (love your name :o )

Philo - how old are your kids? I love that you still do that. I wish my DS wanted to spend more time outside than he does :(

Also, computer games/tv/stampy

They range from being a toddler, I tend not to chuck her out but she does potter about outside with me to finishing their A levels

11 hours a week seems very low, let alone 5 hours. I'm sure that as a child I would spend at least 2 hours playing outside on every school day, except in the darkest days of winter. In the summer holidays, I would spend about about 10 hours a day playing outside. I couldn't bear being stuck inside.

It does seem a bit limited - I suspect pre-schoolers in childcare get a lot more. DS has been in FT childcare since 12 months, and all 3 of his settings have done at least 2 hours a day outdoors, and then there's the extra time outside at weekends/evenings with me.

Society is shamefully discouraging of children playing in their communities. I think we should tackle the 'No Ball Games Here" culture that sprung up from the 1980s.

A "No Ball Games here" sign recently went up in my street at the request of neighbours. I live on a large square (council/ex-council houses) and there are lots of very wide areas of communal grass big enough for kick abouts without hitting cars. The kids have been turfed off and now play football in the road, away from the intolerant neighbours. Now you hear them shout 'car' to warn their mates to get off the road. How terrible is that?!

The local council is just about to revamp our local park. But half of the equipment they've chosen has not been very well received by local kids. They are taking away swings and putting in some naff plastic bowls which the kids say are crap and they won't use. They desperately want somewhere to play football with painted lines and basic goals. There is enough green space to do this.

Another issue is there is only 1 play feature for toddlers on the proposals. At present it is all for under 5s. I'm upset about this because I'm pregnant with our first child.

I've completed the online consultation and encouraged the kids to do the same - I just hope they listen! I wish they would actually visit the estate and talk to us to find out what we want BEFORE they ask play companies to tender for these contracts. That way local families will make greater use of the park and more children will be encouraged to play outside!

There's a definition connection, meh (love your name
Thank you Odd.
I think my name's a bit dull, tbh, but I do like yours.

To be fair the weather was much better back then.

Those of you who think that the reduction in outdoor time is terrible- what do you think the outcome may be for affected children?

My DC spend a fair bit of time outside- playing sport, country walks and constructing things in the garden. They also spend a fair amount of time indoors.

They appear fit, healthy and happy.

Should I be throwing them out of the house for the sake of it? They are 7 and 8. Is there something wrong with them if they don't want to be outdoors at every available opportunity?

We have "No Ball Games here" all over the place but the neighbours give balls to the children playing outside.

I grew up on 11 acres and spent a lot of time roaming around (trying to get lost and have a daring adventure :o ). I wasn't an active or sporty kid otherwise. My parents also took us swimming in the nearby lakes all summer long.

DS probably spends about an hour and a half a day outside (if his half hour school recess counts), depending on the weather. It gets to -30 some months and I do still get him out to run around, but just for a few minutes.

I'm not as good about getting DD out because she's a toddler so I'd have to go with her I'm too lazy. Once we get a better fence up this summer it will be easier. Also in the summer we have a pool and a big trampoline so they spend a lot of time out there. I'd like to get DH and myself bikes as well.

I have a really big backyard and am a SAHM so no excuse not to get DD put more, other than laziness and pregnancy related tiredness.

I get really irked at the people who tut at kids playing out, btw. NDN shouted at DS to "get off of there" when DS was only turning his scooter around in his driveway. He's also complained about the noise from DS and his friend playing in the middle of the afternoon.

I promise I'm not one of those who expect everyone to make allowances for my special little darlings but getting irritated by a few playtime shouts or bouncing balls is ridiculous. No wonder the obesity rate among kids is what it is if there's nowhere for them to play! (NDN is a health nut too, you'd think he'd approve.)

I think this stat is highly dependent on the age of the child.

Young kids are out all the time- walks in the pram/park/feeding ducks/swing parks etc.

