The Benefits of Getting Kids Outside and On the Move, According to a Doctor
by Steven John
Exercise is good for the mind and the body, especially when said exercise takes place outside in fresh air. Not a controversial statement; we’ve known for years that getting outdoors and on the move does a person good. But when said person is a kid-aged person (AKA… a kid) things are taken to a whole new level.
The benefits of outdoor activity for children are largely the same as they are for adults – the cardiovascular and muscular exercise, the increased energy, the reduced stress, the simple fun of it, e.g. – but added are chances for new experiences, developmental benefits, learning opportunities, and more.
We’ve seen first hand how our own two children respond to the outdoors whether we’re hiking, paddling, biking, or even just hanging out at the campsite. The many sights, sounds, surfaces, and surprises of the natural world present opportunities both to entertain and challenge them, with the latter being as much about the physicality of playing outdoors as the experiential aspects.
That said, when time or logistics preclude a trip to the woodlands, even just getting outdoors for a stroll or ride around the neighborhood or some playtime in the yard is good for kids. And while Kristin and I know that well as parents, we figured it might be a good idea to talk to someone who could speak to the benefits of outdoor play and exercise for kids on a professional level.
That someone is Dr. Gonzalo Laje, Director of Washington Behavioral Medicine Associates (WBMA), a gentleman with years of experience (and enough certifications, appointments, and awards to his name that we don’t have the space to list them here) working with children and young adults (and adults, for the record) to help guide them toward ideal states of mental and emotional wellbeing.
Photo by Sofia Laje
I decided to open the more formal part of my interview with Dr. Laje with a broad question, figuring (accurately, as it happened) he’d be able to field it rather well.
What are the benefits of getting kids outside and on the move?
“Over the past few years, we have been able to get a lot of data showing the benefits of physical activity,” Dr. Laje replied. “When it comes to kids we've known this for a very long time: Kids need breaks – and kids need physical breaks – they need to be active because that's help them focus, that helps them, the way I like to put it, is to get the ‘wiggles’ out, so that way they can focus better.”
“Transitions can be difficult for kids. Now, I'm not entirely sure what has informed schools to have these full days with minimal breaks, or minimal run around time, but my guess is that it’s to minimize transitions, because transitions can be hard and can of course take time. So, to minimize that transition time I think there's been a minimization of running around time, but it has had a detrimental impact on the kids' abilities to focus and stay on task and do the work they need to do.”
Barring an imminent overhaul of the American education system, Dr. Laje would instead like to see more parents and caregivers creating opportunities for exercise and physical play outside the school setting. Given our affinity for the natural setting, I next asked him for his thoughts “on the physical and the emotional benefits of getting outside into nature, away from structure and rules of sports, away from those kinds of things, toward more open-ended, nature-oriented play.”
“In many ways, as we have moved away from nature and more into cities the availability of nature activities has decreased,” Dr. Laje said, adding: “I think we have overall lost that huge benefit that nature has on regulation, on self regulation, and what I like to call this being present; this sense of being in nature and being able to take that deep breath that is so helpful in being present.”
“We know that nature has a de-stressing effect, and that de-stressing effect, of course it's for adults, but it also extends to kids. So whatever behavior, whatever play, whatever activity we can bring into nature will of course have a de-stressing effect.”
Getting out there, so to speak, can be easier said than done, though. So I asked the doctor for recommendations for the family that might not be able to readily head out to the woods or out to the mountains or even out to a large park, saying: “What are some activities that families can do with their kids that create that verisimilitude of that [nature experience]? Maybe it's simply going for a walk and looking at the trees in their city, but what are some things people can do that still provide some of the benefits of the outdoors and nature even in a more urban environment?”
“I would say that any physical activity is good activity. So, a walk is great, sports are even better. If you could do sports, a walk – or a walk in nature it's even better – whatever access you have to open spaces is a great thing. And whatever activity you can engage in in those natural spaces is going to be beneficial.”
