Do your Kids Play Outside?Giveaway growing!

Parents Urged to Let Children Play Outside
Morning readers!
I do hope you are all entering my giveaway!Details and link are on the right of page..Please take a moment to give me your thoughts on this article as well.I do appreciate it.How do you feel about your kids being outdoors?Are they allowed too?Or is there even any ''outdoors'' where you live that is safe?That is a problem that faces a lot of children now.There is no safe play area to learn in,and the psycho predators that linger there to hurt children.Not a lot of families live in rural areas where kids are actually allowed to ''run free'' anymore.I am lucky i do live in the country.The kids are allowed to have run of the yard and billy is adventuring farther and farther out now at 6.He and kolby(3&1/2) loves climbing trees,digging holes,riding stick horses,jumping off small hills,just being boys.I do not bother trying to drees them up each day,they have more play clothes than anything.They have ''yard toys'' on one end of the yard ,that is their area.Might call it their gathering space.Everything goes here from bikes to sticks,(not meaning that they stay there.lol..)The yard certainly isn't manicured,just kid friendly and fun..What yard's use to be.
They enjoy watching wildlife,feeding pets,walking,and making mud pies. ;)
Here is a post i found this morning i wanted to share.Please leave me your thoughts on this.good and bad..remember if you mention in your comments about my giveaway you are entered again!Just make sure you go to original post to get the rules!!!!The giveaway box is growing so comment away!Here is the link to my giveaway.
Simply Southern~My First Giveaway!Enter Now-Its cold in Alabama
other giveaways added at bottom this evening.6 am and i have charlie-age 8 mos. and billy age 6 already in here with me! ;0 lol..
Have a great day!!!
Betty~Simply Southern
Hunting Paradise in God ,GrandKids,Fireflys and Whipporwills!
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American children are spending more and more of their leisure time indoors -- watching TV, playing video games and chatting with friends on line. That concerns many child development experts and others who would rather encourage them to be outside hiking, climbing trees, riding bikes and watching birds. They want to end children's alienation from nature, and what they believe are the adverse effects on child development. "I grew up in a pretty large family, having six older brothers and sisters. All I did was play outside," says Olympic gold medal soccer player Abby Wambach. "My parents helped out in that arena. They locked the door on us; they told us you couldn't come back until dinnertime. So, I pretty much spent my life outdoors."Even if playing outside doesn't lead to a gold medal, Darell Hammond says it is important for a child's physical and mental development."Playing outside helps release endorphins in your body that motivate you," he says. "It gives you sensory experiences around touch, smell and sight."Hammond is Co-Founder of KaBoom!, a non-profit that is working to build a playground within walking distance of every child in America."When walking through the woods, it actually helps your balance because it's not like walking on a sidewalk that may be 100 percent flat." Walking across "different types of land increases your heart rate," he says. When children play in nature, whether it's in a wooded park or a playground, Hammond says they tend to invent their own games and are more likely to play collectively. "When kids get outside, their activity runs wild."Unfortunately, he says, children don't play outside today as often as they did three decades ago, because "parents are busier; kids are more over scheduled." Children are spending more time after school in highly structured activities, playing organized sports or attending music and art classes. During school vacations, they are usually busy at summer camp.
http://www.voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2007-05-17-voa29.cfm?

Author Richard Louv says playing outside is the answer to childhood obesity.Musician Chuck Leavell wants children to appreciate nature Writer and outdoor advocate Richard Louv says when children have free time at home, they are more likely to stay inside, because there might not be a nearby park or even a sidewalk."Even when you have a sidewalk, for example, there is more and more traffic. That's a legitimate fear," he says. In recent decades, Louv notes, the fear that a stranger will abduct or harm a child has accelerated greatly in the United States and other countries.In his book, Last Child In The Woods, Louv says children's alienation from nature causes what he calls "nature deficit disorder," although he is careful to point out that "nature deficit disorder is not a medical diagnosis. "Perhaps it should, but it is not. It's a societal problem," he says. "It's the society that gets in the way of kids going outside and playing in nature."Louv says playing outside is the answer to America's child obesity problem as well as many other childhood disorders. "For example, studies of Attention Deficit Disorder being done in the University of Illinois show that kids with those symptoms, the symptoms get much better with just a little bit of contact with nature in kids as young as 5 years old," he says.Experiencing nature through outdoor play is also the best school for tomorrow's environmentalists, according to musician Chuck Leavell, author of the children's book, Tree Farmer. "It you ask little Johnny where the guitar comes from, he's likely to tell you from the music store," he says. "In fact the guitar comes from a resource of wood. So we want to get these young minds thinking about nature, about how bio-diversity works together. You want to plant this seed and you want to let this see grow and flourish."To get children outdoors, and back to nature, Richard Louv advocates a comprehensive approach. "Parents, grandparents, aunts,uncles and other adults, we need to take kids outdoors ourselves," he says.