Darell Hammond Quotes

• If there’s one thing that ‘No Child Left Behind’ has proven, it’s that more academics don’t make for smarter children – or even higher test scores. And yet we somehow refuse to accept this reality.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Scores, Proven

• I was raised in a group home for 14 years, so I was a beneficiary of philanthropy. I didn’t have a family. The nameless, faceless strangers were my family. They gave me an education, put food on the table and clothes on my back. I am who I am because of that formative experience. Now I am paying it forward.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Raised, Formative

• I hope my organization will not be around in 10 years, because at a national, state, and community level, we will have evolved into a society that cares about children and the need for play.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Evolved, National

• Growing up in a group home, and with an undiagnosed learning disability to boot, the odds of success were not on my side. But when I joined the high school football team, I learned the value of discipline, focus, persistence, and teamwork – all skills that have proven vital to my career as a C.E.O. and social entrepreneur.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Learned, Disability

• Given that the biggest rise in childhood obesity rates are occurring in children ages 3 to 5 years, we must modify our efforts to place an emphasis on prevention versus intervention.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Emphasis, Obesity

• During the year, our schools are busy slashing P.E. and recess to make more time for math. During the summer, we get ourselves worked into a tizzy that our children will forget their fractions.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Forget, Fractions

• During National Playground Safety Week, I’ll celebrate common-sense safety. I’ll also celebrate skinned knees and bruised elbows. I’ll celebrate so-called ‘dangerous’ playgrounds – playgrounds with see-saws, zip lines and towering slides.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Towering, Celebrate

• By providing our young children with opportunities for free, child-directed play, along with proper nutrition, we are setting them up for a lifetime of healthy habits, versus interventions needed later in life.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Nutrition, Providing

• As parents, we need to send our kids back to ‘old-fashioned’ outdoor summer camps, which have been on the decline as the demand for sports and academics-based camps has risen. We need to fight budget cuts to public parks programs and resist closures of public swimming pools and playgrounds.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Parents, Budget

• At KaBOOM! we are crowd-sourcing a nationwide Map of Play that uses GIS data and user rankings to identify where the engaging playgrounds are located, but more importantly, where they are not.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Engaging, Identify

• As I see it, the debate between summer vacation vs. year-round school glosses over the most important questions. Namely, how can we bring play back to our nation’s schools?

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Namely, Schools

• Aaah, summer – that long anticipated stretch of lazy, lingering days, free of responsibility and rife with possibility. It’s a time to hunt for insects, master handstands, practice swimming strokes, conquer trees, explore nooks and crannies, and make new friends.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Conquer, Anticipated

• We’re taking sports too far and starting kids too early.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Starting, Taking

• We must make sure that there is recess and P.E. class in every school, getting kids outside for 60 minutes, every day.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Class, Minutes

• We know when children have a place to play they live healthier, happier lives.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Children

  Tags in Happier, Place

• Unstructured play gives kids the space they need to tinker and take risks – both vital for the budding entrepreneur.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Kids, Budding

• Our society spends a lot of money on prison bars. For the sake of our kids, let’s invest in monkey bars.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Spends, Invest

• In neighborhoods without a usable park or playground, the incidence of childhood obesity increases by 29 percent.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Increases, Incidence

• We are raising today’s children in sterile, risk-averse and highly structured environments. In so doing, we are failing to cultivate artists, pioneers and entrepreneurs, and instead cultivating a generation of children who can follow the rules in organized sports games, sit for hours in front of screens and mark bubbles on standardized tests.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Sterile, Cultivate

• A cultural shift is needed to incorporate exercise into our children’s daily lives.

  Darell Hammond

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Exercise, Cultural

Darell Hammond (42)

Birth:	1971
Nationality:	American
Profession:	Businessman, Philanthropist

About

Darell Hammond was born in Jerome, Idaho. He is an American philanthropist and chief executive officer of the non-profit organization KaBOOM! that helps communities build playgrounds for children. He was listed in the Forbes 2011 list of the top 30 social entrepreneurs and was named as a "Health hero" by WebMD. He has received multiple honors and awards for his work, including the President's Volunteer Service Award.

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