I was talking to a mom today about her child’s recent sunburn. Seems they’d been left in the care of a father who is not exactly thorough in his sunscreen application. Not much harm done, other than making bath time a little uncomfortable. Oh, and, they might get skin cancer in 40 years. But still, it’s summer time. So why are more and more of us satisfied to let our children linger indoors? I wonder what’s more to blame: concern for their maximum safety in each and every moment, or the fear our babies might suffer a single instant of discomfort.

There’s More Good than Bad Outside

The National Wildlife Federation is encouraging families to get outdoors this summer. David Mizejewski, a naturalist working on the "Be Out There" campaign worries about our indoor culture.

“By the time most U.S. children enter kindergarten, they have spent more than 5,000 hours in front of a television, and that is enough time to earn a college degree.”

According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study released in January, 8- to 18-year-olds consume an average of 53 hours a week of entertainment media. Of those who responded to the survey, only 30% had rules for media use.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends kids get 60 minutes a day of physical activity to improve physical and mental health. Playing outside helps develop a child’s social skills at the same time physical fitness is being maintained. Dr. David Elkind, a professor emeritus of child development at Tufts University and author of The Power of Play says,

"One of the consequences of childhood moving indoors is the culture of childhood, passed down for hundreds of years is lost.”

Outdoors: Positives Outweigh the Negatives

Parents today are so fearful of kids drowning, getting cancer, contracting lyme disease from a tick, being hit by a car while riding a bike, that we don’t let (or MAKE) our children get out and play. Instead of cul-de-sac kickball and neighborhood hide and seek, many kids will spend too much time this summer enthralled with TV and video game screens. And who can blame them? It’s hot out there, or rainy, or really nice but we’re out of SPF 160.

The games kids make up on their own — often outside — are full of the kinds of skills important later in life. They learn to negotiate the rules, resolve disputes without outside intervention, and come up with creative ways to entertain themselves. Sounds like world peace in the making to me.

Tough Love for Screen Junkies

When it comes to getting kids outside, Mizejewski wants parents to take control. He suggests the following:

• Make kids go outside.
• Trade indoor activities like screen time for outdoor activities — hour for hour.
• Model what you want to see. In other words, the grown-ups need to go outside too. Take nightly walks, plant a garden, or even camp in the backyard.

Getting outside doesn’t have to be a big event, and it doesn’t have to be boring. I love this Backyard Scavenger Hunt list provided by the NWF. To really get in the spirit, check out the foundation’s 6th Great American Backyard Campout on June 26, and join people across the country who are taking one night out to reconnect with nature.

This summer remember — between your hyper-worrying about skin damage and heat stroke, and your over-indulgence in super-organized summer activities, that most of us were raised from June through August with this mandate: go outside!