An interesting article to read

[+LaTuFu]

I saw this article on WashingtonPost.com today.

 

Its something that I have been noticing with my son and the members of his Cub Scout Den. We've gone on several camping trips this spring, and the parents have begun to notice a phenomena we never had when we were kids: Chasing our kids out of the tents to go outside and play.

 

As the summer has progressed and we've made the camping trips a regular thing, the problem of chasing them out of the tents has gradually died down. I think its a good wake up call for all of us. If we're not encouraging them to get outside and play, they won't!

 

The first couple of times we went caching, my son thought it was a prison sentence. Now he almost drags me out the door to go.

 

I hope you find the article informative (and I hope I posted in the right forum)

[+The Jester]

A very interesting article. Thanks for sharing it.

[+jbiciolis91]

Ya good read. I can definately relate, Im always out fishin at an unrban lake or camping or doing FFA activities while my little brother sits onthe computer all day evry day and plays computer games. Nice read Thanks again.

[+simpjkee]

"nature deficit disorder"

----- he's kidding right?

 

"Experts suggest a major factor in the decline of outdoor time is parental fears about leaving children unattended -- aggravated by excessive media coverage of horrific crimes."

-----not so much as aggravated as much as caused

 

"I think we as a nation need to wake up to this."

-----the nation WILL wake up...and then hit the snooze button until it is too late

[+LaTuFu]

"Experts suggest a major factor in the decline of outdoor time is parental fears about leaving children unattended -- aggravated by excessive media coverage of horrific crimes."

-----not so much as aggravated as much as caused

 

I think this factor has a lot more to do with it than people realize. When we were kids, there were three channels, maybe a few cable channels depending on where you lived. But even back then with cable, the local news came on at 6:00 and the national news at 6:30. You had 3 choices, and that was it. They didn't have time in 30 minutes to cover every little heart tugging crime that occured that day.

 

Today we have at least 7 24-hours-a-day News channels, who knows how many internet sites and blogs, all competing to be the first one to "break" the next story and spend 17 hours of the next broadcast day dragging in 28 "experts" to describe ad naseum how horrific little Johnny's scooter accident was.

 

I don't have any statistics to back up my claim, but I have a hunch that Child crimes (kidnappings, etc) are no more frequent today than they were 30 years ago (relative to our population size. I'm sure there are more today than 30 years ago, but just purely as a function of the fact that our population has grown also). We just hear about them more because its something they can broadcast.

 

I know "it can happen anywhere" but in 38 years of living in the same town, it hasn't happened here. The odds of it happening have got to be higher than being in a car crash.

[+d-town cachers]

funny, it doesn't say anything about their parents and their terrible addiction to geocaching forums!!

[+Two Geeks and a GPS]

We do a week long , guys (over 15 ) bonding fishing trip every September. A buddy brought his nephew who is 15. We're talking 70 degrees, sunny, remote, pristine northern Michigan wilderness. The kid stayed in the tent all the time and read a book!

At least he wasn't playing a video game!

[+boda]

I don't have any statistics to back up my claim, but I have a hunch that Child crimes (kidnappings, etc) are no more frequent today than they were 30 years ago (relative to our population size. I'm sure there are more today than 30 years ago, but just purely as a function of the fact that our population has grown also). We just hear about them more because its something they can broadcast.

 

Coincidently, in the past 3 months I saw two unrelated articles agreeing with you completely (although I don't recall the 30 year timeframe being mentioned). If I knew this would come up, I would have written down the sources. One was a newspaper article, the other on a national, network TV news journal type of show.

 

Would you believe - one channel, then two and finally three channels. WOW!

 

A little poll: How many times did Miss USA fall down on that stage in Mexico?

I counted at least 200, usually 3 - 8 at a time.

[+wandererrob]

The OP's observation of chasing the kids out to play reminds me of my girlfriend's little sister and her friends. We were up in NH at the lake on Memorial day weekend. It was gorgeous all weekend. They had to be all but forced to put down the Nintendo DS's and go outside and play.

 

I just shake my head and repeat my mantra... "Dogs, we're definitely having dogs."

[+simpjkee]

"Experts suggest a major factor in the decline of outdoor time is parental fears about leaving children unattended -- aggravated by excessive media coverage of horrific crimes."

-----not so much as aggravated as much as caused

 

I think this factor has a lot more to do with it than people realize.

 

yeah i agree. the quotes were from the story, the dashes are my thoughts.

[+wildchld97]

I saw this article on WashingtonPost.com today.

 

Its something that I have been noticing with my son and the members of his Cub Scout Den. We've gone on several camping trips this spring, and the parents have begun to notice a phenomena we never had when we were kids: Chasing our kids out of the tents to go outside and play.

 

As the summer has progressed and we've made the camping trips a regular thing, the problem of chasing them out of the tents has gradually died down. I think its a good wake up call for all of us. If we're not encouraging them to get outside and play, they won't!

 

The first couple of times we went caching, my son thought it was a prison sentence. Now he almost drags me out the door to go.

 

I hope you find the article informative (and I hope I posted in the right forum)

 

I have four kids. Two of them are all for going outside and have no problem geocaching/letterboxing/camping/hiking etc. The other two would rather do ANYTHING other than be outside. I'm not sure what happened.

 

Just the other day, my 14 year old girl had a friend over. The friend mentioned that she had never been camping. I came up with what I thought was a good idea...pitch a tent back in the woods behind our house, complete with fire pit to make mountain pies. My daughter grudgingly gave in and I thought all was well.....until I went to check on them in the middle of the night. I thought I had stepped on a snake on the way back but found that it was a 100 foot extension cord, plugged in to another 100 foot extension cord. That's when I noticed the odd blue light flickering inside the tent. I just had to shake my head...a tv AND the dvd player were inside the tent along with arount 10 dvd's. I guess that's my daughter's idea of *roughing* it. I explained to her friend however, that when we go camping/canoeing in July...these amneties will certainly not be available. Her response? "what are we going to do if we get bored though?"