“Generally, you may notice that weekly nature walk, or that weekly activity in nature, you may notice a big difference in stress decrease, in overall improved feeling of wellbeing just doing it once a week. So, the more you can do it the better, but there are realities and people might not always be able to do it because of work demands, or kids activities or other demands.”
For adults, often a change up to the routine is great; often it's healthy, and that can be the same for kids, but in general we (meaning my wife and I, sure, but I mean the collective “we” for the record) know that children thrive on routine. So, if parents are about to introduce a child to a new activity, be it a first camping trip, a first big hike, a first paddling trip down a river, I asked Dr. Laje about some of things that parents can do to help introduce kids to new activities and experiences in ways that will help ensure a positive outcome.
“That's a great question,” he replied. Then, he answered it adroitly. “Let's say you're thinking about a camping trip: you may want to introduce this in steps. Not necessarily one day you pick up and go into the mountains for a full week when the kids have not done that before. You might have a lot of big surprises with how your kids are reacting to that, and you might not want to have those big surprises in the middle of the mountains! So, I think to do the exposure in a progressive way is always a better way, because kids will understand what to expect. You will learn a lot about your children's reactions to, say, bugs, or just being in nature.”
“So a progressive approach, I think, is usually the way to go for any activity. You may start with, if you have the option, camping in your backyard, and do an overnight in your backyard. What is it like to spend a whole night sleeping in a tent in a sleeping bag? I think that that would be the best way to go about it. If you're going to go on a hike, maybe do a very short one, do small hikes before you embark on a long hike. Nothing quite like having walked three miles for your kids to say: ‘I'm tired, pick me up.’ Or them sitting on a rock and saying: ‘I can't do this anymore.’ This is something that you train for and you want to approach it like training. As they start to enjoy it, you can increase the demand and the complexity.”
“By the same token, if your activities are getting more and more sophisticated and technical and you want to teach them how to do those activities, you might need to better learn yourself how to do those sorts of technical activities first so you can keep your family safe and help your family. Case in point would be a first aid course. People trip, kids trip a lot, they [get] cuts, scrapes, bruises, you want to know what to do. You may want to have a first aid kit. So, these are things that you would benefit from knowing and learning before you venture out.”
In these sorts of conversations, we tend to focus on the things to plan for, but often of equal importance I have found it beneficial to consider what to avoid as well. I wanted to pick Dr. Laje’s brain on that other side of the equation, so I asked him: “Are there things that parents should avoid when taking kids to the outdoors? Be it simply avoiding things that are not safe, things like too tall of a mountain, too big of a paddling trip, but also assumptions to avoid? Because I know that oftentimes the parents want to say: ‘I love this, so my kids are going to love it.’ But is there advice you would give to people along the lines of: ‘Maybe take it easy. Maybe avoid this or that kind of thing?’”
“You said it beautifully, you want to take it easy because kids may not enjoy your activities at all,” the doctor answered. “Particularly if your kids have been home bound through the pandemic for a couple of years playing video games. It might be a hard sell to ask them to go out on a nature walk! Something that is tied to this, you bring your kids on a nature walk and your kid is staring at the phone the entire time. Or you're going out for a nature drive, even, and your kid is staring down at the phone the entire time, missing the point completely. So, that would be something to think about and address as you may get a lot of push back. Many kids would say: ‘No, I'd much rather stay home and play video games.’
“The interesting thing is that once you disengage the kids from the electronics, they will have a great time, and you will see them engage in play or other activities they haven't done in a while just because they were glued to the screens.”
“So, I think it's a worthwhile effort to get kids outdoors and having these outdoor activities. And the more they can enjoy and learn, I think if you can tap into what your kids' interests may be in an outdoorsy way you might have a much, much higher chance of getting them to come with you and engage. But this sort of problem of parental interests versus kids' interests, it's a very, very common issue, as our cultures almost are completely different generation [to generation].”
The good news? There’s plenty of common ground to be found, and ideally ground that’s covered in rocks and roots and pine needles and slopes upward toward alpine meadows and lofty summits and such. But any ground that’s outdoors is a space well trod by kids and adults alike.