Is Your Family Happier Outdoors?

For this week’s Because I Said So Buck and I are going to discuss some questions provided by JuiceBox Jungle.  JuiceBox Jungle is the widget I have over in my right hand sidebar that provides different parenting tips and this week it has a video listed of Sarah Miles Ph.D. discussing childhood learning.  She tells us in her video this week, the absolute best, educational toys are no toys at all. “Get outside and PLAY!” she says.

JuiceBox Jungle says they agree and asked: “Do you? Do you find that both you and your kids are much happier when you get outside and move and explore?”

I do have to say I agree.  My kids love playing outside.  When they are stuck in the house all day their attention span is very limited.  They can turn a house upside down in a matter of minutes.  We are fortunate enough to have a fairly large backyard that is fenced in so they can go out there, play on the swing set, run around, jump on the trampoline and even play in the dirt.  During the nice weather days I will sit on the back porch with my laptop and work while they play.  Other times I will pull back the curtains and open the blinds to watch them from inside if I am cleaning or doing other household chores.  My little ones can literally spend hours playing outside and never get bored.  They even enjoy having picnics and eating their lunch outside.

When the weather is bad or we are stuck indoors for any reason.  We always feel better when we play music, dance around and get moving.  Revisiting this topic has made me realize we need to do this more often.  My 12 year old has even fallen into the trap of being on a computer more, watching too much TV or getting sucked into her room.  This weekend they are going horse back riding with their grandma so that will help.

So my answer is YES, I do agree that playing outside, being active and using educational toys is the best way to go.  Can’t say it is what I always do but I believe I now have a new goal of making this happen more often.

I’m headed over to see what Buck has to say, you coming?

Have a topic or question you would like to hear our views on? Have you always wanted to hear both sides of a topic or answers to a question, unbiased? You can submit topics or questions via comments or even anonymously to djane (at) mommadjane (dot) com. We will pick questions at random and blog on one topic per week.