The Pica Perspective

The Truth About Trampolines

Sitting in my "blog file" since July has been an ABC News report called "Dramatic jump seen in trampoline-related injuries." Since there's still plenty of trampoline-jumping weather ahead, I figure this blog is better late than never!

With about 500,000 trampolines sold for backyard use each year in the U.S., it might surprise you to learn that the Academy of Pediatrics made the following recommendations in a 1999 policy statement:

1. Parents should never purchase a home trampoline or allow children to use home trampolines.
2. The trampoline should not be part of routine physical education classes in schools.
3. The trampoline has no place in outdoor playgrounds and should never be regarded as play equipment.

The reason for the strong stance? In 1996 approximately 83,400 trampoline-related injuries occurred in the United States -- 140% more than were reported in 1990. (In 1998 the Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated that 95,000 trampoline-related injuries had been treated in hospital emergency rooms.) The majority of these injuries happened on home tramps, with the greatest percentage of the injured children ages 5 to 14. Children under age 5 had the second-highest rate of injury. From 1990 to the time of the AAP policy statement in May 1999, there were six deaths involving trampolines, most from falls.

Given these statistics, if you were considering buying a backyard trampoline, you might want to decide against it. And you certainly don't want to allow your child to play on a trampoline in someone else's yard.

But if you already own one and feel strongly about keeping it, you should be aware of these tips the Consumer Product Safety Commission offers to help prevent serious injuries:

• Allow only one person on the trampoline at a time.
• Do not attempt or allow somersaults.
• Do not allow a trampoline to be used without shock-absorbing pads that completely cover the springs, hooks, and frame.
• Place the trampoline away from structures and other play areas. Use shock-absorbent materials on the ground around the perimeter.
• Do not use a ladder with the trampoline, because it provides unsupervised access by small children. No child under 6 years of age should use a regular-size trampoline. Secure the trampoline to prevent unauthorized and unattended use.
• Always supervise children who use a trampoline.

Why Children Need to Play

Came across a great article called "Exercise is not just child's play" by University of California - Irvine professor of pediatrics Dr. Dan Cooper. For those who need convincing, it offers some great scientific evidence that children need to move, if only for the sake of their "health, growth and development."

For those who want to actually see evidence of why children should be playing -- i.e., for the sheer joy of it and because joy matters, too -- check out these photos! I love numbers 1, 2, 9, 10, 13, & 14 -- because they depict true child's play. As do my two favorites: numbers 3 & 11!

How can anyone look at these and think that play doesn't matter?

Nature Deficit Disorder

Every year since 1985 the editors of The Futurist (members of the World Future Society) have selected the most thought-provoking ideas appearing in the magazine and have created a list of their top 10 forecasts for the future. Here's number 5 for 2007:

"Children's "nature deficit disorder" will grow as a health threat.  Children today are spending less time in direct contact with nature than did previous generations. The impacts are showing up not only in their lack of physical fitness, but also in the growing prevalence of hyperactivity and attention deficit. Studies show that immersing children in outdoor settingsaway from television and video gamesfosters more creative mental activity and concentration."

Nature deficit disorder is a term coined by Richard Louv, in his excellent book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. I knew that a lack of outdoor time for children was a big problem, but I honestly didn't know how big until I read this book. It's downright scary.

Here, from my own book, A Running Start: How Play, Physical Activity, and Free Time Create a Successful Child, are some of the reasons children need to spend time -- a lot of it -- outdoors!

• Outdoors, children have the opportunity to practice and refine their emerging motor skills and to burn calories -- an excellent and easy antidote to overweight and obesity.
• Performing large-muscle skills, like running and jumping, also strengthens bones and muscles, improves aerobic endurance, and stimulates growth of the heart, lungs, and other vital organs.
• Research has found that spending time in nature reduces stress, enables children to be less affected by stressful situations, and alleviates some of the daily pressures that can result in depression.
• The outside light triggers the synthesis of vitamin D.
• Exposure to outside light has been shown to increase academic learning and productivity.
• When we keep children indoors, we convey the message that the outdoor environment is of little significance. How, then, are children to learn to care for the environment?
• Nature plays a major role in our aesthetic sense -- the heightening of our sense of beauty.
• To be human is to be part of nature. We evolved in the outdoors. And as much as we may have changed since our days as cave dwellers, our brains are still hardwired for an existence in nature. We therefore have an innate link with it that, when broken, leaves a part of us bereft.

The one anecdote I recall most vividly from Last Child in the Woods is the story of the 6-year-old boy who was asked whether he preferred the indoors or the outdoors. His answer was: the indoors -- because that's where the electrical outlets are. Downright scary, indeed.

Miscellaneous Notes

Just a few tidbits I want to pass along today...

