The billionaire tech founder tells his newborn daughter about the importance of play and being outdoors in an open letter

The founder of Facebook and his wife Priscilla Chan welcomed their newborn daughter, August with an open letter talking about the magic of childhood, books and outdoors play.  Zuckerberg didn’t mention social media or the internet even once in his letter. Instead, he talked about enjoying childhood as the ‘world can be a serious place’. He also added that August should take time smelling flowers, reading books, imagining her own stories, running around, taking naps and ‘make time to go outside and play’. We couldn’t agree more and it’s so great to see more and more parents realising how important it is for children to spend time outside and play! There are so many benefits including developing learning abilities, social skills, independence and it’s so great for their health and well-being, just to mention a few. Our favourite quotes from Zuckerberg’s letter to August: “… we want to talk about childhood. The world can be a serious place. That's why it's important to make time to go outside and play.” “… I hope you take time to smell all the flowers and put all the leaves you want in your bucket now. I hope you read your favorite Dr. Seuss books so many times you start inventing your own stories about the Vipper of Vipp. I hope you ride the carousel with Max until you've tamed every color horse. I hope you run as many laps around our living room and yard as you want. And then I hope you take a lot of naps. I hope you're a great sleeper. And I hope even in your dreams you can feel how much we love you.” “Childhood is magical. You only get to be a child once, so don't spend it worrying too much about the future.” Change can take some time and we do have a long way to go but seeing one of the biggest tech founders spreading the word is definitely a great start. Let’s hope we see more of this!