I grew up in a neighborhood where spending time at the playground was important as this would promote my social skills. My time spent at summer camps and engaging in group activities outside also allowed me to understand that these social skills would help me to make friends. Only this was an excuse to engage at the same time with nature.

Letting a child spend time at the playground promotes benefits in areas like physical, emotional, self-confidence, and self-esteem. Right now, driving by neighborhoods with playgrounds, there isn’t giggles or smiles, and neither small fight whenever someone takes your spot because they were there first. They are empty.

The Game Time shares some of the benefits of playing at a playground; we find the following:

Physical

Running, jumping, and swinging aren’t only “fun” but teach reflexes and movement control, developing fine and gross motor skills, and increasing flexibility and balancing skills—less screen time.

Emotional

Kids build self-confidence and self-esteem and release stressful and traumatic emotions.

Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem

Playgrounds have climbers and activities of varying skill levels. The greater the skill, the higher the perceived risk in a child’s mind. These moments allow the child to understand no matter how many times they fall or get bruises or bumps not to give up.

Playgrounds also promote relationship-building skills not only during school but also outside. Swings encourage body awareness, activity panels like tic-tac-toe identify the perception of form and shape, depth and size, along with hanging rings and monkey bars to teach scientific concepts such as the force of gravity and spatial awareness. All of these are traits that can help later on to continue with a healthy life.

Fitt Insider shared that childhood obesity continues to rise. Exos launched Coach For Good, a social program that inspires healthy behaviors among youth, women, and the military community. 7,500 students across 15 public schools in NYC will receive regular 15-minute “fit breaks” live and on-demand movement classes designed in partnership with nonprofit Wellness in Schools. These are some actions so the statistics can change.

If those are news you are still trying to process, let’s move on to the following question: Is it because of genetics? It can be a factor. What can we do for a change? How are they being raised back at home? What generation are their parents? We might often see in places how parents can calm an energetic kid by giving them a cell phone or iPad to watch a movie. Usually, the two generations that suffer from this are Millennials and Gen Z.

Millennials and Gen Z

Gen Y (Millennials) are those born between 1982 and 1996. This generation witnessed a tech explosion, including the commercialization of the internet and cell phone, the introduction of the laptop and iPad, and the social media launch. They also helped elect our first African American President, witnessed Columbine and Sandy Hook, and ran headlong into economic and health crises.

Gen Z (Zoomers) were born between 1997 and 2012. This generation cannot remember a time before the internet or social media and has had their childhood interrupted by a market crash, racial unrest, and a global pandemic. The dramatically different background backdrops against which these generations grew up and matured have significantly impacted who they are. For example, they grew up watching their parents endure the hardships of both the economic collapse of 2008 and the crippling financial impact of a global pandemic. The Inc. reports that this makes this generation “more debt-averse and budget-minded” than the Millennials, which I disagree with.

What makes these two generations alike?

Both are accustomed to using technology in their everyday lives and expect all workplaces to be the same way. They prefer instant communication to be in the likes of e-mail, social media, instant messaging apps (Slack), and video chat (Zoom or Google Meet). But they also have differences and may clash.

Why do they clash?

The Business manages to explain why these two generations clash and share their differences, which are the following:

Millennials	Gen Z
Raised by Baby Boomers’ values, Millennials adopted a “whatever you want to achieve, learn how to manage your money and work hard”	Opt to not study and if they do prefer to go to community college and focus on landing a job straight from college. But can criticize when they don’t land as they don’t have a Bachelor’s degree. They can have the skills, which is important, but so as having an education
Grew up in gaming and continue to do it even as adults. In the social media area, they started and watched online creations	Spends more time promoting the metaverse and engagement in a remote setting
Like to have a job that allows them to have a work-life balance	Open about engaging in conversations about mental health even at work. They also started to promote on social media about speaking up for important issues like social injustices, wrongdoings, values, and interests
Conscious while studying at college or university that based on what they study might not be able to find a job, but graduate with a Bachelor or Master, and re-adjust	Constantly on the lookout for new and exciting fitness programs that promote stress management and mental health. Rely more on technology in a remote setting and push for the “influencer” based popularity and likes
Are fitness fanatics and pay close attention to having purpose and personal goals. It can be leaning out for the summer, completing a race, or signing up for a challenge

The Business compares these two generations andand I’m afraid I have to disagree with how they put Gen Z. I’m not saying Gen Z generation is the worst. Millennials have tried to incorporate conversations about mental health; even if we see public figures talking about it, we should engage in more conversations.

I’ve worked with Gen Z colleagues and although you can talk to them, there can be moments where you can clash due to differences. It’s rare to find one who understands what it means to have goals and aspire to have a job where they can grow and work hard. They want everything far too easy when life isn’t easy. The statistics continue to grow for obesity because the metaverse, Snapchat, and TikTok are more important than being active. While Millennials have managed to create technological devices, Gen Z has created “influencers” who can promote “healthy diets” but might not have the slightest idea of the damage they can do because they don’t have the credits as a nutritionist. Once again, I’m not trying to say Millennials are better than Gen Z. I want to put my observations out there that while one generation has managed to add things to revolutionize with technology, what is the second one doing? Are they taking notes and analyzing to see what they can bring for a change?

*Chat GPT did not write this.