Are parks Kid Safe?

We'd like to invite our readers, to join the conversation. Are you concerned that your children are not safe at local parks? Are you safe at a park yourself? Tell us what you're doing to keep safe while exploring nature. Send us an email. So, being outside today at the beautiful  Lake Balboa (Anthony C. Beilenson Park - formally Balboa Park) seems like a great place to ask you, what have the local parks meant to you in your life?
I want to get your take on the discussions that we've heard recently about the budget cutting at California's state parks. Have you been involved in any of that discussion and what is your reaction?

Personally, I've not been involved directly with that discussion. You know, budget issues aside, the last place we should be – one of the last places we should be cutting is in the relationship between opportunities for children to experience nature, and families and adults. There is a theory, a biophilia hypothesis, Theo Wilson of Harvard, that holds that we are hardwired to need nature as a species and that when we don't get enough of that, we don't do so well. And this has everything to do with many of the studies that have emerged in the last 15 years or so that really show that direct connection. So, you know, when you cut the state park budget, you're also cutting the health budget, you're cutting the mental health budget. You know – we're going to end up shifting illness that might not have happened onto the hospitals and emergency rooms when people have less contact with nature, less green in their lives.

 There was a recent study that showed that child obesity drops in those neighborhoods, is less in those neighborhoods that are greener, and this is true even in the inner cities. So it's independent of population density. So when we take away from parks, we're also taking away from the health of the state and then we're shifting that cost to the emergency rooms. But actually when you look at the studies that have emerged, it has everything, again, to do with child development. Attention deficit disorder goes down when kids get outside, and there's a whole series of studies at the UCLA that show that. But there – One of the reasons that this is happening, too, is urban design. It's very difficult for people to get to nature increasingly in the sterile suburbs, as we've been told. But also fear because parents were scared to death primarily of stranger danger. Without minimizing the fact that there is danger out there, it is true that the news media has magnified that beyond reality, that the actual number of stranger abductions, for instance, is quite small. One is too many but the number is quite small compared to what people think. And so, you know, you have people basically raising kids under protective house arrest. It's not that there isn't risk out there, it's that we need to begin to think in terms of comparative risk. Yes, there's some risk; there's risk in nature, that's part of its attraction, but there's also risk in raising a generation under protective house arrest, a risk to their psychological health, their sense of disconnectedness to the community, a risk to their physical health.

Ironically, pediatricians say that they don't see very many broken bones now. What they see are repetitive stress injuries which tend to last a lot longer than broken bones, typical broken bones. So, you know, all of those things are adding up and more to create this sense that nature is irrelevant to children's lives and nothing could be more untrue. 

Lastly, parks can be divided into active and passive recreation. Active recreation is that which require intensive development and often involves cooperative or team activity, including playgrounds, ball fields and skate-parks. Passive recreation is that which emphasizes the open-space aspect of a park and which involves a low level of development, including picnic areas and trails. Organized soccer matches and baseball games take place in these parks. Many smaller neighborhood parks are receiving increased attention and valuation as significant community assets and places of refuge in heavily populated urban areas. Neighborhood groups around the world are joining together to support local parks that have suffered from urban decay and government neglect. 

Public parks provide millions of Americans with the opportunity to be physically active. Physical activity is an essential part of an individual’s efforts to stay healthy, fight obesity and prevent chronic conditions that lead to coronary disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Having close-to-home access to places where one can recreate is one of the most important factors linking whether people will become active and stay that way.

Public 

Parks facilitate social interactions that are critical to maintaining community cohesion and pride. Parks provide a meeting place where community members can develop social ties, and where healthy behavior is modeled and admired. People gather to share experiences, socialize and to build community bonds in common green

spaces. These public commons are often the glue that holds the community together and the means to maintaining and improving future positive social interactions.