Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Green Hour

Do you remember your childhood?  Do you remember playing outside from the moment you got home from school until the sun went down?  Do you remember rarely watching television?  I do.  I spent most of my time playing in the yard (or street).  In fact I remember when we first got a Nintendo and I got to play it once a week.  I thought we were the coolest and I honestly rarely remembered to actually play the video games because I was too busy playing.  Somewhere along the way playing got lost.  Now we spend more time inside watching television, playing video games, socializing on the computer (phone, Ipad, etc) and less time moving. 
I was watching a recent episode of The Biggest Loser the other day and they said that the average child in America watches four to five hours of television a day.  I didn't believe that so I did some research...The Biggest Loser is right!  That is twenty-eight to thirty-five hours a week!!!  In fact due to the amount of time spent indoors kids are now being labeled with Nature Deficit Disorder and many companies are promoting "Green Hour."  Green Hour is a movement that is urging people to send their kids outside for an hour a day.  Personally, I want to take this a bit further....
I want to encourage whole families to go outside for an hour, or two, or three, heck all day if at all possible!  Rediscover the fun of playing.  Be silly, play tag with your kids, go on a nature walk, go to the park and swing, have a picnic, do whatever you enjoyed as a kid and show your kids how to play!  Please, get your kids moving and turn off the television.  Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-tv I am just anti- excessive amounts of television.

What are you doing to get your kids moving?   

2 comments:

  1. As a homeschool family, we've found that a 45/15 split works well. We spend 45 minutes working, then 15 minutes playing outside. Brains seem to function better after bodies have an opportunity to run and stretch and play. We also have outside play after lunch and nap. On rainy days, we play Simon Says!, have a dance party, or do part of an exercise video. It's important to give our kids (and us!) a chance to move. Thanks for this great post!

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  2. Those are great ideas Jennifer, thank you for sharing them!

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