• Next week is National Recess Week (September 24-28)! As I mentioned in my post of September 11 ("Farewell to Recess?"), the Cartoon Network has taken up the cause of saving recess from extinction. To this end, they've created National Recess Week,  which will be kicked off by some of the most influential people from the worlds of education, health, children's television, and professional sports. On September 24th, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will release new data that shows why recess is the "single best opportunity to raise the fitness of children in the U.S." Additionally, the Cartoon Network and its partners will unveil an ambitious campaign to enlist one million volunteer hours that will support physical activity and recess at local public elementary school playgrounds.
       Among the cities joining the action by proclaiming "National Recess Week" and leading local volunteer drives throughout the 2007-2008 school year are: Los Angeles, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Miami, Baltimore, Atlanta, Dallas, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Phoenix, Cincinnati, San Diego, Milwaukee, and Salt Lake City.

• September 29th is the 4th Annual Worldwide Day of Play, sponsored by Nickelodeon, which began its Let's Just Play campaign in 2003. The long-term, nationwide campaign is designed to engage kids in active, healthy lifestyles by giving them the resources they need to get up, get out, and go play. On the 29th, the network will go dark for three hours to give children the message that they should turn off the TV and go outside to play. To learn how you can plan an event for the Day of Play, click on the link above.
       This fall Nickelodeon will award $5,000 grants to help schools and community-based organizations motive, inspire, and create opportunities for kids to live more active, healthier lives.

• And this I just couldn't resist telling you about: Yale University researchers, working in conjunction with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, have recently released the latest Environmental Sustainability Index Report, which ranks 146 nations on environmental measures. These measures include maintaining clean air and water, limiting emission of greenhouse gases, and cooperating with international environmental efforts. Guess what country is at the top of the list. Finland! (See my blog from September 5, "What Finland's Doing Right.") It seems we can add one more thing to the list of things Finland is doing right.
       The U.S., unfortunately, didn't make the top 10. Not even close. We ranked 45th of 146. I suppose it could have been worse...
   

Fear & Physical Activity

It's amazing, really. In one week I've read articles from:

• the UK, claiming "the UK is one of the worst places in the western world to be a child" and "the decline in unstructured, loosely supervised play is adversely affecting children's mental health";
• Belfast, Ireland, where "Ulster's medical experts warned that a lack of outdoors playtime is causing major health and development problems for children"; and
• the New York Times, where columnist Jane E. Brody makes a case for children walking to school in order to get more physical activity.

All of these articles share two common traits: (1) they point to the lack of physical activity and play in children's lives as the cause of physical and mental problems, and (2) they cite parental anxiety as one of the principal reasons children are not spending enough time either in the outdoors or engaging in physical activity.

Not surprisingly, much of parents' fears can be chalked up to the terror brought about by the media's incessant tales of tragedy, presented in all their gory minutiae. But experts contend that today's children are no less safe than children of my generation. Social historian Peter Stearns, quoted not long ago in a Psychology Today article called "A Nation of Wimps" (which is definitely worth reading), maintains that parents have exaggerated many of the dangers of childhood while overlooking others, like the demise of recess. (See my last blog, "Farewell to Recess?")

"Stranger danger" is certainly at the top of the list of parents' fears, but according to Freda Briggs, a professor emeritus at the University of South Australia, stranger danger is a myth. In Australia, for example, the odds of a child under 15 being murdered by a stranger are in the vicinity of one in four million. And according to the U.S. Department of Justice statistics on violent crimes, between 1973 and 2002, out of every thousand children kidnapped, just one or two of them were abducted by strangers. In fact (and this goes to Peter Stearns's point about recess), according to the National Center for Health Statistics, children are four times more likely to die of heart disease than to be kidnapped by a stranger!

I don't know what the solution is, short of refusing to watch or read the news, or simply taking a deep breath and trusting that children will be safe. But there are ways in which parents can get their children -- at the very least -- to walk to school. In fact, October 3rd is this year's national Walk to School Day -- information about which is offered by the Partnership for a Walkable America. There's also information about what's called a Walking School Bus at the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As Jane Brody points out, 40 years ago, half of all students walked or biked to school. I remember walking to school a long, long way with my siblings and friends -- and that the trips there and back were among the best parts of the day!

Farewell to Recess?

School has started all over the country, and all over the country children, parents, and teachers are discovering there's less time -- or no time -- being allotted for recess. I was reading an article this morning at floridatoday.com called "Recess takes a time out: Law to increase activity eliminates recess at some schools."

Anyone else see the contradiction in that title? If the goal is increased activity, why are they eliminating recess??

It seems there's a new state law in Florida mandating 150 minutes of physical education each week for students in kindergarten through 5th grade -- more than four times the amount the average elementary student received last year. To fit that in, many schools see no choice but to reduce or eliminate recess.

