📘 Part 3: Children and activities

This episode's vocabulary

Range (noun) - a set of similar things.

Bouldering (noun) - an activity in which people climb up and over rocks or artificial rock walls at fairly low heights without using ropes.

Nature connectedness (noun) - individual differences in what people feel, think and experience in their sense of connection with the natural environment.

Bent (noun) - a natural skill.

Formality (noun) - something that has to be done but has no real importance.

To divvy (verb) - to share something between different people or groups.

Overwhelming (adj.) - difficult to fight against.

Temptation (noun) - the wish to do or have something that you know you should not do or have.

Helicopter parenting (noun) - a way of taking care of a child that involves a parent being very closely involved with their child's life, especially their education, and trying to control it too much.

Vast (adj.) - extremely big.

Dependency (noun) - a situation in which you need something or someone and are unable to continue normally without them.

To impede (verb) - to make it more difficult for something to happen or more difficult for someone to do something.

Wrap someone (up) in cotton wool (idiom) - to try to protect someone too carefully.

Questions and Answers

M: What activities do children often do in your country?

R: Probably not much different to what they do elsewhere, frankly. You often see them playing in the park, though increasingly, video games and other digital sports are a thing. So they might be outdoors less frequently. But the range of activities is still wide. I mean, the bouldering place near me has lots of kids in it quite regularly, for example.

M: What role do outdoor activities play in a child's development?

R: Oh, quite major ones, actually. You really shouldn't ask a teacher this question. First of all, they develop a sense of nature connectedness. Which is useful for regulating emotions and stress. I also read a paper once about the development of the awareness of risk in young people as well, when they were doing these kinds of activities. There are a few other things as well, but those are the ones that stick out the most at the moment.

M: What are the differences between activities at home and at school?

R: Actually, I was about to say that the ones at school have more of an educational bent to them. But that's probably not true, since kids learn things at home all the time, like cooking from their relatives. So it's not that. Probably the difference is the level of structure or formality involved since at home, you have more freedom to pursue the interest and try things out. Whereas at school resources are shared and time is divvied up according to the will of the teacher.

M: How have children's games changed in the past few decades?

R: I suppose the role of technology is greater, but the elements of competition and cooperation are still there. So on the one hand, they've changed a lot in they're format or expression, but the rules are, well, they've remained in place.

M: Do you think technology affects the way children play today?

R: Well, there's an overwhelming temptation to say yes, because of all the moral panic around video games and social media affecting kids' brains and making them more anxious and aggressive. But to be honest, people have been having meltdowns about young people for 1000s of years. And we're still here and doing reasonably well. So I don't think so. I don't think it does significantly.

M: Should parents strictly regulate their children's playtime activities?

R: Oh, God, absolutely not. Well, I don't think young people are in a unique kind of crisis. Helicopter parenting is definitely not good for the vast majority of people, and creates a weird kind of dependency that could impede the development of young people and some of their social skills later in life. Of course, you should protect your kids from clear and present danger, but not to the extent you're wrapping them in cotton wool, that's not going to be good for anybody.

Discussion

M: Hey! Right, dear listener. So activities. We do activities, right? What other verbs can we use with activities? Like children do activities, children...

R: Engage in activities?

M: Engage in activities. Yes.

R: Or participate in activities, or take part in.

M: You often see children playing in the park. So you see children playing, you see how they play, you see children playing in the park. Also, children play video games. Well, playing video games is an activity, okay? To do. Also, children can do digital sports. So kind of they play tennis online, for example, yeah? Or they play chess online.

R: I'm trying to think of other things that you do online. But like I say, the possibilities are endless. You can play any kind of game online or interact in any manner that you like now, just about. Although, I should say, at the beginning of the answer, I said you often see them. It's just a way of referring to people in general. Not you, specifically the examiner. Just you often see them doing this or you often hear them doing that. So this is another way to speak in general in part three.

M: You mentioned outdoor activities. Lots of children enjoy outdoor or indoor activities. Outdoor activities develop a sense of nature connectedness in children.

R: Yes, but we've talked about this before.

M: So kind of, if children play outdoors, it helps them to develop a connection with nature. Connection? Connectedness. So a sense of nature connectedness. And the verb is "develop". Develop a sense of nature connectedness. This is useful to regulate emotions and stress.

R: It is.

M: So if you are connected to nature, you can regulate your emotions and stress. It helps you to relieve stress and kind of regulate your emotions.

R: Which is why... It's not just for kids, I should say. The next time that you're feeling stressed, go outside. Go to a park, and you will feel better. Within about 20 minutes, I should say.

M: Yeah, true. If something sticks out the most, it's like really visible or is the most important thing.

R: Although, this is part of a wider strategy because I mentioned two things. And I couldn't think of how to say the other ones, or how to articulate the other ones. So I just said this expression, there are a few other things as well. But those are the ones that stick out the most. You could do this for talking about literally anything as long as you're asked, what do, or what does something do?

M: Yeah, you give two answers, two things. And then there are a few other things. But these are the most important things. So these are the ones that stick out the most. Yeah. So, Rory told us about this nature connectedness. And the second thing is the development of the awareness of risk. So children play outside, so they kind of manage their risks more effectively. Yeah? Because outside anything can happen. Meteors, planes.

R: Planes crashing. No. You could... I think falling might be a more realistic one.

M: Yeah, so different things coming from the sky, you know? Yeah. Strong wind. So this like, a risk management, there you go. Activities at home and at school are different.

R: Maybe.

M: So at school, we educate children. At home, we entertain them.

R: Well, no, I think we educate them at home and school as well. It's just different kinds of different ways of educating people.

