NYC, state officials reveal free ways to get kids off their phones and outside: Dont scroll through life

City and state officials urged New York parents Tuesday to get their kids off their phones and outside — and they gave a few suggestions on how to do it.Gov.Kathy Hochul announced that pools at New York’s state parks will be free to all for the rest of the summer — including at 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 chip in $1.5 million in transportation grants to help get disadvantaged kids to swim lessons at the pools, she said.

“This is to promote mental health and physical health and encourage families and our kids to just go back to a throwback time,” Hochul said at a morning press conference in Upper Manhattan’s Riverbank park.“Think about when you were young,” she said.“What you did with your time — you kicked the ball and just played catch, you swam.

You just enjoyed life.“You weren’t sitting indoors being held captive to your cell phone,” she said.“So that’s our advice.

Don’t scroll through life.Just dive in.

Let’s get started.” David Banks, the Big Apple’s public-schools chancellor, separately kicked off the city’s Summer Rising program — which will offer about 110,000 elementary-school kids a litany of summer academic and enrichment activities that include field trips and outdoor recreation.“That is a huge, huge deal,” Bank said of the numbers of spots, which are typically offered, while at an appearance at Elizabeth Blackwell Middle School in Queens. “This is probably our most sought-after program.

The kids are really excited.”“Kids are going to do a lot of fun activities,” he said.“They are going to be moving all over the city.

I’ve always said that the city is our classroom and that the whole world lives here.And that some of the best learning happens outside of the four walls of these schools.“So they’re going to take plenty of trips, they’re going to ...