When they get to pre teen age I have to bribe them to get out of the house away from their screens!

I find having a very small garden makes us less likely to be outside. Growing up DH & I both lived in houses with far larger gardens, our children's grandparents (apart from my father) all had very large gardens as children. I used to play in the street with my friends but there are too many cars now.

Cheerful that's exactly what we get, we live in a small road with a big grass circle in the middle and houses all around the edges so it looks like a roundabout but isn't, everyone has their own parking for 2 cars around the back of the houses. In such a small road there is about 10 'NO BALL GAMES/NO PLAYING ON THE GRASS' signs, people will actively go and move their cars onto the grass to stop children playing on there then complain that kids are playing near their cars and so another sign gets erected and they then call 101 every time someone dares to ignore the signs.

I have tried everything from proposing a mutually agreed timetable to say that kids can play ball at x,y,z times and we as parents will make sure they're not playing it outside of those days/times but I get met with "this is my house, why should we be disturbed by children playing?" And the classic "it's my right and entitlement to live without being disturbed by the noise of a ball hitting my pavement."

I let mine chalk on the wall of our house, nothing rude, offensive, just coloured chalks, doodling pictures of animals, their names, smiley faces, just the wall, not the path and we got complaints, it was making the street look untidy apparently, regardless of me always giving the kids a bucket of water and a paintbrush to 'paint' away the chalks at the end of the day!

It really makes me angry, the ones that complain all have grown up children, they must remember a time where they were little and wanted to kick a ball around or ride a bike with their friends!

It would be alright if there was anywhere at all, a small green, play park or similar that the kids could feel safe to use when they wanted, it's not a lot to ask to have a small outside space to play in without fear of a local policeman coming and making them move along or someone coming and parking a few cars there or just shouting at them to move away.
When I was young we had (and the area still has) a huge playing field, it had nothing on it but it was a big, green space that was mown regularly at the end of the road and every single child would spend whole days there, taking food and drink and making camps, playing ball, doing dance routines of creating plays, sometimes we'd just lay in the grass and talk or read a book, it cost nothing in upkeep, the residents took turns mowing it and we all had a lovely space to get fresh air and move!

Sorry for the rant everyone, I feel as parents we get blamed for childhood obesity and children becoming unhealthy, and obsessed with screens, kids are growing into adults that can't function or socialise normally, they don't know how to take care of themselves, how to keep fit, eat well, be streetwise, yet at the same time were faced with ever shrinking spaces to use and communities where children are seen as a problem rather than just a lovely, different part of life.

Some of these neighbor situations sound hideous! That massively impinges on quality of life for children - we've had severe storms with dangerously high winds and hail the last few days; trees down, people's roofs blown off, train and road closures etc. and warnings on the radio not to go out unless necessary due to flying debris... and my kids have been going stir crazy arguing more and being wilder indoors.

Usually they are out from about 8 am in school holidays (helpfully we live in the Land of Rules, Germany, and the playground by the house has hours of use 8 am to 8 pm so you don't get the ridiculous MN situation where people insist it's inconsiderate to let kids play outside at any time any purse lipped misery guts might conceivably be slerping/ having lunch/ watching TV/ having a nice sit down/ gardening/ in any way likely to notice and get irrate).

We do live in a small child paradise though - sand castles and mud pies really - village play park literally is our next door neighbour, with small football field behind it and bit of open land with trees behind that. There is also a village green in a separate place 100 meters down the road where kids play too and my 7 and 9 year old are allowed unaccompanied - it is the limit of their free range perimeter. There are about 30 kids under 10 in our village of around 100 houses, and all the 5-10 year olds except a couple play out.

Some teens play football and basketball at the playground but I worry a bit about kids becoming inactive as teens, which is why they also do organised club football and martial arts which I hope will keep their interest after playing out stops - the flip side of small child paradise is it will be dull here for teens, and I worry about them wanting to get/ go on the back of mopeds once they are 15 (50cc legal at 15 here) as there is no public transport except school buses.

