A guard in a Wabash, Ind., prison gave me that title. The prison was featured in a 2017 video, “Free the Kids—Dirt Is Good,” where inmates are permitted two precious hours a day outdoors.

The short film contrasts that privilege with data showing that children spend less than an hour a day outside their house. At least one study found that the average American under age 16 is outside and engaged in free play for less than 10 minutes daily while spending an average of seven hours in front of a screen.

At first, the headlines announcing this news struck me as clickbait, but then I thought of my own neighborhood. Nearly every evening this summer, I’ve seen two sets of parents walking our quiet streets while their children ride bicycles near them. Two tween girls sometimes glide past my porch on their bikes. Otherwise, nada. People here do have large back yards, so perhaps that’s where the children play, but the front yards are as empty of kids as a ghost town.

Just a few months ago, my next-door neighbor of six years happened to mention his 10-year-old son and his teenage daughter. I’d seen the son on rare occasions playing in the front yard, but was shocked to hear that he had a teen. “She doesn’t like to go outside much,” he explained offhandedly.

When I mentioned I was writing this article to a 17-year-old granddaughter who’s visiting me, she looked a little shamefaced, and I realized that except for going to and from the car parked in the driveway, she had not once ventured out of the house. In her defense, as a child she’d played outside all the time, weather permitting.

The advantages to such play for children and adolescents are well-known. Sunshine brings a healthy dose of Vitamin D. Fresh air is good for both the lungs and our state of mind. The grit and dirt that comes with outdoor play are, as research shows, excellent boosters to our immune systems, helping to fight allergies, hay fever, and the common cold. Walking, running, and bike riding give the kids exercise, while building forts, climbing trees, and for the little ones, simply exploring the back yard, are nature’s vitamins for the imagination. Making mud pies, picking up an earth worm, and just strolling along in the evening looking at houses, yards, and the setting sun are a world away from digitalized images on phones and televisions.

Recognition of these benefits of outdoor play and exercise extends back to antiquity. Here in America, Benjamin Franklin’s 1749 “Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania” recommended exercise for the students at his proposed school of higher learning, saying, “That to keep them in Health, and to strengthen and render active their Bodies, they be frequently exercis’d in Running, Leaping, Wrestling, and Swimming &c.”

Educators like Charlotte Mason and Maria Montessori also advocated outdoor play and exploration for children. In the 1949 “Childcraft” set purchased by my parents, which I still own, there are many ideas for outdoor games and nature exploration, yet scant mention of the benefits of being outside, an omission which came, I suspect, because the writers simply regarded children and the outdoors as natural companions.

Some parents today are more aware of the importance of outside play and exercise. Having realized the magic that could be found in the outdoors for her children, homeschooling mom Ginny Yurich founded “1000 Hours Outside,” a year-long program aiming to get children into the outside world and enjoy the blessings she found there. Tens of thousands of parents have joined her in this endeavor.

Right now, schools are opening all around the country, and autumn’s approach means that sweater weather is on the horizon. Studies and a drop in temperature make outside play more difficult, but even just a few minutes in the open air can enhance a child’s well-being.

So, whether it’s a trip to the park if you’re a city-dweller or bundling up the kids and sending them out to explore the yard, fields, and woods, remember that an investment in outdoor time pays big dividends in childhood health and development.

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The republication of this article is made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal. 

Image Credit: Pxhere