City and state officials New York parents complained on Tuesday. He urged people to get their kids away from their phones and outside, and offered some suggestions on how to do this.
Gov. Kathy Hawkle announced that New York state park pools will be open to the public for free for the rest of the summer, including Jones Beach on Long Island, Riverbank State Park in Manhattan, Roberto Clemente State Park Pool in the Bronx and Bear Mountain in the Hudson Valley.
The state will also provide $1.5 million in transportation grants to help underprivileged children get swimming lessons at pools, she said.
“This is about promoting mental health, physical wellness and encouraging families and children to reminisce,” Hoekl said at a morning news conference in Riverbank Park in Upper Manhattan.
“Think about when you were young,” she said, “what you did with your time. You kicked a ball, you played catch, you swam. You just enjoyed life.”
“You’re not sitting at home glued to your phone,” she said. “So that’s our advice: Don’t just scroll through life, just dive in. Let’s get started.”
New York City Public Schools Chancellor David Banks separately announced the launch of the city’s Summer Rising program, which will provide about 110,000 elementary school students with a range of summer learning and educational activities, including field trips and outdoor recreation.
“This is a really big deal,” Ms. Bank, who attended Elizabeth Blackwell Middle School in Queens, said of the number of seats typically offered. “This is probably the most popular of our programs. The kids are really excited.”
“The kids will have a lot of fun activities,” he said. “They’ll be moving around the city. I always say the city is our classroom, the whole world lives here, and some of the best learning happens outside the four walls of these schools.”
“They do a lot of traveling, they do a lot of hands-on experiential learning, and that’s how young minds are developed,” he said. “They have to learn by doing, by being involved.”
At least one participant agreed.
Sharlyn Sanchez, an 11-year-old student in MS 120Q, said she loved the water park and other field trips the program took her to last year.
“We had to do something educational, but then we had time to play,” the girl said, adding that she wanted to tell other students that the program was “fun. It was a lot of fun.”
The programs are part of a concerted effort to get kids offline and outdoors when the weather is at its warmest, resulting in improved mental health, officials said.
in the investigation Strong links were shown There is a correlation between excessive smartphone use and anxiety, depression, and other ills, especially among children.
Spending more than a few hours each week using electronic media is correlated with lower self-reported happiness, satisfaction, and self-esteem. According to a 2018 study: Young people.
“Young people who spend a lot of time on electronic communications and screens [e.g., social media, the Internet, texting, gaming] Spending less time on non-screen activities [e.g., in-person social interaction, sports/exercise, homework, attending religious services] “Psychological well-being was poorer,” the study authors concluded.
Meanwhile, the kids who spent the least amount of time staring at screens were the happiest.
Speaking at a news conference wearing a blue baseball cap and Converse sneakers, Governor Haukle said the “Get Offline and Outside” campaign is explicitly aimed at improving children’s mental health.
“Yes, it’s important to get offline and get outside,” she said. “We need to focus on youth mental health. This is a top priority for me and my fellow legislators.”
The state is also investing about $150 million in building new pools and upgrading existing pools across the state, and New York is “getting our kids back,” she added.
“[We are] “I want to give them less stress, no mental health issues, let them be kids again, the way they should be kids, and get them outside,” she said.
Kim Walton and her 11-year-old daughter, Madison Rogers, met Hockle as he walked around the pool and shook his hand.
Walton, who lives on the Lower East Side, said her family thoroughly enjoys the pool each summer.
“I love it,” she told The Post. “I come every year.”
She added that Hawkle also asked her daughter if she liked swimming and if she read books instead of playing on her phone.
“And yes, she’s doing it all,” her proud mother said.
