Space to grow
I OFTEN marvel at the incredible range of toys and gadgets modernday children have at their disposal. When I was a youngster I had a bag of marbles and a footy — and those two treasured possessions combined kept me busy for hours.
Nowadays there are thousands of products on offer to entertain children from the moment they come home from hospital.
There are teddy bears that sing songs at a push of the paw, gadgets with more flashing buttons than the NASA control centre (don’t forget your batteries!), junior scaled-down kitchens and even a fully functional battery-operated CAT digger. New hole in the backyard anyone?
I wonder though, is all of this ‘stuff’ making our kids’ lives better? What happened to the 72 Derwent pencil kit and Monopoly board for those rainy days? I wouldn’t be the first to observe that the most popular part of a new toy is often the box it comes in!
With so much to choose from, children might play with one toy for a few minutes and then discard it in favour of the next one. Not exactly the best way to develop imagination or gratitude.
And this is before we even get to technology, which now becomes part of our children’s lives almost as soon as they’re born. It’s not uncommon to see babies barely 12 months old who know how to unlock a smart phone. My sevenyear-old granddaughter downloads apps on to her iPad as fast as I used to download Mum’s homemade biscuits!
Research gathered by City of Greater Geelong staff during the development of our Municipal Health and Wellbeing Plan showed around 15 per cent of children in our region use electronic media for entertainment for more than two hours per day. The figure rises to more than two thirds for adolescents.
In some ways, access to technology is both a blessing and a curse for today’s kids.
We’ve observed first-hand through our Youth Council that young people are increasingly aware of what’s going on around them and will have an opinion about important issues. The recent worldwide climate change protests are a case in point.
On the flip side, there’s the risk technology use could come at the expense of exercise. With around half of Geelong adults now classified as overweight, pre-obese or obese, physical activity at an early age is vitally important to create healthy habits for life.
The good news is around 66 per cent of children in our region engage in daily physical activity, which is above the state average. But there’s still plenty of room for improvement in that figure.
And despite the term “social media”, the online world doesn’t create the same strong social connections or sense of belonging that face-to-face interactions do either. I’m not convinced that any relationship should be based on swiping right or left. We’re seeing rising levels of anxiety created by social media and online bullying.
Every parent will have their own ideas about how much “technology” is too much, and it’s made even more difficult by FOMO — Fear of Missing Out. No one wants their kids to be outcast from their friends because they’re not allowed to interact in the same way as everyone else.
Council’s role, as I see it, is to provide environments where children have an opportunity to play and use their imagination, where they can be active, and where they can create genuine social connections. It’s why the council creates appealing open space reserves and trails, builds and maintains our playgrounds to a high standard, and invests in recreational facilities, along with arts and culture venues such as Drysdale’s Potato Shed and Courthouse Youth Arts in Geelong.
We have so many outstanding volunteer-run sporting clubs and other organisations in our region and it’s vital we support them with the facilities they need.
With the size of the typical backyard shrinking, our public spaces are becoming even more important. It’s here that I’ve continually observed children at their happiest, regardless of all the modern day toys and technology they’ve got access to at home.
Kids running wild and carefree around the schoolyard or local playground together is one of life’s joyful experiences for anyone. Children without inhibitions are far more likely to engage than a child with the latest tech gizmo.
Technology will never fully replace genuine human interaction and there’ll always be a place for a kid with a footy and a bag of marbles to lead a happy and healthy childhood. Bruce Harwood is the Mayor of Geelong.