Chasing Hawk

in this day and age of "electronic babysitters".


Play time

https://www.bakersfield.com/ap/natio...8a24a8d4f.html


Perfect advice I think...let them play, breath the almost fresh air (around here it's not so fresh due to wildfires), scrape their little knees up, dirty up their clothes, run around with dirty little feet.

cashs_mom

I've always thought kids needed more play time and less time with electronics and "guided play". They need time to just be kids!

My mother always said that a little dirt never hurt anybody. Builds antibodies

SusieQOH

That's a great article.
My little neighbors across the street play all the time the way I remember playing as a child. I love watching them. They have awesome parents too.

NZquilter

Great article. Playing is so important for kids. I remember playing outside all summer long, everyday. My DH and I don't let our daughters have too many electronic/singing toys, because, like you said Chasing Hawk, it's too easy to become an electronic babysitter. I always feel sorry for kids when I see them glued to an ipad or something by the age of three.

Onebyone

My grandsons ages 4 and 6 have not ever been allowed electronic play time unless it was too cold or wet to be outside. They both have Kindle Fire tablets but are not obsessed with the games, movies, etc. They have a tree house to climb, a dirt pile to dig in, a fishing hole 1/4 mile from backyard, fossils and dino bones to search for, and a good dog to keep them company. Nothing on earth smells better then a sweaty hard playing little boy!

mamagrande

This year my DH ordered a dump truck load of dirt to cover the exposed roots of a big tree, but the dirt did not get to the designated place. The grandkids have brought their toy trucks, cars and have played on that hill all summer. At one time there were 8 kids out there...oh and they had the water hose on so there was mud. So muddy a few had to go home wrapped in a towel after being hosed down and a bath..so fun. I also have a pool so they get plenty of outside time while with me..Now that school is in session I am missing them already. Oh well maybe I will get more quilting done.

Chasing Hawk

My Mom chased our butts outside after we finished our chores after breakfast. We had to show up for lunch and be home before Dad got home or else!

I grew up in a town that had about 1,500 people and about half of those people were migrant families who worked for the big farms. Any kid could wander about town and not be bothered by anyone. My siblings and myself especially, practically every adult knew who our Dad was. We didn't go around causing trouble or harass anyone just because who our Dad was. Dad wasn't an important person, he wasn't on any council or part of the town hierarchy. Dad was 6'0" weighed 250 lbs. and a mean ol' Scotch/Irish man.....lol He was known as Al, Bud or Mr. Scott.

We also couldn't get away with anything around town, Dad knew before we got home.

Life was good back then, simpler.


Speed up a few years to when I had my own brood. I sent them outside after chores were done. When they were small tykes they had a backyard to play in. As they got older we let them ride bikes over to their friend's houses. And this was after I and their Dad met the parents, looked around their house, they looked over ours also. Curfews were imposed as they got more freedoms, and they were enforced. God forbid if I had to go hunt you down because you were late there was no grace period.

Anniedeb

I long for the good old days!! Just today I took my 11 yo DGS to SkyZone, an indoor trampoline park. On the way home he wanted to know if I had gone to SkyZone when I was little! We then talked about what I did as a kid. Clamp on roller skates. Shared bikes, walking to the library, jump rope, pogo stick, and swimming. Daily games with the neighborhood kids, running though sprinklers, and swinging, and just hanging out. Then I told him we weren't allowed to turn on the TV without permission! Told him the "correct" way to answer the phone. He had such a hard time grasping the concept of growing up in the 50's! He said "grandma....did you guys have any fun when you were little?" Yes. Yes we did!!

luvstoquilt

My grandkids do it all! They are active in sports, they swim, jump on the trampoline,play basketball in the driveway and enjoy their phones, Netflix and X-box. They don’t bring their phones to the table. I think they have a lot of fun but they don’t get to enjoy the freedom we did or even that my kids had. They are back in school now but had a great summer full of fun. It makes me crazy that school starts in mid-August rather than after Labor Day.

I don’t think it is all bad. My sons and their friends are so much more involved with the children than the men of my generation were. I worked and I still did most all the things my “stay at home” mother did.

ptquilts

There is something about play in a natural setting that is great for kids. Let them explore the wild, not just walk on pavement. It stimulates new connections in the brain.

My pet peeve is organized sports for little kids. Let them just grab a ball, choose up their own sides, make their own rules. They spend enough time with grownups telling them what to do and how to do it. Let sports be part of play, not another adult-led chore. Time enough for team sports when they hit junior high or high school.