Outdoor Play Fights Obesity

BY JILL BARKER, CANWEST NEWS SERVICE

In my day summer meant cycling around the neighborhood, playing in the park and hanging around at the pool. Parental supervision was from a distance and kids spent most of the day outside.

Today, unstructured and unsupervised play is rare. If left on their own kids are more likely to spend their summer playing video games than playing outside. Current statistics suggest children age eight to 13 spend nearly six hours a day in front of a screen.