Balancing screen time and green time

Finding it hard to get your children off their gadgets and going outside to play?

Maybe it’s time to take the “If you can’t beat em, join em!” approach which is what the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) seems to be taking.

A constant challenge for parents to balance the role of technology in their kids lives with the simple pleasures and enormous benefits of outdoor play, an NWF report explores the positive benefits of technology and outdoor exploration. The report doesn't try to scare parents about how much time their kids are spending with technology. Instead, the authors offer ways that kids' media habits can both positively and negatively impact health, learning and social development.

So how do parents use technology to get kids moving, exploring and interacting with the outdoor world around them?

Here are some of their tips:

- Use technology to help plan or inspire your next outdoor adventure.

For example if you are going somewhere outdoor, you can work with the children to come up with more information about the place/outdoor activities to do, so that the experience becomes a lot more meaningful and increases their excitement and curiosity.

- Keep a record of outdoor experiences with the help of electronic photos, videos or an electronic journal of adventures

- A technology themed adventure can provide an equal balance between technology and nature.

Such as the app Ubooly ( www.ubooly.com/rangerrick ) lets kids turn a walk in the park into an interactive experience with scavenger hunts, nature hikes and mindfulness games.

- Use technology to learn and play outdoors - let kids use their gadget's camera to try to capture the most amazing nature shot. Or let them surf the Web to look up the tree or bird that they saw in the park.

Bottom line: Technology is here to stay, so why not embrace it and utilize it as a tool to help your children fall in love with nature?

So take some time out, unplug, disconnect and get your kids to connect with the outdoors, not shutting them off from their virtual world but rather helping them find that balance between their virtual and real world.

So Let's Pledge to Be out there! 
Watch the NWF video below -

References:

http://www.heraldextra.com/lifestyles/recreation/how-to-get-kids-and-their-gadgets-outdoors/article_5bdd69fa-8fc3-5fd7-af96-39067c336cc7.html

http://www.nwf.org/Be-Out-There/Why-Be-Out-There/Balancing-Technology.aspx