Take a Child Outside Week Relies on Adults

Their future and yours rely on your actions.

Take your kids outside and share the joys of the natural world with them.

Building tiny forts or structures out of natural materials, moving rocks in a stream to see what happens to the water, or building stories or inventing dramas inspired by the materials available are great child-like ways to experience the natural world around them.

Do you feel like kids spend too much time playing video games or watching television indoors? Then take some time next week to celebrate Take a Child Outside Week. There are a lot of benefits for both you and your children in spending time outdoors and there are plenty of options in our community to celebrate nature.

Spending time outdoors helps reduce obesity and fight vitamin D deficiencies. According to the National Library of Medicine, it is estimated that around one billion people have a vitamin D deficiency and Oxford Journals found that 41.6% of adults have this deficiency. Vitamin D helps regulate the immune system and the neuromuscular system. And natural sunlight is a free way to be sure that your family isn’t having this deficiency. Spending ten to thirty minutes outdoors everyday will help keep you healthy and your vitamin D levels up.

Children benefit from being outdoors by learning to connect to the natural world. In our high-speed and achievement-focused culture, it can be easy to forget the importance of learning from our environment. But, by engaging with nature and experiencing the outdoors, kids can better understand their place in the world and how important their actions are on it. Celebrating Take a Child Outside Week helps get us into the habit of encouraging them to experience this crucial part of their development.

Now, I’m going to be very frank with you. This week is not called, “Push Your Child Outdoors And Lock the Doors From the Inside.” While it is tempting to expect your child to just embrace the outdoors alone because of how much work you have to do, it simply will not work as well as if you were out there experiencing the world with your child. You are their best role model. If they see you enjoying the outdoors, they are more likely to want to do so themselves and as you model different outdoor activities for them they will learn to do them on their own with time. Take a Child Outside Week is inspired by Richard Louv’s book “Last Child in the Woods” and it is focused on breaking down obstacles that keep children from discovering the environment around them. Sometimes, adults are the biggest obstacle and we have to be aware of the impact we have on them. And there are a whole host of health benefits adults get from being outside too, not just kids!

 Dalton and Whitfield have many options for outdoor activities. You could help them spend time outdoors and volunteering by joining in with Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful’s Morris Makeover event happening on September 26th. Kids don’t often come into volunteering with pre-conceived notions of what is fun and what isn’t and many of the kids I have worked with have been incredibly excited to pick up litter. They love to compete on who can pick up the most, the fastest, or the weirdest items. If you think your family may enjoy a couple hours of a litter scavenger hunt, visit Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful on Facebook to sign up or call 706-226-6211.

You can also get together and head to one of the free parks. Haig Mill and Burr Park have some beautiful new can wraps installed by Abbie Burt, a citizen of the week a couple weeks ago, and Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful. You can take a look at those, play on the playground, and take a hike around. Parks or even your backyard can give you plenty of opportunities. Building tiny forts or homes out of natural materials, moving rocks in a stream to see what happens to the water, or building stories or inventing dramas inspired by the materials available all contribute to self-directed active play. Just remember to teach them the adage, “Take Nothing But Memories, Leave Nothing But Footprints.”

As a child grows, they will increase in their abilities to observe, build, pretend, discover, and begin to develop teamwork skills. From toddlers to teens to adults, it’s never too late to interact with the natural world around us. 

Amy Hartline is the recycling and education program coordinator for the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority. Have a recycling question? Contact her at (706) 278-5001 or ahartline@dwswa.org.