Jul 1, 2026 · 6 min · 6 segments
Olwen shares an interesting story from her own house, as her 10 year old son summed up perfectly, the issues with our sedentary school day here in Australia. Especially IF it's a "wet weather day"…
Olwen ForkerHost
We are having a weather dilemma in my house at the moment, or so my 10-year-old says, and it's a sentiment echoed by many Back Chat families.
We've had a particularly wet, uh, winter season here in Brisbane, and as my 10-year-old reports, they're not able to play and run outside at school.
So many people saying, "Little Billy's having a really hard day because he doesn't get playtime," or, "Little Isabelle isn't getting her run around on the oval because she has to stay indoors." Children are coming home very dysregulated, cross and cranky, because they don't get the movement breaks that they need.
I am living it with my Mr. 10 at the moment, and I really think we have it all wrong here in Australia.
Even our playtime for our kids in schools, we just don't seem to get it right, and kids are constantly being penalized.
[sniffs] And don't get me started on the concrete jungles that schools are nowadays.
Has anybody noticed in the last two decades how our school grounds have become a thing of the past? They've turned into concrete jungles.
One mom on a recent visit to a new school for her daughter starting prep reported to me how disappointed she was in the tiny school grounds, how tiny the prep playground looked, how it looked like something out of the '80s.
We wonder why our children are struggling so much with mental health, with anxiety, with hyperactivity and impulsivity, that dysregulation.
We wonder why that Flynn Effect is being reversed across our country and we're in free fall.
And even now, further break times are being restricted with the introduction of these concrete jungles.
We are having a weather dilemma in my house at the moment, or so my 10-year-old says, and it's a sentiment echoed by many Back Chat families.
We've had a particularly wet, uh, winter season here in Brisbane, and as my 10-year-old reports, they're not able to play and run outside at school.
So many people saying, "Little Billy's having a really hard day because he doesn't get playtime," or, "Little Isabelle isn't getting her run around on the oval because she has to stay indoors." Children are coming home very dysregulated, cross and cranky, because they don't get the movement breaks that they need.
I am living it with my Mr. 10 at the moment, and I really think we have it all wrong here in Australia.
Even our playtime for our kids in schools, we just don't seem to get it right, and kids are constantly being penalized.
[sniffs] And don't get me started on the concrete jungles that schools are nowadays.
Has anybody noticed in the last two decades how our school grounds have become a thing of the past? They've turned into concrete jungles.
One mom on a recent visit to a new school for her daughter starting prep reported to me how disappointed she was in the tiny school grounds, how tiny the prep playground looked, how it looked like something out of the '80s.
We wonder why our children are struggling so much with mental health, with anxiety, with hyperactivity and impulsivity, that dysregulation.
We wonder why that Flynn Effect is being reversed across our country and we're in free fall.
And even now, further break times are being restricted with the introduction of these concrete jungles.
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