There was a time in my life when I thought I might be a researcher. Experience with earning a Master’s and Ph.D. cured that. I realized at some point that I was more interested in working with people directly and I’ve had the good fortune to do that for 40 years. I do enjoy reading summaries of research that helps us see the trends in our profession. Sometimes those trends are just interesting and some are a little disturbing.
A new Nielsen Research Report indicates, American children aged 2-11 are watching more and more television than they have in years. New findings from The Nielsen Company show kids aged 2-5 now spend more than 32 hours a week on average in front of a TV screen. The older segment of that group (ages 6-11) spend a little less time, about 28 hours per week watching TV, due in part that they are more likely to be attending school for longer hours.
That’s not a huge surprise, but it does worry me. I’m one of those who believe that our mind and body connection with nature was created over tens of thousands of years and is still vital. I believe the real contact with nature has learning benefits not equaled by the passive and somewhat interactive experiences with a TV and computer. The No Child Left Inside movement is encouraging and trends toward more government investment in environmental education are helpful. I hope it’s enough. According to Jim Motavalli a 2001 Roper Starch Poll indicated that 95% of parents want environmental education in the formal classroom. That interest has grown with the environmental movement from the 1970s onward but still isn’t happening in a widespread way.
Studies on childhood obesity offer some interesting insight. Research reported by Jennifer Wolch, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and NCI USC TREC, is a longitudinal study of childhood obesity in California and the relationship with adjacent space to play outdoors. This involved many M.D.s and Ph.D.s as investigators. The results generally indicated that children with parks and recreation areas close by are less likely to be obese. That’s good news and matches my beliefs. We have to be have places for kids to play near all neighborhoods, not just the upscale ones. The challenge is how to use this and similar studies to leverage the acquisition of more open space and recreation programs.
As heritage interpreters we serve as facilitators in getting kids outdoors. Hopefully we provide that spark of inspiration that helps them connect and spend more time out there. Clearly we have some challenges suggested by these research activities. How do we get more open space adjacent to urban children? How do we get them away from TV and the Internet to have real experiences? How do we use these new technologies as a bridge to real experiences in the outdoors that help children become better critical thinkers, healthier and stewards of the environment?
I don’t know the answers to all of these questions, but the research is interesting and helpful, if a bit disturbing. What are you reading about in the world of surveys and research that makes you think?
-Tim Merriman
2 Responses
January 1st, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Tim, Interesting post. I feel very fortunate to have grown up on a farm and lived an outdoor life style. I was not allowed to be watching tv during day light hours. I still live in the country and spend as much time outside as possible. My electric bill is really high. I worked with my electric company to figure out why. One reason is less and less people live in the country and the electric company services fewer households. This is because the average size of a farm in acreage has increased tremendously and it takes less households to farm more land. I had never thought about this until my electric company guy brought it up. Now we have to figure out how to get urban kids outdoors. I was happy to read some statistics about the horse industry. There are 9.2 million horses in the U.S. There are 2 million horse owners. There are 4.6 milion people involved in the horse industry. Approximately, 34% of horse owners have a household income of less than $50,000……. If a kid owns a horse they may sit in front of a tv less. I suggest we get kids more horses. ( : Betty Brennan
January 1st, 2010 at 6:25 pm
Thanks, Betty. I agree with your comments. Lots of kids miss playing in a stream, making a treehouse or fort and the kinds of outdoor play we took for granted. It’s a shame and we need to do better at getting kids outdoors in urban parks and nature centers. Happy New Year.
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