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sofrustrated

Do you think kids should play outside?

sofrustrated
15 years ago

DH and I are at odds again with raising our children - go figure. :(

I think kids should play outside every day to burn off energy, get fresh air and just be a kid, doing kid things outside - playing basketball, bike riding, "gardening", playing on the swingset, etc.

DH thinks it's okay for SS6 to come home and sit for almost 2 hours and play the video game World of Warcraft. We eat dinner and then he's on the game again for another good hour and a half before bedtime. He thinks this is completely normal for a 6 year old. Then again,DH is on that same game whenever he gets a free minute. I feel like it's a competition to get DH's attention between me and that game. He's gotten better about not playing it when I'm around but he stays up till all hours of the night playing it, then he's tired all day and complains that he didn't sleep well and that he couldn't get anything done all day b/c he's soo tired. I've tried to get him to STOP taking naps during the day (he's a stay at home Dad) but I know he does and that's how he is able to stay up all night.

UGH! I guess this turned into a rant too about DH and his computer habits.

Back to my original question - my two ages 2 and 4 play outside from about 4 in the afternoon till dinner and then they are inside after that. I think that's a great amount of time for them to play each day. They burn off energy and aren't as wild when they get to play outside during the day. We live in Florida so weather is not an issue. It's GORGEOUS outside right now. I have an issue with this b/c #1 I think it's entirely TOO MUCH computer time for a boy his age playing a violent video game. I also think he needs to burn off more energy because he's a wild animal at night (when he's not on the computer) when he doesn't play outside during the day.

Am I wrong to feel this way? Should I even care? I try really hard to care about my skids but when they are being raised totally differently than I am raising my own kids, I think of them less and less as my kids. I don't want to be responsible for his bad behavior in the evenings b/c he didn't run off energy. He also gets Fs in school and has had some behavior issues recently. He was given less homework by his teacher so he could work one on one with DH to get his reading and writing up. DH has done very little with this. He lets him come home and get on the computer immediately.

I am just so beyond frustrated with this situation. This is why I just throw up my hands and say, I don't effin care anymore what his kids do! I don't think what I'm asking is unreasonable - an hour a day outside. Is that really wrong???

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