If I close my eyes, I'm pretty sure I can take a mental walk, the entire distance from my childhood home to my elementary school. I remember passing the neighbor's house whose grass was mingled with wandering mint that had escaped the futile boundaries of it's flower bed, long ago. We used to stop and sit and smell for a while, to break up the long walk. I remember the canal that would tempt us to break the promises made to our mothers to stay away, and throw in a few rocks, before we finished our walk, and crossed the busy intersection with the nice crossing guard who remembered our names, and complimented our new shoes. I used to love this familiar walk to school. The freedom, fresh air, and the smells and sounds and sights of nature were a wonderful way to start my day.
I am guessing that most of you don't have to think very long to come up with a similar childhood scenario. Maybe you have happy memories of neighborhood games of Tag or Kick The Can. Maybe you remember the endless hours you spent as a kid riding your bike around your neighborhood. Maybe you had a favorite tree to climb, or a favorite spot in your backyard where you could go to think and be alone.
Here I go, sounding like an old person again, but, those were the good old days! So much has changed in just one generation. The hours of endless outdoor, free play are all but extinct. The change in children's connection with nature is so dramatic in fact, that according to Dr. Scott Sampson, a prominent Paleontologist, and author of a new book, How to Raise a Wild Child, studies show that today's generation of children spend on average, FOUR to SEVEN MINUTES of outdoor time a day. (From an interview with "On Point", on NPR. Listen to this interview at onpoint.org.) I may have uttered an involuntary gasp at this point in the interview. I was almost unwilling to believe that this was true. This tragic fact made all the worse by the next statistic shared by Dr. Sampson: Today's generation of children spend an average of SEVEN to TEN HOURS of screen time a day! What?!
That's it! Those are fighting words for a parent who wants what is best for their child! What can we do? We're all busy. Our days are often scheduled to the max, and there just isn't a whole lot of time for play. Screens are easy. Believe me, I'm no stranger to the "Watch one more episode of Barney so the I can finish the dishes", trick. Surely, my friends, we can do better than four to seven minutes!
Start Small
Don't be guilted into forcing resisting, confused, children onto an all day, 20 mile hike. Going from couch to Kilimanjaro is unnecessary. Any step toward teaching your child to love and appreciate nature is progress. Dr. Scott, mentioned in his interview, that even acts as simple as pointing out the clouds or stopping to notice a bird singing, are positive ways to get our kids to tune in to nature. Slow down a little, notice, appreciate. I love to apply this mantra to so many areas of my life, and it certainly applies to teaching our kids to love nature. Make the short walk to the mailbox a little longer by stopping to sit on the grass for a few minutes, pick a dandelion, teach your child that cool trick of holding a blade of grass between your thumbs to make a whistle, feel the sun on your cheeks. These are small, simple moments, but they make a lasting impact on our children.
A Special Spot
It could be as simple as a hiding spot under the Willow tree in your back yard, an empty lot on the corner of your street that is loaded with good nature play supplies, like sticks and rocks, and puddles. Your child's special nature connection spot could be at a favorite local park, or he could find it on a Saturday morning hike to a waterfall. For me, growing up, my special spot in nature was a field behind my backyard. To the untrained eye, I'm sure my field didn't look like much. Just a lot of weeds. To me, this field was perfect! This was my spot. I would wander out to the field often, and let my thoughts begin to wander too. I would chase grasshoppers, lie down in the weeds, and watch the clouds, or search for old pennies or pieces of old broken glass in the little ditch that ran along the edge of the field. These hours I spent outside in my childhood filled me with a sense of place, gave me an escape from homework and stress, fueled my creativity, encouraged physical exercise, and filled me with a love for nature.
Turn Off The Dang T.V
Sometimes, it's really that simple. Just hit the power button of the remote. Shoo the kids outside, and after maybe a little initial resistance, our kids will hopefully get sucked in to the allure of all that being outside in nature offers. Let them explore, and poke and pick and touch and prod. Let them climb trees and roll in the grass. Resist the strong parental impulse that we all have to guide their play...at least some of the time. Unstructured play in nature benefits our kids in countless ways.
In an article called, "Why Children Need More Unstructured Play", on kevinmd.com, they cited some incredible findings on the importance of unstructured play for our children.
"In the January 2005 Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine , Burdette and Whitaker wrote on the importance of free play. They argue that free play promotes intellectual and cognitive growth, emotional intelligence, and benefits social interactions. They describe how play involves problem solving which is one of the highest executive functions. ” Children plan, organize, sequence, and make decisions,“ they explain. In addition, play requires attention to the game and, especially in the case of very young children, frequent physical activity. Unstructured play frequently comes from or results in exposure to the outdoors. Surveys of parents and teachers report that children’s focus and attention are improved after outdoor physical activity and free play and some small studies suggest that time spent outdoors improves focus in children with ADHD.
We can do it! Let's not let our kids be included in the sobering statistic of four to seven minutes of outside play a day. It doesn't take much to make small, positive changes. Take baby steps if you must. As long as you are taking those steps in the right direction, out, you are making progress. Start small, find a spot in nature your kids can connect to, and turn off the T.V. Let's show our kids that this world is, as E.E. Cummings, in a perfectly child-like way, expressed it,
"Mud-luscious, and puddle-wonderful"
Today's a new day; let's make it purposeful!
Kara