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The quality of life of American children has been stalled since 2002, according to the Foundation for Child Development 2008 Child Well-Being Index, an annual comprehensive measure of how children are faring in the United States. The Index calculates the overall status of American children for every year since 1975, and finds less than a three percent improvement for kids over the past generation.

“The slow growth of recent years is troubling; we haven’t made enough progress to shield ourselves for the future. Our data show us that the economic recession and slowdown of 2001-2002 hurt children. We also expect that the current challenges in the housing, employment, energy and food sectors will have negative impacts on our children’s well-being in years to come,” said Kenneth Land, project coordinator of the CWI, and a sociology professor and director of the Center for Population Health and Aging at Duke University.

"From fiscal 2001 through 2006, overall federal discretionary spending grew very rapidly; even faster than mandatory spending. In such an environment, one would expect large investments in domestic programs that benefit children. However, that has not been the case and a lack of progress in the well-being of children is one result. Modest investments yield modest results,” David Gray, director of the New America Foundation's (NAF) Workforce and Family Program.

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Rusty Keeler is the author of the latest Exchange book which will dramatically influence the quality of children's experiences in early childhood playgrounds. Natural Playscapes: Creating Outdoor Play Environments for the Soul, now available on the Exchange web site, is an inspiring, yet practical resource on bringing outdoor playspaces to life. It describes how children relate to the natural world, gives many examples from around the world of how early childhood professionals and parents have planned and constructed natural playscapes. Included are blueprints, step by step instructions, and tip sheets such as "20 Ways to Create Natural Playscapes," and "15 Free or Low-Cost Things to Enrich Your Playscapes."

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