As I stand and watch the two boys twist, run and shout across the field I realise that their ages are a mystery to me. They could be 12 or 20 in the open fields, flying a large outdoor remote controlled aeroplane screaming: “catch it, catch it”.
Apparently, according to an overview of child well-being in 40 rich countries carried out by Unicef, our children are struggling, in all senses of the word. The UK was placed at number 21 in the league and the Children’s Commissioner for England, Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Green, said: “We are turning out a generation of young people who are unhappy, unhealthy, engaging in risky behaviour, who have poor relationships with their family and their peers, who have low expectations and don’t feel safe.”
Julie Kenark, 55, mother of Danny, 14, and Stuart, 16, is found in a rare state of quiet reflection up on the hills while her boys chase planes. She explains: “I think the survey is spot on. It’s so nice to see these two like this but it’s rare. Before this, Christmas life with the boys has been impossible, both Danny and Stu complied with the survey’s results, but to be honest things have changed!
“Danny had just been expelled again and I was dreading having both him and his brother at home. They usually fight like cat and dog – or just stare moronically into the TV screen day in day out. I spoke to the councillor at Dan’s school who recommended I push for more time outdoors. We moved house to a place close to a local recreation ground and my husband and I pushed the boys to spend more time with outdoor toys. We bought them remote control planes, bikes, footballs and these big adult outdoor games this Christmas instead of the usual video games – and now the boys are getting on better than ever as a result of it.”
A spokes person for the education department at the University of Brighton explains: “We can all do our bit. If the policy makers will take the emphasis away from competitive assessments and towards creating an exciting and motivating environment for children to learn in – then perhaps our children will feel more excited and motivated to learn and to play. This should help move vulnerable young adults away from socially unacceptable behaviour.”
“I remember what it was like when I was growing up.” Julie smiles, “Most of the activities we joined were outdoors. I had ZX80 spectrum with Daley Thompson decathlon game and my favourite toys were aeroplane gliders (the ones made of polystyrene), my bike, footballs, my tennis racket and my first roller skates – the clunky ones that you strapped on to your shoe.”
“It’s different now.” She continues, “The press is always telling us that the streets are no longer safe for our children, which makes us more protective and less inclined to encourage them to play outdoors. This is making kids feel unsafe and untrusting too. When I was younger being outdoors was what it was all about. These days’ kids can’t even play in the playgrounds without fear of something horrible happening.”
But the future is looking brighter with outdoor games seemingly a fashionable alternative to this post video game era. Sales since the recession have increased and as these games don’t have a cult sell-by-date and promote a healthier life style – the reasons for their ever-growing popularity are obvious.
Alex Wakefield from WoweStores, an online shop that actively promotes outdoor games for both children and adults alike, explains: “I believe that, more and more, people will appreciate and turn to outdoor toys and games this year. My sister’s family certainly do.
Parents notice how cranky kids get after a whole day spent indoors watching TV or playing a video game and remember how their own childhood was so different. There are more government warnings and TV coverage regarding children’s health than ever before.”
According to Mindy Wood, occupational therapist at MedCentral Pediatric Therapy, up till the age of 7 children’s brains are mainly sensory processing machines. They experience sensation and then make motor responses, learning what works and what doesn’t which is crucial to later development.
Alex continues “What sensation is there in watching TV?
“Playing in the garden or a few hours spent in the local park with a remote controlled aeroplane, outdoor helicopter, flying a kite or just kicking a football around makes a big positive difference to general health and emotional wellbeing.
“Last year I went with a group of friends for a picnic and was really impressed by one particular friend as she had brought along a sports day games set for her two kids, a girl and boy of 10 and 9 years. Everyone got involved and there were a lot of giggles! With all sorts of active games and toys these days, parents won’t be scratching their head for ideas and will probably get as much fun out of them as their children!”
In 2004 the Chief Medical Officer in England recommended that: “Children and young people should achieve a total of at least 60 minutes of at least moderate intensity physical activity each day. At least twice a week this should include activities to improve bone health, muscle strength, and flexibility.”
The Department of Health followed shortly, imploring that: “We will need to ensure that children in children’s centres through to young people in further and higher education are encouraged to build activity into their daily lives through play”.
With this in mind, and summer sneaking up, forget Guitar Hero and Resident Evil for your moody teens this year, and brighten up their lives with summer activities that promote good times as well as good health.
Do you think reactivating some of our child activities would help some adult's health?
Games like tag and hide-and-seek, for example, are things that used to occupy our time (or at least mine) as a child with friends. Now, as an adult, usually I spend my time hanging out with friends by sitting down and talking. That is fine, of course, but I got to remembering when I was a kid and the thrill I had playing some of the youthful, very physical, games I did as a child.
I was wondering, if adults were to, instead of just sitting around and talking, actually spend some recreation time with each other playing games like tag or hide-and-seek, do you think it would help increase both physical and mental health in some adults?
