There once was a time in America when you could drive through neighborhoods after school, on weekends, and during the summer, and you could find streets flooded with children of different ages playing with each other, riding bikes and scooters, kids jumping rope, kids chasing one another, kids climbing trees, and kids tossing balls and creating games of their own. Parents would send their kids out to play, and often times children were told to come in for dinner when the street lights came on. Children would knock on each other's doors and spend all waking daylight hours playing outside for hours and hours. Children had fun, made friends, and communities were close.
Years later today, our children are facing a crisis. Neighborhoods are no longer close; people don't associate with their neighbors very much; kids don't knock on doors anymore; kids don't have neighborhood friends anymore; kids don't play outside in their neighborhoods anymore; kids don't venture out in their neighborhoods anymore. It's sad to say the great days of child neighborhood play have vanished, and it is something that needs saving.You can drive through neighborhoods filled with kids and families, and you find streets dead as a ghost town, no kids to be found anywhere. Children are inside watching TV, playing on tablets, playing on smartphones, playing video games, or just inside doing anything but outside playing with neighborhood kids, the thing that kids really should be doing.
So many people today would argue that today's world isn't what it used to be. There are child predators; there is lots of crime; there are dangerous people out there, and sending children outside today isn't safe. Unfortunately, people who have this belief have been misinformed and brainwashed by the media. Recent statistics have revealed that today's world is safer for kids than it has been in decades.
Years later today, our children are facing a crisis. Neighborhoods are no longer close; people don't associate with their neighbors very much; kids don't knock on doors anymore; kids don't have neighborhood friends anymore; kids don't play outside in their neighborhoods anymore; kids don't venture out in their neighborhoods anymore. It's sad to say the great days of child neighborhood play have vanished, and it is something that needs saving.You can drive through neighborhoods filled with kids and families, and you find streets dead as a ghost town, no kids to be found anywhere. Children are inside watching TV, playing on tablets, playing on smartphones, playing video games, or just inside doing anything but outside playing with neighborhood kids, the thing that kids really should be doing.
So many people today would argue that today's world isn't what it used to be. There are child predators; there is lots of crime; there are dangerous people out there, and sending children outside today isn't safe. Unfortunately, people who have this belief have been misinformed and brainwashed by the media. Recent statistics have revealed that today's world is safer for kids than it has been in decades.
Crime is back to the level it was when gas cost 29 cents a gallon, says the Christian Science Monitor.
Crime is back to the level it was before color TV, says The Week magazine.
2013 gun crime rate back to level of early 1960s, says Pew Study.
2014 violent crime rate down another 4.4%, says USA Today.
Pedestrian, bicyclist and car deaths ALSO at lowest rate in decades, says The Council on Foreign Relations.
Some U.S. stats:
All violent crime: Down 48% 1993 – 2012
All homicides: Down 50.5% 1993-2012
Forcible rape: Down 34.5% 1993 – 2012
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports.
Violence Against Children 2-17 is going down too (and not just because we are helicoptering. Crime is down for grown men and women too, and we don’t helicopter them):
Physical Assault: down 33% 2003 – 2011
Rape, attempted or completed: down 43% 2003 – 2011
Source: University of New Hampshire Crimes Against Children Research Center
Some Older Info From Crimes Against Children Research Center (based on U.S. Dept. of Justice numbers):
Crime has been going down since the 1990s:
All U.S. homicides: Down 40% 1992 -2005.
Juvenile homicide: Down 36% 1993 – 2005 (kids under age 14)
Juvenile homicide: Down 60% 1993 – 2005 (age 14 – 17)
Crime is back to the level it was before color TV, says The Week magazine.
2013 gun crime rate back to level of early 1960s, says Pew Study.
2014 violent crime rate down another 4.4%, says USA Today.
Pedestrian, bicyclist and car deaths ALSO at lowest rate in decades, says The Council on Foreign Relations.
Some U.S. stats:
All violent crime: Down 48% 1993 – 2012
All homicides: Down 50.5% 1993-2012
Forcible rape: Down 34.5% 1993 – 2012
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports.
