Sprinklers! Sprinklers! – shouts Sasha from the gate.
In no time, we’re all together. We take off our pants. We jump over the fence and run towards the corner. By the sound, we would say that it comes from Smederevska. We are stumbling from foot to foot, partly because of the hot asphalt, partly because of impatience.
Here she is!!! Yuriiish!!
We run along Charlie Chaplin, screaming and clapping our bare stomachs. Neighbors are baptized, passers-by are surprised, and the driver of the city cleanliness tries to escape. He quickly turns to Ljubo Stojanović, then to Jaše Prodanović. We go back to Stojan Novaković, go out to the park and run straight to the cistern at the pavilion. We jump and scream, frantic with happiness and icy water.
Run! Breakup! Rolls! – the driver pushes us with his hands.
We continue the tour we started…
“After the sun it rains”, says Jasminka Petrović
That’s how it used to be! Unfortunately, we don’t spend enough time outside. It is certain that today’s children would very much like to embark on a similar adventure, as described by our famous writer, writing about her childhood, in the sixties of the last century in Belgrade.
Unfortunately, the modern moment and such an acute problem of child safety make the described adventure seem fictional and completely unrealistic!
However, we want to emphasize how important and why it is important for children to stay, play, explore and learn outdoors, in nature!
In the open air, children are more and more intensely physically active, so they can develop and improve all their motor potential.
Spending time and playing in nature also has an impact on creativity. Children often have to discover and invent for themselves what and how they can play.
Outdoor activities also affect the awakening and further development of both intellectual and social abilities. Open space, even when familiar, is always full of novelty and as such provides significant cognitive stimulation, and if the activity takes place in a group then children learn to cooperate, communicate and be adaptable.
Children, who spend more time outside in various activities, sleep and eat better, raise the level of vitamin D, so they are less stressed and in a better mood, and finally reduce the time that one of them might spend in front of the “screen”, which in itself is a multiple benefit.
In nature, children learn to understand and then appreciate nature itself. Direct contact with everything that exists in nature, especially for children living in urban areas, is really always unforgettable.
Outdoor activities ultimately encourage children’s independence and ability to make decisions on their own, which together have a very positive effect on their self-confidence.
Circumstances have changed, and the level of freedom from the beginning of the story is no longer possible. But something else is possible! It is possible that a good school has a large, always sunny yard, lots of greenery and space to play and discover something new on your own. It is possible that someone has a cottage in Kosmaj and that this yard is an even greater challenge. It is possible that Tasmajdan Park still has a hidden corner, which can provide a little adventure! It’s possible for an older brother to take a younger brother to the Great War Island to see rare birds. It is possible for the whole family to walk, through the forest, to the monument to the Unknown Hero, while they talk about our glorious history.
It is possible that we adults need to be more creative today than ever, so that our children spend as much time outdoors as possible! We have to make the adventure safe, and that it remains an adventure, what jumps out of the ordinary, what we remember!
