KIDS AND NATURE What’s All the Fuss About Kids and Nature? By Scott Sampson This is the inaugural blog post in a series I’ll be writing for the Nature Rocks website. In future posts I’ll offer tips to help parents and other caregivers deepen children’s connection with the natural world. But I thought I’d kick things off by addressing the big question of “Why?” Why is it important that we get children outdoors and connect them with nature? For me, the answer comes down to a pair of compelling insights. First, the present disconnect between kids and nature literally threatens the health of children. The average North American child currently spends seven to ten hours each day staring at screens, and mere minutes engaged in unstructured play outdoors, a dramatic transformation within the past generation. Unsurprisingly, rates of obesity, ADHD, heart disease, and depression among children have been skyrocketing. Numerous studies now demonstrate the critical importance of unstructured play for growing minds and bodies. And many other studies document the power of hands-on, place-based learning in natural settings. Put simply, kids need nature, and they aren’t getting it. The second insight relates to the health of the places we live. Ask a bunch of scientists to name the most urgent issues of our time and you’re likely to hear such answers as climate change, species extinctions, and habitat destruction. To this list we need to add another equally critical yet largely overlooked crisis—the human-nature disconnect. How are we going to create ecologically sustainable communities if we don’t care about where we live? And why would we ever care unless we spend time outdoors in those places, building emotional and intellectual connections? Helping children fall in love with nature deserves to be a top national (and international) priority, on par with reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preserving species and wild places. Indeed a strong argument can be made that we cannot address these other pressing crises until we bridge the chasm between children and nature. People tend to think of time in nature as a terrific recreational option for kids, but well below homework, team sports, and music lessons on the priority list. Yet a meaningful connection with nearby nature is one of the greatest and most essential gifts that any child can receive. So, as we enter the Christmas season, think about ways that you can share the gift of nature—all year long.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 12:03:20 +0000
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