The week 
of May 20 is National Backyard Games Week! The purpose of this little-known holiday is to spend time with family/kids/friends and have fun! If you don’t have a backyard of your own, just visit the park. In this blog, I will outline a few ideas to get you ready for National Backyard Games Week.
Too often we find ourselves cooped in our houses or offices all day; we are ALWAYS working. You have to get out every once and a while, and National Backyard Games Week is the perfect reason to plan some great outdoor activities.
It seems children are becoming weaker, less muscular, and unable to do physical tasks that previous generations found simple. Some attribute this to less active and more sedentary lifestyles. Barriers faced by single parents and families with two working parents might contribute to this trend, with families having less daytime to spend outside together. There is also a new kind of culture of families who spend their time playing video games instead of playing games outside.
Climbing trees and ropes used to be standard practice for children, but school authorities and ‘health and safety ’gurus seem to frown on these more strenuous activities. One surprising fact came from: Dr. Justin Sherwin, of Cambridge University, who led the analysis of eight studies involving over 10,000 children, found that for every hour spent outside, the chances of needing glasses drops by 2 percent. Overall, children who are near-sighted spend on average 3.7 fewer hours a week outdoors than those who had normal vision. It is possible that greater exposure to natural UV light outdoors makes a difference, along with more times spent looking at the horizon and distant objects rather than TV screen, computer monitors, and phones.
National Backyard Games week was created to play with their families out of doors. Not only is it important to play together as a family so you can bond with each other and enjoy each other’s company, but outdoor play is important for children’s large and small motor skills and their cardiovascular endurance. Also, children need opportunities to explore, experiment, manipulate, marvel, discover, practice, push their limits, yell, sing, and create.
Take the family outside this week! Set up an obstacle course in your back yard using items from your garage such as tires, ladder, balls, hoola hoops, pails, wheel barrow. Use your imagination! Set up a badminton net and play this old favorite, play basketball, or just throw balls around. If you are near a Frisbee golf course, try something new. If you have limited space, go for a hike or find a really neat playground to check out. Hide and seek is a fun game for lots of people. If you have never tried bocce or croquet, check with your neighbors and see if you could borrow their games for a day. And after an active game, remember to drink water and eat a healthy snack such as go-gurt, cheese and crackers or a glass of chocolate milk.
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