Life Potatoes

Dick Meyer On Overly Idle Kids & The Decline Of Common Sense

(CBS)  This commentary was written by CBSNews.com's Dick Meyer.

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Have the instincts of our species atrophied so completely that parents need to be told to have their kids play outside?

Apparently.

Apparently, it's worse than that.

Apparently, the American family of homo sapiens now needs national commissions, Congressional oversight, how-to books and even a slogan, "No Child Left Inside," to get our young out of their shelters. This used to be accomplished when primitive mothers and fathers pointed a finger and spoke two words: "Go outside." Occasionally, two other words were needed: "Or else."

I'm not sure how much weight the "or else" locution carries in the contemporary household. But "go outside" seems to have gone the way of other primitive behaviors, like not wearing hats in restaurants.

So now we have the National Forum on Children and Nation, sponsored by the Conservation Fund and aided by various businesses and politicians.

It's part of what Washington Post reporter Donna St. Clair found to be a broader bureaucratic assault on youthful sloth. "In recent months," she wrote, "it has been the focus of Capitol Hill hearings, state legislative action, grass-roots projects, a U.S. Forest Service initiative to get more children into the woods and a national effort to promote a 'green hour' in each day."

Good luck and Godspeed to all of them.

Richard Louv is helping the "go outside" alliance. He's the author of "Last Child in the Woods" and he coined the fabulous phrase "nature-deficit disorder." I have a boatload of politically incorrect and highly uninformed thoughts about this syndrome, but I'll just share two of them.

One, if kids didn't plop their soon-to-be-wide butts in front of electronic screens so much and used the imagination more in make-believe games, pretending and outdoor, free-form unstructured play – away from meddling grown-ups – there would be less attention-deficit disorder in the world.

Two (and I might lose you here), and speaking as a fisherman, I think we featherless bipeds get really corked up if we don't do something to lubricate the ancient hunter-gatherer instincts that lurk in our genes. It alienates us from what Marx called "species being," and although I don't know what that really means, it sounds exactly like what I mean. Anyway, I usually don't say this in mixed company (fishermen versus civilians), but I think kids ought to hunt and fish, not just play.

Now, I have paid close attention over several years to the research about the effects of television, video games and the Internet on children's behavior and their neurological and emotional development. And I can assure you, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that the research is conclusive. Find a paper that says video games rot a kid's soul and I'll find one that says they enhance the function of the inferior cerebellar peduncle.

But I believe some day I'll be vindicated and the research will be clear: electronic fun is bad except in low doses. In the meantime, I'll have to trust what I observe: kids who spend a lot of time in front of screens are different than kids who don't. It's not brain surgery.

The "go outside" movement will be helped immensely by the good works of Conn and Hal Iggulden. These guys wrote the best-selling book, "The Dangerous Book for Boys."

It's a best-seller for a reason; it's great, fun and virtuous. The outside consultant I use in these matters, Daniel Meyer, age 12, agrees. Having prior expertise in the making of bows, arrows and tomahawks, my son thinks especially highly of the sections on "Insects and Spiders," "Tanning a Skin," and "Hunting and Cooking a Rabbit."

Cities and suburbs, of course, are anti-nature, but the suburbs weren't supposed to be. They weren't when I was a kid. But drive around suburbia and exurbia now and you just don't see kids outside. Never mind seeing kids hunting varmints or making forts; you also won't see them shooting baskets or playing hopscotch.

Kids are not just shackled to their machines, they're shackled to their schedules. Or should I say the schedules we impose on them, whether it's because two parents have to work or because we're trying to design the kind of trophy children that will get into a good college. We leave them alone too much and we don't leave them alone enough.

But surely between the sadistic amounts of homework schools now load on all kids over the age of 7, organized sports and lessons, portable electronic games and the big-screen junk, we are squeezing the imagination and the daring out of our kids.

We are not going to just have too many couch potatoes, we're going to have too many life potatoes.

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E-mail questions, comments, complaints, arguments and ideas to
Against the Grain. We will publish some of the interesting (and civil) ones, sometimes in edited form.

[taddles-2009]

"There is nothing wrong with anabolic steroids. The drugs develop the body.
Posted by Antillo99 at 09:19 AM : Jun 29, 2007"

I assume you're joking since no one over the age of 4 actually believes something as supremely stupid as what you printed.

[heresmy2cent]

The decline of common sense...

Why don't you write an article on the effect the legal profession is having on our society? Many of our problems are caused America's overabundance of lawyers and their eagerness to sue over anything that may turn a profit.

Most schools today are fearful of having kids go to school when it snows for fear of a lawsuit, they're unable to tell parents that their child is overweight because that might infringe on someone's "rights," and on and on. The same goes for government agencies and private businesses as well. Everything need to be analyzed to see if it "lawyer proof" or at least "lawsuit resistant."