Certainly it's commendable that lawmakers are intent upon "tackling childhood obesity and promoting active lifestyles among Florida's youth." And students should be getting 150 minutes a week of PE. But, like many of the laws policy makers put into place without fully educating themselves, this one has too many unintended consequences! Among them is what's happening to recess -- because children need both structured (PE) and unstructured physical activity in their lives! If the only opportunity children get to move is when they're being forced to walk or run laps around the school grounds (!), they will not pursue active lifestyles. In fact, physical activity could leave such a bad taste in their mouths that they purposely become couch potatoes.

Of course Florida isn't the only place where recess is going the way of the dinosaurs. According to some estimates, 40% of elementary schools had already eliminated recess. Some cities, like Atlanta, are building new elementary schools without playgrounds! The reason in most cases isn't the need to fit physical education into the curriculum; it's today's pervasive emphasis on academics, accountability, and standardized testing. The irony of that is that the research shows children learn better when given breaks. So educational policies that keep children at their desks for extended periods to maximize time spent on academics aren't based on scientific findings. In fact these policies are contrary to scientific data.

If you're a parent or a teacher (one desperate teacher e-mailed me the other day, pleading for help) who wants justification for recess -- whatever the reason a school has used to eliminate it -- there are two wonderful sources of information. The American Association for the Child's Right to Play is a tireless promoter of recess. Not only does their website offer research you can use; it can also help individuals become recess advocates themselves. Also, the Cartoon Network now sponsors Rescuing Recess.

As you may know, I'm a big believer in educating the "whole" -- thinking, feeling, moving -- child. Unfortunately, society continues to behave as though children consist of heads only, which are separate from and unrelated to bodies and emotions. If we can't ensure this misguided attitude doesn't prevail in the classroom, we can at least make sure our children experience daily recess -- because that truly is a time when the whole child is addressed!

More Bad News about Television

This may be the story that finally prompts parents to limit the amount of time their children spend in front of the television. "Childhood TV Viewing Can Cause Teenage Problems" reports on a long-term study that determined "watching television more than two hours a day early in life can lead to attention problems later in adolescence." Published in the journal Pediatrics, the study found there was roughly a 40% increase in attention problems among heavy television viewers.

Said Carl Landhuis, of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, where the study took place: "Those who watched more than two hours, and particularly those who watched more than three hours, of television per day during childhood had above-average symptoms of attention problems in adolescence. This suggests that the effects of childhood viewing on attention may be long lasting."

Of course, according to TV-Turnoff Network, on average, children in the US will spend more time in front of the television (1,023 hours) than in school this year (900 hours). That averages out to just over 2.8 hours per day -- which means that the above study applies to most children in America!

I believe this may be the story that inspires parents' attention and action because it has to do with their children's minds. Stories about the effect on their children's failure to spend time playing outside, or on their weight and health, seem to have gone unheeded. In fact, another story this week pointed out that parents are mostly in denial about their kids' weight. And, although all the evidence shows the mind and body are connected, there is still a prevailing belief that they're not -- and that the mind is superior to the body.

But, hey, if worrying about the possibility of ADD and ADHD prompts parents to cut back on their kids' viewing time, that's OK with me! I know it will have a positive impact on both their brains and bodies.

What Finland's Doing Right

In a response to a comment on the last blog ("The Academics-vs.-Play Decision"), I briefly mentioned Finland as an example of a country doing things very differently from the way we here in the U.S. are doing them. Because I'm so impressed with Finland's system of education, I want to expand on what I told you.

As mentioned, in that country, the children don't begin formal schooling until age 7. Up 'til that time, they learn through play. And though, academically speaking, they start off a little behind their counterparts in other areas of the world, they quickly catch up with -- and then surpass -- them. Which certainly says a lot about the value of play in the early years.

Here's what else I know -- and like -- about Finland:

• From first to ninth grade, students have a 15-minute break after every 45 minutes of class work!
• Finnish students take art, music, and physical education.
• Finnish students are in school for only five hours a day (compared with nearly seven hours a day in the States).
• Finland has a core national curriculum that establishes the content areas and goals. But the teachers are free to meet those goals in whatever way they see fit -- with or without textbooks, with children in small groups or large, indoors or out.
• Finland spends less per student on education than the United States does: $5,000 per student in Finland, compared with $8,287 per student here (for 2003-2004, according to the U.S. Census Bureau).

Here are some of the results of the Finnish system of education:

• Finland ranks first in both reading and mathematics in the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) tests given to 15-year-old students. (The U.S. ranks 15th in reading and 24th in math.)
• Finnish students leave school knowing three languages.
• Finnish students enjoy learning so much that even teenagers list teaching as their favorite profession!

Here's what I wish: that the policy makers in this country would have the courage to look elsewhere for answers.