Growing up we were always outside during the summer. My parents use to have to drag us into the house kicking and screaming. The only time we seemed to want to be in the house was when there was yard work to be done. Those days we could come up with a million things inside that just needed to be finished such as cleaning out the closets.
That is different now. I have to practicality scream at my children to get outside and do something. The days of Wii and online games seem to have taken over. I love that my kids are smart on a computer and that they enjoy reading but I want my children to be children. Whatever happen to little boys going out and playing war, girls too for that matter.
We grew up in a military family so honestly taking old Army parachutes and jumping off the barn with them was all in a days work for us. Yes we did dangerous things but we had fun. We got out into the air and sometimes got hurt but that was all part of being a child and growing up. To this day give my brothers and sister and I a baseball, football or other sporting equipment (sometimes we don’t even need that) and we will play out in the yard together until well after the sun goes down.
This summer I am more determined than ever that my children will be children! The Wii had officially found its way to the attic under school starts again, computer time has been limited to only an hour a day for them as have television. They can go out and do whatever they want as long as the go out and do something.
How do you get your kids outside more?