Surely you’ve heard someone (perhaps yourself) say: “I’d love my kids to play outside but there’s no one there for them to play with!”
And you’ve probably heard a kid (perhaps your own) say: “I’d love to play outside, but there’s no one there for me to play with.”
And then there’s Guthrie, a 12-year-old 7th grader in Bend, Oregon. Here is his solution, in his own words:
I had the idea of getting all of the neighborhood kids together when I couldn’t find any of my friends to hang out with over the summer. One week I finally got bored enough that I decided to design a flyer, print it out, and deliver the flyers to 60 of my neighbors. I made sure to say there were no adults allowed. Leading up to the Friday fun capture the flag night I was nervous that no one would show up. When I got there, there were 20 other kids.
We hung out for an hour. I moved to the neighborhood a year ago so I didn’t know most of the kids. We had some trouble coming to agreements on the games, but in the end we had a really good time. I am going to have fun every Friday for the next year.
I had a lot of fun with my neighbors and it made me feel like I wanted to do it again.
His mom, Tia Johnson Brown, wrote:
Guthrie finally pulled off his Friday Fun, Kids Only night in Woodriver Village!
He had a tough week of boredom and by Wednesday he was organizing.
– He designed a flyer all by himself.
– Asked me if he could send them to FedEx to print them in color.
– Got on his bike and delivered them to 60 houses.
– Showed up to the meeting area and found 20 kids were there and ready to play.
Now Guthrie is planning a neighborhood snowball fight once the first flakes fall. And his mom notes:
It was interesting to see that parents really pushed their kids to get out to capture the flag even if they didn’t want to. Parents want their kids OUT but sometimes have difficulty pushing them if there is no one else on the streets.
Her advice?
Expect your kids to be outside playing. Require them to step outside for an hour or two a day. Be in the house with the kids who are always playing out front. If your kids are outside, others will join.
And Let Grow here: If you’d like your town to be a little more of a kid-roaming, parent-trusting kind of place, check out the free Let Grow Community Tool Kit. It’s got practical steps and resources to help parents push back on a culture of overprotection and create a place to raise independent kids!
Guthrie’s group!