Reconnecting children and natureThink back to your favorite childhood experience. For many, it’s being outside on a quest to build a fort in the woods, ride your bike, or freely explore the neighborhood.
By: Amy Reineke, Public Health Educator, Alexandria Echo Press
Think back to your favorite childhood experience. For many, it’s being outside on a quest to build a fort in the woods, ride your bike, or freely explore the neighborhood.
Today, instead of hiking, biking and climbing trees, children are more likely to have limited direct experience with the outdoors and nature. If they are outside, it is more likely to be in organized sports, on playground equipment or being shuttled from activity to activity.
Research indicates that one of the best medicines to a stressful lifestyle is to spend time in a natural setting outdoors. Children who spend time outdoors are likely to be happier, healthier, smarter, more cooperative and more creative.
Children need leisurely, unscripted and exploratory hours to find the wonders in their own backyards and neighborhoods. Children should be discovering the beauty of the stars in the night sky to watching bugs on a warm summer’s day.
According to recent research, there is evidence to suggest that the disconnect from nature creates diminished health; obesity; reduced cognitive, creative and problem-solving capacities; lower school achievement; lower self esteem, less self discipline; and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
I recently got ahold of a book called Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. He writes about a phrase he coined, nature deficit disorder, which isn’t a medical term but a social phenomenon.
In his book, he brings together a new and growing body of research indicating that direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy childhood development and for the physical and emotional health of children and adults.
“There is very little that children do in their lives that compares with their first experience in nature,” Louv says.
Children are the stewards of the future. It’s a simple solution. Get kids outside more often so they can discover the adventure of the natural world.
Actions to reconnect children to nature
• Take a child outside and create the opportunity for children to have unstructured time to play outdoors every day.
• Create a nature club for families and plan monthly outings with other families in your community.
• Start a new kind of neighborhood watch so children can play within sight of adults while still experiencing the wonder and learning inspired through free range play.
• Ride your bike or walk to school with your children and others in the neighborhood.
• Make reconnecting children and nature a priority.