Parents are clear that one of the aspects that most contribute to their children’s well-being is playing outdoors. Child development specialists assure that it is not only beneficial for their physical health, sociability and academic performance, but it improves their imagination, memory and ability to control impulses. But 45% of children under 12 years of age do not spend even one hour a day (the recommended time) playing outdoors while they spend an average of one hour and forty minutes in front of screens.
This is clear from the study carried out by the Technological Institute of Children’s and Leisure Products – AIJU with more than 600 families with children between 0 and 12 years old, which highlights how Spanish childhood is evolving towards a lifestyle marked by a sedentary lifestyle, the lack of play and excessive consumption of screens.
The report warns that this lack of play, especially in open spaces, has health consequences not only in terms of overweight, but also higher rates of childhood myopia.
According to the Myopia Barometer in Spain 2023 prepared by the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and the Alain Afflelou Foundation, one in five school-age children has myopia, a visual defect whose prevalence has increased by 17.8% in the last six years.
Along the same lines, a study on the visual health of adolescents released this week warned that one in three is myopic, and that in just five years the number of severely myopes (those with more than 6 diopters) has multiplied by six. among the population between 12 and 18 years old.
The coordinator of the Children’s Research area at AIJU, Pablo Busó, explained that although playing continues to be the main leisure activity among children, consumption in front of screens takes up 24% of their time, followed by playing sports (18%). , homework (10%), other non-sports extracurricular activities (7%) and reading (7%).
The time spent on screens not only exceeds outdoor play, but has increased by an average of six minutes a day compared to before the pandemic. In fact, 75% of the children surveyed exceed the daily exposure limit recommended by experts, a percentage that rises to 84% among children aged 1 to 3 years and 88% in the age group 4 to 6.
The authors of the report recall that excessive screen time is associated with aggressive behaviors, attention deficit, and hyperactivity, as well as worse executive function, cognitive development, and obesity.
On the other hand, although families are aware that playing has many benefits and see it as a more positive activity than time in front of television, mobile phones, tablets or video games, the truth is that 46% of parents and mothers surveyed admit that days go by without them having had time to play with them. This is despite the fact that just over half (56%) say they take advantage of any opportunity to play with their child.
Another thing that the AIJU report reveals is how quickly children abandon playing with toys. From the age of 10, only one in ten plays with dolls, only 6% are distracted by cars and 5% dress up. At these ages, the only thing that maintains their interest a little more are board games (37%), followed by bikes, scooters and accessories for playing outdoors (21%).
