Kids on the Patio

Título: Kids on the Patio

Autor: benczc

Descrição: HEY KIDS, WHAT'S WRONG WITH PLAYING OUTSIDE? By Whit Gibbons Children know more about computer games than their parents ever did, as children or adults. Children know how to play on the Internet, load a video, and program the VCR clock. But are today's youth spending enough time outdoors? The following perspective by Kurt Buhlmann, who oversees programs on amphibians and turtles for Conservation International, gives cause to think about how youngsters are spending their childhoods. "Last November I attended my 20th high school reunion in New Jersey. My wife Tracey came with me, and since we had a few hours before the evening banquet, I took her to see the neighborhood where I grew up, from ages 3-17. "It was an older 1950s-era development in the northwest, mountainous, and rural part of New Jersey. Quite frankly, the area closely resembles the Blue Ridge mountains and valleys of Virginia, rather than being the typical asphalt and concrete image many people have of New Jersey. The development surrounds a lake where I took swimming lessons during the summers of my youth and later swam on the neighborhood swim team. "My brother, sisters, and our neighborhood friends rode our bicycles every day, and we built tree forts in the woodlot behind my parents' house. We would play kickball or whiffleball in the street, since we seldom had to move out of the way because of auto traffic. During the summer we would catch fireflies in the evenings and after supper were always outside until near dark. My mother rang the big bell on our porch to let us know when it was time to come in for bed. "Best of all was a sedge meadow marsh (perhaps a 'swamp' to some) that was accessed by a wooded trail a few hundred feet behind my parents' house. Although I may have spent more time in the marsh than the average kid, we all spent some time there, catching turtles and frogs or playing hide and seek. We ice-skated on the marsh in the winter because, at worst, you would get a wet ankle if you fell through. In fact, playing in that marsh led to my interests in ecology and my present profession as a conservation research scientist. Anyway, these were the memories in my mind as Tracey and I arrived. "Although my parents have since moved away, the neighborhood was much the same. The houses were still there, although a few big trees that I remembered were gone. The streets did not seem busier with traffic. However, the swimming docks at the lake's beach were in disrepair, and I suspected that no neighborhood swim team had competed there last summer. "But when I tried to take Tracey on the marsh trail, I realized something was wrong. There was no trail, and no indication that kids played in the woodlot. No tree forts were seen, and no bicycles were lying at the edge of driveways. On this nice sunny Saturday afternoon, we saw no kids outside. Gone were the big Ford and Chevy station wagons of my childhood, but I knew that families with kids were present because of the minivans and SUVs in those same driveways. "It was becoming clear that the outdoor opportunities were still available, but the kids were not taking advantage of them. Were they all inside playing video games, watching TV, and eating fattening snacks on the couch? Are they having their adventures fed to them instead of exploring and creating their own? As I think about that afternoon, I am concerned about the deeper meaning. "I think kids need to grow up with an appreciation of the outdoors. We need the next generation of young people to care about the natural world and strive to protect it, as many of us are currently doing. I know that computers and the Internet have opened up some fascinating opportunities, but at what cost? Perhaps I am making too much of an observation from one afternoon. But if what I saw is truly a general trend, then I cannot help but fear that today's kids are not getting the same quality childhood that I had. Can kids who do not spend time outside really appreciate the outdoor world?" Do the children in your neighborhood know how to find bird nests, catch frogs and baby turtles at a lakeside, and look under rocks for salamanders. Will our next generation be citizens who do not care about outdoor opportunities because they never learned to appreciate them?

Duração: 0:23

Tags: ball Cyn Mickey MickeyMouse Mouse outside patio playing Steph Zack