Children in Dire Need of Escaping the Indoors

Vitamin D is widely considered to be one of the most beneficial vitamins, though sadly many parents deprive their children of it by neglecting their need for the biggest source of the vitamin – the sun. The most recent study of children ages 4 through 7 suggests that much of it has to do with parents neglecting their child’s inherent (and very necessary) need to go outside and play.

Not Enough Vitamin D Gathered Outdoors

The study details that a massive 42 percent of all preschoolers are not being taken outside to play daily by either of their parents. Children that don’t go to daycare regularly in particular are at the highest risk of being bound to their homes. The report describes that there is “considerable room for improvement in parent-supervised outdoor play opportunities for preschool-aged children, which could have numerous benefits for young children’s health and development…in particular, efforts are needed to increase active outdoor play in children who are girls and nonwhite.”

Many thousands of modern families have a tough time adjusting to the nature of young children, being busy without end in some cases. That does not mean that it is irrelevant to try and push your children towards social and physical heights, the most important benefits of playing outside with others. Many children that are stay-at-home types without the structural benefits of daycare are likely on the verge of becoming another casualty of this generation of television.

Public schooling may also prove itself to be at some fault, especially those in urban sprawls. Many schools have been effectively desolating young students’ interests in outdoor activities by reducing the amount of recess and PE time by as much as an hour a week, in an effort to boost time spent in classrooms – all bracketed under the No Child Left Behind standard of quality.

A particularly good example of the descent of time spent outside in young school children comes from a survey taken in 1989 by the National Association of Elementary School Principals. The survey found that 96 percent of elementary schools had at least on recess during the day. A decade later, down to the 70th percentile. It is always the responsibility of the parent to decide what is best for their children, but NCLB and other like-minded organizations may believe they know what is best for all children.