Raising your children to appreciate the outdoors, from a young age, will bring forth a happy and healthy child. In today’s modern world filled with technology children have forgotten what it is to play outdoors. Here are a few tips that might help you as parent to get the kids back to loving the outdoors.
Raising An Outdoor Child
#1 Embracing Nature for Childhood Development
To raise a happy, nature-loving child, you must first acknowledge nature’s indispensable role in childhood development. Regular access to nature shapes a child’s imagination and provides a context for fantasy and role-play-based gameplay.
Daycare and schools need to get children to embrace and love nature again.
Plants, water, flowers, and other natural elements give children tools for pretending to be scientists, for example. Natural learning settings support an emotionally safe environment for children and young people to be exactly who they are, living in the moment and enjoying life.
#2 Outdoor Play and its Benefits
Outdoor play provides more than just a physical workout; it has multiple components that promote a child’s overall development. From a physical standpoint, outdoor play encourages cardiovascular wellness, as well as the development of fine and gross motor skills.
Mentally, exposure to nature elicits an automatic calming response, reducing stress, and enhancing mood and focus. Sunlight plays a part in circadian rhythm regulation by stimulating the production melatonin in the brain, which is essential for sleep.
The social benefits of outdoor play include working cooperatively to meet goals, fostering relationships with others, and developing prosocial behavior that will allow them to do better in school.
#3 Screen Time and Outdoor Activities: Striking the balance
In the current digital era, striking the optimal screen time vs. outdoor play balance is vital to the well-being as well as gratification of our children. Overconsumption of screen time in children triggers a disturbing pandemic of sedentary behavior which is linked with several health issues like obesity, sleep disturbances, attention deficits, etc.
Parents can lead by example by limiting their screen time and making an effort to plan outdoor activities with their children.
#4 Encouraging Curiosity and Exploration
Another way to raise an outdoor child is to develop their natural, inborn curiosity and desire to explore. Nature is full of wonder, fascination, and learning opportunities.
Encourage your kids to observe wildlife, collect interesting rocks, or create a garden. In turn, this will broaden the child’s understanding of life, foster respect for our planet, and motivate them to raise awareness about environmental issues.
#5 Building Lifelong Healthy Habits
One of the most important things your children will teach you about the outdoors: Just how much stuff there is to observe and touch and name. You can learn a lot by observing the world around you. Hiking on a new, muddy trail ensures an insatiable craving for adventure-why an unknown route would intrigue a person enough to compel them to return.
If your kids love nature, you could take time and try visiting places such as the library and hands-on nature museums.
Promoting outdoor play is the crux of successful child development. Truth be told, happy, healthy, and well-rounded children make for happy and healthy grown-ups.
