Читать книгу A Spoonful of Sugar - Liz Fraser - Страница 35

Children need fresh air every day, and all you have to do is get them out. Once they’re there they’ll find something to do – to keep warm if nothing else! Just open that door, and send them out for an hour.

And there’s more:

‘If you can get your children to enjoy the feeling of being in the fresh air as kids, it’ll stay with them forever and the benefits cannot be overstated. Just look at you now – it’s hard to get you inside! You’re always walking or cycling or running outside. And that’s because you were raised to enjoy the Great Outdoors – camping, hill walking and just playing outside.’

She is so right. I like being outside so much I’d live out there if I could (so long as I had a comfy bed, a hot bath and a television, obviously. I’m not mad). And I can already see the same love of the outdoors starting to take hold in my kids. Yes, it’s almost impossible to get them out there sometimes, but once they do finally leave the comfort of the sofa and get outside they’re as happy as teenagers in a pub. (A pub garden, of course.)

What may have seemed like hard times, being forced up hill and down dale by ‘unsympathetic’ parents were actually far better times than many kids experience today, sitting for hours in front of their TVs and Gameboys, with their toys and videos and clothes and stuff.

GRANNY’S TIPS

Children need to go outside for a time every day, even if it’s only for ten minutes.

If you can give children a love of the Great Outdoors it’s something you can never take away from them, which will bring them a lot of good health and happiness in their lives.

If they don’t want to go, just be tough and send them out anyway. Not for hours, but for some fresh air time. They’ll find something to do.

–––– LIZ’S TIPS ––––

Make it a family affair. If your kids are really reluctant to do anything outside then get involved yourself. Go sailing; cycle together on a Sunday or go for a walk, which ends in a pub lunch. Anything to make it fun.

Even ten minutes is better than nothing. If the weather is awful then get the wellies on and go for a short walk – even around the block or to the shops. This can be enough to shake away the ‘fug’ of the day at school.

Set a challenge. ‘This year we’ll walk up small mountains’, or ‘let’s try a one mile fun run all together’. Something small that you can work towards can really excite and motivate children.

Lead by example. I love being outside and my kids can see the positive effect it has on me. So they want to do the same.