We hear it time and time again, but that might be because we're just not getting the message: our kids need to spend more time outdoors.
There are many reasons one could make this argument, which seems to become more common with each new high-tech gadget, but one of the best reasons would be a recent study showing a lot of Canadian kids have appallingly low levels of physical activity.
The 2015 ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth, which is based on data from peer-reviewed research over the past year, shows that while about three-quarters of kids younger than five get the recommended three hours of activity each day, only 14 per cent of elementary-age children and just five per cent of junior-high or high-school children get the recommended one hour.
Nora Johnston, the director of the Alberta Centre for Active Living, said what's most distressing about the 2015 report is it shows little or no improvement over previous years.
"My concern is it's not getting better," she said. "With all the knowledge we have and the initiatives that are in place, we still aren't seeing increases in physical activity."
She points to the usual suspects when asked why these levels don't appear to be changing – televisions, computers, videogames and the tablets all hold a lot of appeal to kids.
Coupled with a prevailing attitude amongst parents who are significantly more risk-averse than even a decade or two past, there are some big hurdles to overcome, but the solution may be pretty simple.
"Part of it is that what kids are enticed by, but part of it is that parents just need to send them out the door to play and just limit the screen time," she said.
Taking risks
The ParticipACTION Report Card identifies the risk-averse attitude as being a significant contributor to low physical activity levels, which is outlined more in a position statement accompanying the report.
It recommends increasing the amount of unsupervised, self-directed play and allowing our kids to take more risks – not like skating on thin ice risks, more like jumping off the swing set or falling off the teeter-totter kind of risks.
Johnston explained taking some risks could help children develop their own sense of limitations, especially in a situation where, for example, a child has a hard landing after a fall or a jump.
"You would end up knowing what your risk is, what level you can go to before you might not enjoy that landing very much," she said.
The position statement further encourages children to play not only in the established types of playground structures, but also to get out and explore more natural areas.
"In a way, it's much more interactive than a static play structure," Johnston said. "The play structure's going to be the same every day, whereas the ravine will change on a daily basis."
Thomas Holmes, a psychologist who works with children and youth in the St. Albert area, agrees with this assessment. He noted unstructured playtime can be beneficial to both mind and body, and children often respond better to it.
He used an example of a new playground built at the Namao School, where next to the brand-new equipment there is a large open area with sand and some old tires of various sizes for climbing and stacking. The sand and tires are as popular as the play structure, if not more so.
"They're digging, they're pushing, they're pulling, they're working together, they're being creative … and they're doing all that in a pile of sand and old tires," he said.
Holmes emphasized there's an added benefit to actually getting out of the structures of civilization and getting into the woods, which can provide an added benefit from a mental-health perspective.
"Our brains are really hardwired to things like rhythm and nature, so those things are really regulating," he said. "There's a reason why people listen to a gurgling stream on a relaxation tape."
Furthermore, the sense of adventure that comes from exploring a natural area helps to enhance social and emotional bonds within a group of children, promoting development in those areas.
Disconnected
The proliferation of digital technology has spurred a fundamental shift in how we live our lives, as we spend more and more time with screens and less time with trees.
This trend has spurred questions and research into how this shift is affecting us, and some have argued the effect is significant and frightening.
Author Richard Louv popularized the term "Nature Deficit Disorder" in his book Last Child in the Woods to describe this phenomenon.
Holmes said while this idea is not a diagnosis included in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, widely considered the official word on mental-health issue in academia, it's nonetheless an interesting idea about how technology can serve to disconnect children from nature.
"Technology is important, but all things in moderation," he said. "I think we need to give our kids that unstructured play time; it's really beneficial to their mind and bodies."
Psychologist Susan Grinder, who also works with children and youth in the St. Albert area, suggested there's a very significant and negative connection between overall wellbeing and technology.
"I could talk for days about the links between lower levels of mental health and higher levels of technology – being away from nature and away from the old-fashioned family and community connection," she said.
When she was a child, she said, she and her friends would be out playing from sunrise to sunset, and there were generally low levels of depression, anxiety, and related mental-health issues.
"It's getting worse," she said. "It's an epidemic, and it's coming from our advancements in technology in my opinion."
Grinder said she also sees an increase in risk-averse attitudes from parents playing a significant role in this trend.
Crime levels have not increased substantially in four decades, she said, but there's nonetheless an impression the world is less safe than it once was.
"What we need to do is have less structure in children's activities outside, and I think parents would benefit from relaxing," she said.
Too young?
While many will accept the need for chldren to get more unstructured, unsupervised physical activity, one cannot avoid the news stories of parents who get into trouble with the law or with social services organizations for allowing their children too much freedom with a "free-range parenting" philosophy.
In Alberta, there are no hard and fast rules about what is an appropriate, responsible amount of leeway to provide children at what age, but rather there is a need for a "common-sense approach."
Zoë Cooper, a spokesperson for the provincial ministry of Human Services, which includes Child & Family Services, said parents are in the best position to determine what is appropriate for their own children.
"We don't have any legislation or specific policy that outlines an age when children can or cannot play alone," she said.
Parents must draw the line somewhere, based on their children's age, maturity level, what parameters they want to set around an unsupervised experience, access to a responsible adult in case of emergency, and what the perception of other adults coming into contact with the children may be.
This ambiguity may certainly cause some parents to err on the side of caution, but there are nonetheless options to help children reconnect with nature and with physical activity in general.
One option in St. Albert, for those who are perhaps unable to get out of the city or don't have much knowledge of nature themselves, is the Summer Nature Centre at the corner of Sturgeon Road and St. Albert Trail, which offers free drop-in programs during the weekdays all summer long.
Co-ordinator Jillian Dyck, who worked with the centre last summer as well, said many children come with a limited knowledge of nature and leave better-informed about the natural world around us.
"It encourages kids not only to do activities indoors, but to get outside," she said. "I really like that we're able to do that; it's definitely a safe area around here."
Johnston said she encourages parents who aren't comfortable leaving their children unsupervised to roam free to simply try to supervise in a less obtrusive way, or to consider educational opportunities for things like bike safety to give them peace of mind.
Most importantly, she said, is to remember that children learn what they see.
"We as Albertans and as Canadians, we all need to be physically active for better physical and mental health," she said. "If we can model those behaviours for our kids, I think we'll create a society where the kids are going to be more active again than they have been."
To read the ParticipACTION report, visit www.participaction.com.