Atm 10 year olds locally are allowed all over on their bikes - dd passed her cycling proficiency a couple of months ago and is allowed to bike about with friends, with prior permission.

It's much easier here as everyone is roughly on the same page with letting kids play out, including those without kids. We've never had anything but smiles from older people, and we all look out for each others kids (and I'm not paranoid that if I tell a child off for throwing sand or bring an unaccompanied kid in from the playground to wash sand out of their eye or grit out of a scraped knee their parents will say anything but thanks :) )

MrTumble my grumpy NDN is German :o He is actually nice but everything he says sounds harsher than he means it and he's just very concerned about his house and yard.

I told DS not to turn around anymore in his driveway, and I don't allow him to shout across the lawn to the boy who lives on the other side of NDN. But if DS is playing in our own yard at a reasonable hour and NDN complains I'm going to kick off.

I fully understand the right to peace and quiet but surely the DC have as much right to be outside in their own area, if it's a decent hour and they're not being deliberately obnoxious?

We are lucky too in that the school with its playground is only a few blocks away. The DC can't go there unsupervised yet but DH takes them (and I take a nap ), plus DS walks to and from school.

Titsalina if anyone complained about my children using chalk at our own house I'd be having words!

Cheerful that's probably why he left Germany :o Seriously though we are lucky to have lots of public space, so it never occurs to people to go onto each others drive ways. Everyone (including me) tells the two girls who chalk in the middle of the road off - that's because although it's a quiet road they are often hidden from drivers views by a parked car and crouching in the road, and we are all worried they'll get run over (or that we'll run them over!) Most of the public land is grass so I guess the road is a tempting canvas, but the only "irresponsible parent" moan I've heard about any kids in a playing out context are about the road chaleker girls (who also wave board and in line in the middle of the "main" road through the village instead of using a the very quiet side street culdesac like the other board/skate kids).

You need to get a "play street" sign put up in place of the "no ball games" signs, and your German neighbor will change his tune, because it will be The Rules :o

www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2008/11/old-british-street-signs.html?m=1

British play street sign:

I would have thought the 5 hours per week would all be at School. My DCs have 2 x 15 main breaks, plus 30 mins outside play at lunch. That's the 5 hours per week right there.

Add to that the 30 mins they play outside at breakfast club, plus they both do a few after school sports clubs per week. So even if I never 'let' them outside, and we never went anywhere outside as a family ( which we do) they'd still have almost 10 hours per week outside just for school and structured pre/post school activities.

The road opposite us is a cul-de-sac and the children in the HA flats cone off the end of the road so they can bike and play footvball. No one minds and the drivers who need access just move the cones and the children stop and let them through.

we are on a cul-de-sac and it is great for the kids to run/ride about in, most of the kids round here have learned to ride a bike and roller-skate and skateboard in it. There are kids out most weekends wheeling about, or littler ones with their dolls in prams, or chalking on the pavement, it is lovely to see.

football, not so great - front garden got ruined last year and most people had cars hit by balls - so sometimes I am "that" neighbour moaning about ball games.

I don't think my children spend much less time outside than I did as a child, but I probably spent less time outside than my parents did (there was probably a big change between the 50s and the 80s - my mum said she was always out in the street playing when primary aged). We had a big garden as children and when we were a bit older used to sometimes play out with a girl in the next street in the summer. There was only one park near us (about 20-30 minutes' walk away) and it wasn't that great. It wasn't until I was about 11 that I began to like walking for pleasure. I also enjoyed staying in and reading (or sometimes playing games on our Commodore 64 computer).

We now have quite a big garden which the children enjoy playing in, although we have stayed in quite a lot this past winter. (DS is at school nursery so home in the afternoons). We tend to be out a lot more when the weather's better. There's arguably no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing, but it can be made difficult when children refuse to wear hats/waterproof trousers/thermals.