You cannot buy any product today without it having some idiotic tag or disclaimer attached to it--all out of fear of being sued for something.

Lawyers are at the root of many of modern America's ills and are ruining this country by driving up the cost of everything.

[ubrew12]

"if remaining in line means a greater chance of living and maintaining my own modest lifestyle, you bet I'll conform." Posted by hypnotoad72 at 09:41 PM : Jun 28, 2007

Death by a thousand pricks...
People like you don't deserve a weekend...

[cellac-2009]

"Totally unsafe what with drive-by shootings, abductions, child molestation by the priesthood, coverup by Mahoney and others, break-ins, muggings, rapes, murders, and worse perpetrated by the absoutely most criminal element illegally in our country. OUR kids cannot play till OUR streets are rid of illegal aliens and the criminal employers of them"

RIDICULOUS. The majority of crimes are NOT committed by illegal aliens. And most child abductions, molestations, rapes, and murders are commited by family members or other persons the child knows. Very rarely is it the stranger walking down the sidewalk.

[hypnotoad72]

I wish I could disagree with the responses here.

I can't.

Except for "It's a very child-unfriendly culture--in the US the only reason for people to exist is to make money for the owner class. Don't like it?--your job can be sent to India, ya know." -- if offshoring was about keeping people in line, NO jobs would be offshored. But if remaining in line means a greater chance of living and maintaining my own modest lifestyle, you bet I'll conform. It's as simple as that, when the time to make the choice comes.

[ubikvalis2]

"When I was growing up, you took some old boxes and made a fort with some old bed-sheets, now they sell them at Sam's club, and dad assembles them for the kids. They even sell indoor tents now for kids. We used to create these things from scratch."

No kidding! I remember when my brother used to visit me we made buildings from all the couch cushions it was so much fun! So much is pre-chewed for children these days. Give children a balloon, a few sticks, some cardboard, whatever, and let the imagination do the rest!

[tucano2]

Totally unsafe what with drive-by shootings, abductions, child molestation by the priesthood, coverup by Mahoney and others, break-ins, muggings, rapes, murders, and worse perpetrated by the absoutely most criminal element illegally in our country. OUR kids cannot play till OUR streets are rid of illegal aliens and the criminal employers of them. Do not expect much change till we American voting taxpayers fire every one of the polititions that provide excuses and/or sanctuary for these terrorists.

[kiddbilly]

it's so refreshing to read bolgs about fond memories instead of how uptight every one is. yes me ,my wife and seven children still take time to explore the outdoors. to this day the smell of fresh cut grass,just after it rains or the sound of a ball being hit by a bat sends my mind back,back,back in time. i hope when the day comes for me to leave this earth some one has just cut the grass and it begins to rain. ah !!! what a way to go !!!!!!!

[minminmin-2009]

Aah, Mr. Meyer has forced me to wax nostalgic about my childhood. He forgot to mention the part about kids getting hurt. I can't remember how my trees I fell out of or how many times I crashed and burned on my bike or skates. The ritual was always the same...go find Mom (yes, she was probably home, not at work) but if she happened to work, sometimes you could get a surrogate Mom to put that purple stuff on your knees (which were always a glorius scabby mess) and what?? Send you back outside, of course! That was life without pads, my friends. You learned to take your lumps and keep on going....a very valuable life lesson.

[sunsetmom3]

A lot of people have made valid points as to why our kids don't get out like they used to.

My family (my husband and I have three kids) just moved from a house with a practically non-existant backyard on a busy street to a subdivision in the country with an acre lot.

I was amazed how much the kids are outside now! But it is safe for them to be out now and there is tons of room to play and lots of kids in our small country subdivision to go out and play with.

We may have TVs but the kids don't watch them for long. We don't have video games and my kids are not technically savvy with a computer.

I am in a unique position - I can stay at home with the kids. It gives me more time to get things done at home and let them be outside playing. But not everyone can do that or lives where it is safe to let your kids out.

[dlc0559]

I have read a lot of the messgages. I would have to agree with most. Kids these days don't get out enough. But, we have to look at all avenues. We live in a rural area in northern Michigan. We used to be able to ride bikes down the road, take four wheelers or mini bikes to our friends. We were able to explore the woods without incident. Now, you have to wear helmets for protection, you can't ride down the side of the road because you'll get a ticket. You can't cross property lines because the neighbor will get upset. All of this "self protection" for what?

We need to take away the video games, movies, computers and cable tv. Get rid of some lawyers, police, organizations trying to protect us. Let people be people, not robots. We're not perfect and we'll never be perfect. Don't try to protect eveyone. We learn by making mistakes. Our kids will never be able to survive if they don't learn how to live.

[gkc99]

In the good ol' USA, now both parents have to work full time just to have the "American Dream" of home ownership.

Greedy business owners and their lackey politicians arrange for Americans to have less vacation time than in any other industrial country.

