Where Do The Children Play? examines the disappearance of play and nature from the daily lives of children. Free play in the natural world. which the baby-boomer generation and their parents took for granted, is something that many children today do not know. Sprawl, congestion and endless suburban development across America have moved children further and further into isolation. This film explores this new environmental impact on children's mental and physical health and their development.
The "average home range" for suburban children has shrunk from a radius of one mile to 550 yards in two decades. And while most kids used to walk or ride a bus to school, this has dramatically changed. A mere ten percent walk or ride bicycles today, and increasingly the rest - already more than half - are driven to school, furthering the isolation. Add to this the parental pressure to succeed, kids' overscheduled lives, a mediadriven fear of strangers, and a soaring divorce rate, and experts see serious potential for disaster.
The film is told largely in the voices of children and combines research of urban planners, health experts, educators and environmentalists to better explain the realities children today face in urban centers, suburbs and rural areas.
Where Do The Children Play? provokes debate and discussion and leaves the viewer with an increased understanding and compassion for the modern lives of children.
