Nickelodeon Tells Kids to Go Outside and Play

Nickelodeon promoted its fourth annual day to get outside and play, called “Worldwide Day of Play.” It promoted activities to get kids off the couch and out of the house. Its taken the event a step further than prompting kids to go outside, the network (and the Web site) were off line for three hours.

Nick’s Web site lists things NOT to do on this day (which was Saturday 29, 2007):

Instant message

Watch TV

Sit on the couch

Go to the movies

Surf the Web

Talk on the phone

Sleep during play hours

It’s great to see a television network, one who pays their bills by having kids watch its TV shows and buy its related products (i.e. toys) change the game up a bit in order to promote something good for children.

Also on their “not to do list” is read a book. I never really think that reading a book is bad, but understand the message is to be active and I’m fine with that.

Although I just learned about this day after the date passed, I think it’s good to do this at home whenever you get the chance. You don’t need a national day proclaimed to establish a day in your own home where you abolish all things sedentary.

As a general rule, we have limited TV viewing around our son. It’s not easy to enforce, especially because I really like TV myself. We do let our son watch TV on occasion … especially when he is sick, or when he wasn’t sleeping — it helped calm him down. But, for the most part we really limit how much TV he watches. It means that we don’t watch as much TV either. In order to watch as much TV as I used to I would have to stay up later and watch my shows after our son goes to bed. Most nights I choose bed over TV.

Bravo to Nickelodeon for prompting parents to choose playing as recreation instead of media and electronic devices. Beyond the Day of Play, Nick has joined forces with the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association to promote healthier lifestyles in children. They’ve created a challenge called “Let’s Just Play.” Looks pretty cool. There’s even an e-calendar and online tracker to monitor your child’s successes with their healthy lifestyle. Maybe this will become a good habit for families across America.

Related articles about Worldwide Day of Play:

• Read CNN’s story about Nickelodeon’s day.
• Time for Kids
• MomSquak blog
• My Wonderful World blog

Kids Need Schedules — Part Two

Earlier today I wrote a post about my son having a hard time readjusting to our routine after a trip — especially at bedtime. Tonight was more of the same, crying in the crib and not falling asleep. After awhile we took him out to help him calm down. We watched TV again tonight, and again I didn’t like doing that, but didn’t know what else to do.

In the end, he calmed down to the point where I was able to put him back to bed without tears, or even whimpering. He laid down like he normally does and fell asleep like the child I knew before our trip. I think this should get easier each night until he is back on schedule. At least that is what I’m hoping for.

Kids Need Schedules

We returned last night from our long weekend out of town. We had a great time and our Little One did really well, despite being off schedule a bit. It’s hard when you travel, especially when you are with other people, to keep kids on their same schedule.

Well, now we are paying for out good time. My son’s sleep schedule is totally messed up. Normally, our son goes to bed with ease. And I do mean ease. But not after this weekend. He screamed last night when we put him in his crib. And kept screaming, tears pouring down his face. Eventually, (with the help of TV, which I don’t like to use, but we were desperate!) we got him to calm down and he fell asleep — on my husband’s chest. I’ve been told to never put your kids to bed when they are asleep, but what were we to do? I only hope and pray this does not become a habit. I could use a tip to make sure it doesn’t become a habit.

I’m optimistic that tonight will be better. We’re doing all the things we normally do today, trying to get back to his schedule.

Kids like, and need, their schedules to keep them happy.

Parents need to keep the kids on schedule to keep them sane.