Playing Out

All summer the boys have been nagging and nagging to go outside playing with their friends or out on their bikes. I am sure at their age I was out all the time at their age but unfortunately the world we live in today is very different to what it was 30-40 years ago and it is a major worry for parents to let your children just roam around the streets.

 

Anyway now that the two boys have mobile phones and we can contact them at any time and more importantly track them via GPS at anytime, we have actually given in and allowed them to play out, albeit under strict rules. We have laid down some pretty strict rules about where they are allowed to go, who they play with, times that they have to check back in etc and so far they seems to be being very responsible. If they want to deviate from any of the rules they generally call us up or come home and check.

 

Playing out has massive benefits for kids including giving them space and freedom to get much needed exercise outdoors, play freely, gain independence and skills, and make friends close to home. Playing out is often described as "children getting exercise without noticing" and this means they are also off of their IPADS and Playstations. So whilst it is a concern having the boys out playing, clearly there are massive benefits to letting them out.

 

Joshua in particular has started to use his bike and hover board a lot more now that he is allowed to play out and that is a good thing. Not only is he getting more exercise but he is finally getting some use out of his toys. You can tell he takes after me with doing wheelies and skids on his bike as he came home Friday with lots of bald spots on his back tire and a big hole and puncture. Tina wasn't too happy and wanted me to have a go at him, but I explained that he is just being a boy, doing what boys do and is no different to when I was a kid.

 

Like father like son, Joshua's knackered his first bike tire by doing skids whilst out playing.

 

Now that we all have mobile phones we use this App called Life360 which enables us to track everyone in the family in real-time. Its a really cool App that enables you to zoom in, send messages, check-in to places and send notifications when people arrive home etc. Big brother is always watching Joshua and Brandon when they are out playing.

 



 

Life360 App to track all the family on our mobile phones.