Do Your Kids Need a Playborhood?

Photo: D Sharon Pruitt, Flickr

Do your kids play Kick the Can and hang outside with a pack of neighborhood kids during much of their free time or are they continually shuttled to/from organized sports and other enrichment activities, then head home to huddle around electronics? No one can deny electronics, organized sports beginning at younger ages and a sense of increased stranger danger have changed the nature of children's free time. Dual-working parents complicate matters, too.

Some say modern childhood play is at risk, and they're advocating to remove children's free, unstructured play off the endangered play-species list. Mike Lanza, Founder and Chief Play Officer over at Playborhood.com, is one of them. This 46-year-old father of three makes sure his family does not own a TV. Forget electronic games. His front and backyards are purposely designed play zones. His boys don't attend camp, Lanza hosts his own street camp for local kids instead.

Then there's Playborhood.com where Lanza and like-minded advocates are building a community of parents to raise awareness and seek solutions. When it comes to his boys' futures, Lanza says he's terrified. Not for lack of education or living in an unsafe world -- he's worried they won't have any fun if raised with little time to simply go play. Playborhood.com even sells bright, yellow signs with the slogan, Playborhood: Let Your Kids Go Out and Play. It's got a bit of a self-righteous ring to it, inviting neighbors over for a BBQ might be better received.

Signs aside, this neighborly philosophy is exactly what Playborhood is about. Lanza suggests parents knock on doors, organize fun at home (potlucks, informal gatherings), sit on their own front porches or driveways and give kids age-appropriate freedom to play -- without a helicopter parent hovering above.

Fit Family Summer Assignment: Give your kids plenty of free time to play next week, and invite a neighbor you've wanted to get to know over for dinner.