Aussie kids: inactive, indoors and introverted
22 February 2002
One in 5 Australian children aged 2 to 16 spends less than 5 hours of their recreational time involved in outdoor activities and more than half spend less than 10 hours.
These findings come from a national Newspoll survey of 464 parents and guardians of children aged 2 to 16 and are despite the fact that 94 per cent of Australian parents and guardians believe that outdoor activity is very important for their children’s mental and physical development.
Capital cities versus rural areas
The research shows that the closer children live to capital cities the less time they spend involved in outdoor activities. Of capital city children, 58 per cent spend less than 10 hours a week involved in outdoor activities compared with 49 per cent of those based in rural and regional areas.
Children aged 2 to 5
In this age group nearly half (49 per cent) of the children spend less than 10 hours of their total weekly leisure time involved in outdoor activities.
Children aged 6 to 12
Time spent doing outdoor activities lessens with increasing age, with even more (56 per cent) of this group spending less than 10 hours of their weekly leisure time being active out of doors.
Children aged 13 to 16
In this age group the percentage spending less than 10 hours involved in outdoor activities increased to 66 per cent.
Child’s Play programme
To address the problem, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs The Hon Larry Anthony launched the ‘Sorbent Child’s Play’ programme earlier this week.
The programme will provide $200,000 in funding and equipment in a bid to encourage schools, parents and community groups to increase the amount of time children are involved in outdoor activity.
According to the Manager of Community Programs and Social Policy – Sport Development, of the Australian Sports Commission, Ms Shirley Williams, ‘research shows that there has been a huge increase in television/video viewing by children, a decrease in organised sports and an increase in participation in computer and video games’.
Advantages
The importance of outdoor activity for children is supported by the many advantages gained from it.
Leading Australian child psychologist Dr John Irvine explained:
‘Outdoor play has many benefits including the development of better co-ordination, heightened imagination, creative lateral thinking and better problem-solving skills. It helps to build confidence by teaching children how to interact with each other and increases their self-esteem because they have time to think about resolving their problems.
‘Lack of outdoor play can have very serious implications for children causing them to become more introverted, more prone to anger leading to greater levels of friction within the family unit, and can cause children to become lazy and irritable.
‘The habits children learn tend to stay with them for life. If parents can develop habits of healthy bodies and outdoor enjoyment then these traits are likely to assist the child when they reach maturity and will in turn be passed on to their own children when they start parenting.'
Last Reviewed: 22 February 2002