M: You can say, children or kids. It's absolutely okay to use kids in speaking, but not in essays. Okay? In essays, you should write children, because children is a neutral word. And essays are more formal than speaking. Speaking is informal. So kids, you know, children. Children learn things at home all the time like cooking. So they learn things like cooking from their relatives, from their parents. At school, they learn things from their teachers, and from their classmates.

R: What things did you learn from your parents?

M: Maybe, you know, like, the love for nature, because we went outside like all the time to different parks, different places. Like I learned the culture of picnics. We had like beautiful picnics. Like in different places. And also just this culture of just going to places, to theatres, to parks, to museums. And the culture of eating nicely. Of eating like nice food.

R: Having good manners.

M: Yeah, like good manners. Yeah, not just leaving garbage everywhere. Not having your picnic close to a road. Like in an ugly place. Now I have problems because I have high standards.

R: I was going to say the standards are too high now.

M: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It should be a nice place and I'm not gonna have a picnic by the road. Even if the people are nice. The food is nice.

R: I don't think that's a problem.

M: Ah, you see? But I'm not eating by the road. If I'm super hungry, okay. If I'm drunk, okay.

R: We cannot make any reference to that. The devil's nectar. So nope. That's not going in.

M: Oh, now I can't say alcohol?

R: Yes, you cannot say drunk. You cannot say alcohol.

M: You can say that the difference is the level of structure and formality. Because it's more structured at school. It's more formal at school. We have classes. But at home, it's kind of like random things are learned. So at home, children have more freedom. They try things out at home, at school kind of they learn theory, and also some practice perhaps.

R: You might learn that at home though.

M: On the one hand games have changed a lot in the past few decades. So Present Perfect. Games have changed. Decades meaning like... A decade means 10 years. So in the past few decades, in the past, I don't know, like 20-30 years games have changed a lot in their format.

R: Yeah, that's just how they look and how they're played.

M: Yeah, like video games, digital games. And now like a game is like, wow. It's kind of a reality. Really. So the game is so well managed and constructed, structured. This is kind of like, wow, it's for real.

R: But I don't... Like I mean, I think that's just like a superficial change. Because in any game, you still have to interact with people, you still have to work together or compete with each other.

M: Yeah. But today, we have a lot of board games. Like all sorts of board games. Like two people can play, ten people can play. So... And they're quite popular. Like board games. Different board games. Easy, difficult, intellectual, stupid, funny. You know? And you can say that the basic rules have remained in place. So the basic rules are the same. So nothing has changed. People play, have fun, interact, talk to each other. There you go.

R: Yeah. And that's it.

M: You can talk about the elements of competition. So there is a competition in a game. Cooperation. We cooperate with each other. Technology affects the way children play. Because of video games. Children play video games.

R: Well, they do. But I mean, well, like I said here. Recently people have been having this kind of moral panic, which is when there's a huge amount of media attention focused on a particular subject that's portrayed as being very negative. And they're just saying, video games make children violent, or they make children antisocial or anxious, and all of these other things. And most of the time, these panics turn out to be completely ridiculous nonsense. And I think the same is true now, to be honest. I think people are just having a massive panic about nothing.

M: And you can say that video games and social media are affecting children's brains. They make them more anxious, and more aggressive.

Maybe

R: Allegedly.

M: Yeah, maybe.

R: Maybe, yeah.

M: The attention span is reduced. But yeah, on the other hand, video games help children a lot. And you can read some articles. And like now, like there are more articles now saying that video games are actually really helpful. But parents should not regulate their children's playtime activities. So playtime? A child has their playtime, a special time when they play. So parents should not strictly regulate. Like, regulate in a strict kind of way. Like 10 minutes. You play only for 10 minutes. And that's all. So Rory thinks that it should be more flexible. What's helicopter parenting?

R: Helicopter parenting... Well, if you imagine a helicopter, it hovers over something. And helicopter parenting is when parents hover over their children and try to keep them safe from everything.

M: So helicopter parenting is definitely not good for most people, or for the majority of people, or for the vast majority of people.

R: Yeah, I mean, there'll be some kids who definitely need helicopter parenting because they'll have serious disabilities that might kill them if they're not supervised appropriately at all times. But that is not the vast majority of children.

M: And you can say that helicopter parenting could impede the development of young people. Impede? Like, slow down.

R: Massively slow down.

M: Interfere in the development. Yeah. For example, if I write by hand and you don't understand my handwriting, this impedes your understanding. Parents should protect their kids. Okay? From clear dangers. Not wrapping them in cotton wool. Rory, is this an idiom? Wrap somebody in cotton wool?

R: It's an idiom? I think so, but that just means that you're taking excessive measures to protect them from harm. And a clear and present danger is just something that you can see will probably hurt a child.

M: Could you give us another example with "wrap somebody in cotton wool"?

R: I think it's usually children get wrapped up in cotton wool, to be honest. Whenever they're being protected too much. You cannot wrap your children up in cotton wool.

M: Yeah, theidioms.com says wrap in cotton wool is an idiom. Okay. To be overprotective, so overprotective parents, protect somebody too cautiously to death. For example, the mother wrapped the child up in cotton wool to protect them from the dangers of the world. You can't wrap up your children in cotton wool for the whole life.

R: Or ever.

M: How will your children learn to be independent, when you keep wrapping them in cotton wool? Yes, dear listener, theidioms.com, like a useful website. There are lots of examples, origins and meanings. And also our course on idioms, of course.

R: Is in the works.

M: Thank you very much for listening! And we'll get back to you in our new episode. Okay? Bye!

R: Bye!

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