Right wing droolers make fun of countries like France where the people get (gasp!) 5 weeks minimum vacation and fully paid medical care. Who would want that! It's communism!

It's a very child-unfriendly culture--in the US the only reason for people to exist is to make money for the owner class. Don't like it?--your job can be sent to India, ya know.

And Bushit tells us to get more exercise. How about by running the jerk out of the white house and maybe hanging a few of the billionaires who think they own us all?

[soxperk]

Theories and rants based on my own pop-culture analysis and observations.

1. US kids don%u2019t go outdoors because paranoid parents prefer they remain inside where they can be monitored and are safe from the hordes of child pornographers and predators waiting to molest, abduct, or kill all American children under age 18.

2. US kids don%u2019t go outdoors because their parents don%u2019t want to accompany them outside. Nature is NOT air conditioned. It is hot and humid outside, and the overweight parents are unable and unwilling to play outdoors with their kids.
3. The outside is boring! You gotta use your imagination and your own initiative to entertain yourself.
4. Going outside is bad for a kid's self-esteem. If parents allow Suzy or Billy play out doors, he or she might start playing a game of basketball or baseball. What if Suzy can't dribble? What if Billy can%u2019t hit? Other kids will see this and laugh at them, and do critical and irreparable damage to their SELF-ESTEEM! Billy and Suzy will have failed and will be severely traumatized. Their Self-esteem-o-meter will go to ZERO and they will no longer be SPECIAL. Billy might even start to think that perhaps he is not the greatest ball player in the world as his parents have been telling him every day for the last 10 years.

[jeff776]

Is our capitolistic consumerism to blame? Buy buy buy if life could be bottled and sold in a gas station it would be.

How many families these days are able to function on a hierarchy of acculization with out both parents working 48-50 weeks out of the year?

Funny how we have great technologies, but employment opportunities do not expand outside of city and surburban enviroments.

Wonder how Holland is doing with their program on moving certain proffesions to home offices? Has it improved family life or is it another distraction in the home?

[rgkntulsa]

This is just a symptom of a bigger problem. Our society destroys family life by expecting both parents to have careers and work outside the home. It's a copout to blame the parents.

[cbs_oliver]

I am not sure if it really is much more dangerous outside than when I was young.

Perhaps a bit because the population density is greater and mobility is greater.

But mostly kids travel in pairs and play in packs and they can be quite savvy. The times when they are significantly vulnerable are less than some might think.

[asor1-2009]

This article is making many of us 'homesick' for those summer days before we became aware of the rest of the world.
We left our TV behind when we moved, 10 years ago, we have not for one second missed it. When our grandkids visit us they have fun outside doing some of those silly/sweet old things.
Who said, "TV is an idiot's lantern"?

[brianbwb-2009]

Yes childhood, hot fun in the summertime, riding bikes to the park, making out at the secret place, do they still have summer vacation?

But life got harder, career jobs disappeared, insecurity became the new zeitgeist, the parks were "developed' into housing projects that DE-veloped into stores, warehouses, and slums, as the right wing gained power, more public life was "privatized", money became too hard to make honestly, costs rose, wages fell, only the homeless were outdoors for any length of time.

Now for someone to say "go outside more often" is an exercise in lunacy, it is dangerous outside.
Better to spend the media space discussing and fixing the reasons why it is dangerous to go outside.

[bombadil4]

I don't really disagree with the gist of this article. It's just that I'm less interested in the perenniel "what's wrong with the kids" articles when we as adults are doing a lot more damage to their future than letting them stay inside with their electronic doo-dads. We've bought into phoney and tragic wars, corporate greed and irresponsibility, politicians controlled by special interests, and gross underfunding of most social programs that might make a real difference to our society. We may even have pursued policies destined to turn our planet into a barely habitable mess in our children's lifetime. If the kids are tuning out, it's hardly a surprise.

[rohrbach6]

I remember the days of hanging out with my friends until "street lights on, get your but home". Some days, I would just hang out in a big old apple tree in the back yard, or the hay mount in our barn, with a good book and a few cookies I swiped from the cookie jar. I can remember riding my bike everywhere in town, even until the day I graduated from high school!


My 19 yr.old and 16 yr. old still ride their bikes for exercise(the 19 yr. old even walks 3 blocks to her job, which a lot of kids in our town won't do!?!). My 10 yr. old daughter rides her bike everywhere. She goes out every day and plays with her friends, as well as takes a bike ride or a walk with me every night after dinner.

Last night, my 10 yr. old went on a bike ride with her friends, ending up at the school baseball field, playing an impromptu game of baseball with 3 boys around their age that were playing catch. This is what childhood should be about. I hope these are her fondest memories as they were mine when I was growing up, just having fun with my family and friends, feeling carefree. We need to encourage our children to get out there and enjoy the wonders of the great outdoors....and make a few friends and memories along the way.