With recent concerns about youth detachment from outdoor activities, lack of physical exercise and increased health risks, the California Roundtable on Recreation, Parks and Tourism adopted the California Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights for the purpose of recommending a fundamental list of experiences that every child in California would benefit from experiencing, before entering high school. List of experiences include:
Play in a safe place
Explore nature
Learn to swim
Go fishing
Follow a trail
Camp under the stars
Ride a bike
Go boating
Connect with the past
Plant a seed
Numerous studies document that children who do these things are healthier, do better in school, have better social skills and self-image, and lead more fulfilled lives.
Boating is one way of helping children establish permanent bonds with their natural world, families and friends to help them go on to lead healthy and productive lives.