Violence Against Children 2-17 is going down too (and not just because we are helicoptering. Crime is down for grown men and women too, and we don’t helicopter them):
Physical Assault: down 33% 2003 – 2011
Rape, attempted or completed: down 43% 2003 – 2011
Source: University of New Hampshire Crimes Against Children Research Center
Some Older Info From Crimes Against Children Research Center (based on U.S. Dept. of Justice numbers):
Crime has been going down since the 1990s:
All U.S. homicides: Down 40% 1992 -2005.
Juvenile homicide: Down 36% 1993 – 2005 (kids under age 14)
Juvenile homicide: Down 60% 1993 – 2005 (age 14 – 17)
The following statistics above do provide some relief to people who believe the world is more dangerous than it has ever been. The reality and good news is that surprisingly our world is safer today than it has been in decades.
The only reason why we believe it is dangerous is because of the MEDIA. Back decades ago, TV news wasn't as big as it is today;crime was happening, but you never heard as much about it; we didn't have Nancy Grace on TV; we didn't have the media that we have today. If you turn on the news today, what you'll mostly hear is one bad thing after another because that's all news stations want people to hear. It's how they grab people's attention and suck people into their stories. The media loves to generate this type of news to keep viewers. If we really turned off the news and paid no attention to it and just went out into our world, we'd be able to see it really is safe.
There are some neighborhoods though that are unsafe and would not be suitable for children to play in. There wouldn't be any reason to have children playing in that type of environment. It wouldn't be a good situation, and the only thing we can hope for, for those minority, is that our city police departments can continue to work closely with communities to get things cleaned up in those areas. For the majority of our neighborhoods across the country though, things are safer than they have been in decades. The statistics and the fact that neighborhoods are safer gives parents a reason why they should allow their children to play in the neighborhood with other kids like generations have before them.
Even if parents are worried about their kids safety, why don't parents just go outside with their kid ? Some neighborhoods across the country have reported that when the kids in the neighborhood go outside and play, parents just take turns watching the kids play outside. It offers a simple solution for kids and their families. Of course if people would get to know their neighbors better, it would create a better community for all, and this type of neighborhood play could exist. Also if kids played in larger groups, their safety would be increased even more. Neighborhood play also has a lot to do with how parents and adults value play for their kids. If parents don't let their kids go outside, or if they don't take their kids outside, then kids won't have the opportunity to play outside, let alone engage in childhood neighborhood play.
Children all across the country are being deprived of this childhood necessity. Researchers have discovered that parents just are not taking their kids outside to play. In a study looking at 8,950 children, 51 percent of children went outside to walk or play with either parent once a day. It's true that more parents are working today, and children go to after school programs and summer camps during the summer, but what about on weekends or what about the ones who are home after school and during the summer ? There has got to be a way for families to find time for their kids to play in the neighborhood or even to just get outside. It really all has to do with again how parents and adults value child play in the neighborhood and just child play in general.
Children all across the country are being deprived of this childhood necessity. Researchers have discovered that parents just are not taking their kids outside to play. In a study looking at 8,950 children, 51 percent of children went outside to walk or play with either parent once a day. It's true that more parents are working today, and children go to after school programs and summer camps during the summer, but what about on weekends or what about the ones who are home after school and during the summer ? There has got to be a way for families to find time for their kids to play in the neighborhood or even to just get outside. It really all has to do with again how parents and adults value child play in the neighborhood and just child play in general.
There's no doubt that outdoor neighborhood play is beneficial for kids. According to psychologist Peter Gray, play teaches children how to manage their intense negative emotions, such as fear and anger, and to test themselves by taking risks. Unstructured play and unsupervised play is crucial for child development. Whatever the future is for neighborhood play in our country, only time will tell. I am optimistic, and I know so many other people are optimistic about it. It is something that does need to be saved. It would bring communities that once existed back together; it would make the lives of our children better; our children would one day be able to look back and be happy that they had the chance to play in their neighborhood as a kid and make long lasting friends. Our neighborhoods of today have often been called dorms with trees, and just hopefully one day they can truly be neighborhoods and communities like they once were decades ago, when children ran up and down sidewalks, knocked on each other's doors, rode bikes up and down the street, where kids created and played their own games outside, and when kids spent hours and hours playing with one another in their communities.