Of course, sports is a good alternative too. But I was wondering if these "youthful" games might help just as much or more so in the psychological aspect due to it's prevalence in our youth.
I'm pretty sure he depends on the media, most of which does about whatever he wants, keeping this hush hush and shilling for them as they always have done.
well the limit for playing hand held games is a hour manly because you strain your eyes but for gaming systems and laptops the bigger the screen the better (i go on fast i don't eat)with games i lose weight that way so theirs good in it as well.
If your computer cannot run a game, the game won't run at all. It doesn't run accidentally. So your computer should be able to play the games. To know if your games are causing the problems, you want to check if the computer gets really hot when you play, and if it does, play on lower resolutions and make sure the laptop has space to ventillate properly. Overheating is what sounds like the problem.
good luck.
yea if your talking about the heath in the game then it depends wat lvl you are and what your hitpoints are. I use to play (lvl 92)
Alas, it's sad that some users on this site, even some Top Contributors, don't realize it's all a big game. I wonder if that's a reflection on THEIR mental health.
Yes, I regret to say that Yahoo Answers is very, very dangerous for those of us with "addictive personalities especially if we think it may fulfill some need that is not being fulfilled elsewhere.
And it <is> a game because there's dangers (the trolls) and other obstacles (moronic Yahoo employees who read the rules as they see fit) but, like any video machine, no prizes. It's not like you win anything of value answering these questions. Sure, now and then you can actually help someone but 99% of the questions are posted by people who are loney or bored and the answers are, of themselves, of no inherent value. Most of the time, the asker doesn't even express gratitude for the answers so we just earn meaningless points like any game.
Like last Spring when I reached level 6 with my first account (the one Yahoo wrongfully deleted in October), I was challenged to try to reach level 7 in less than a month after reaching level 6 so I did. I was logging in before going to work, during every coffee break, during lunch and right after work. I would be on here for hours after dinner just because I knew someone else had done it in less than a month. I was like a woman possessed.
Was it healthy? Probably not. Was it bad for me? Again, probably not. I had the time back then and it wasn't like I was shirking my work or personal life in order to accomplish that.
Will I be able to do that this time? No, poor timing makes it impossible for me to put that kind of effort into it with this account but, c'mon, we all know the sanctimonious little rodent known as the Yamster loves to delete people's accounts for no reason so I'll probably get another chance sometime. Do I really care? No! And that's healthy.
ADHD, Purely Obsessive OCD, GAD, Panic Disorder.
oh yeah and high functioning asperger's
The GOP continues to be the party of no hope and status quo of the Bush years.
I haven't got the Wii to play at home.
But I believe it could help you to reduce your weight.
The Wii could make you to exercise by playing the games.
For example : if you play tennis game, then you have to swing the "racket" as if you really playing it on the field.
So you will get sweat and get healthy by playing Wii.
Rsi Repetitive Strain Injury – this is caused by using the same muscles over and over again, and you also need to do eye exercises so that your vision is kept in good condition, you can also get dry eyes from watching a screen for two long, so thats also a consideration
no, but too much of anything is bad
if you're playing mobsters on myspace, there's no way around it
Probably, your nerve is not enough strong to face the strange situation.
Or you are enough attentive and eager to do best of you. Now, matter is whether it lowers your delivery of your ability or not- if yes , then it is bad, and if not then it must not bad.
hand eye coordination, critical thinking skills for problem solving, rarely exercise from innovative games that require you to dance, punch, etc.
The health hazards: lazyness from sitting around, weight gain from sitting around, poor eyesight from staring too much at a tv, poor diet due to munching, poor sleep due to being up all night playing, behavioral problems due to lack of social interactions, and rarely pyschiatric problems (i.e. Columbine)… just to name a few.
trust me, I am a doctor and an avid gamer. despite the above, I am not about to give up my Xbox 360!!!
My legs got stronger everytime i played this game….i improved my times in track from playing ddr and from running.
More information necessary on this…
Are you talking Physical attributes for the character?
Common ones are Str, Dex, Con etc etc (see DnD)
Less common are speed, toughness (similar to constitution), appearance stat (Charisma, Comliness).
Even less common are the ways that you express these stats – ie with numbers (most common) or with adjectives (less common) or with Pictures (only one game I can think of that does this – Toon)
Mental Attributes for the character?
Intelligence (generic), Wisdom are common.
Education, Instinct, Guts, Willpower are less common.
Non-defined ajdectives (ie pick a word that defines your characters mental state) are even less common.
Mental traits for the Player to derive a character?
This is again a different way to define the attributes to define your character. Basically it is taking what the player feels and defines is necessary for the character, this is often used indirectly to define characters for the player. IE a character sheet may contain pictures of happy cartoons, flowers and the like, and the player takes these "happy" images to define their character as "happy"
sure- CHILDHOOD OBESITY. go outside and play real football
yes a new study shows that playing video games and eating pork grinds are the two healthiest things you can do.
Probably cant…but maybe if u go into settings it will let you change the style of gauges.