Summer is the perfect time to get outside and be active with your children.  Helping youth get into the habit of enjoying fresh air and sunshine can’t start early enough.  Many young people prefer electronics and television in their spare time, but if we break that habit early, fun play time can become the norm.

According to Victoria L. Dunckley, M.D. in a Psychology Today article, numerous screen-related factors trigger stress or hyperarousal.  Some of these factors include reward/addiction pathways, intense sensory stimulation, bright and blue-toned light, media multitasking, interactivity and rapid pace, and electromagnetic radiation.  She goes on to say, “Because chronic stress effectively ‘short circuits’ the frontal lobe, a hyperaroused and mentally depleted child will have trouble paying attention, managing emotions, suppressing impulses, following directions, tolerating frustrations, accessing creativity and compassion, and executing tasks”.

This is reason enough to head outside and enjoy fun play time.  Some things to try with your child:

• Go fishing
• Read a book under a tree
• Dig in the dirt
• Plant a garden
• Pick flowers
• Chase a butterfly
• Look for bugs and other creepy crawly things
• Lay on your back and look at the clouds
• Roll down a hill
• Go on a picnic
• Fly a kite
• Blow bubbles
• Draw with chalk
• Play hopscotch
• Hula hoop
• Climb a tree
• Jump rope

This is Your Child’s Brain on Video Games, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mental-wealth/201609/is-your-childs-brain-video-games

So, go outside and explore the great outdoors!