The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County features a book each month for community reading. The book for June is called Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from Nature Deficit Disorder, by Richard Louv. Much as the title would suggest, this book features the author's speculation that children in today's society are dangerously deprived of nature. Offering up research from environmentalists and child educators, Louv explores the reasons for the childhood disconnect with nature, including a societal obsession with electric technology and changing standards in education, as well as reasons for rethinking and rebuilding our relationship to the outdoors.
As the nature of this blog would suggest, I'm entirely supportive of childhood exposure to nature and view it as an integral part of healthy development. I'm also of the belief that we do live in a society that undervalues the experience of nature and continues to diverge from a connection to the natural world. This stated, I'm therefore very much concerned with the children of today who are not experiencing the outdoors. Regardless of the fact that human society would like to view itself as separate, as somehow independent from nature, it remains undeniably true that all is dependant upon the natural world. Try as we might to deny it, humans are a part of nature. Thus, we are fundamentally dependant upon it for our every need. The tendency to ignore this fact, I think, is what leads us to put ourselves in danger of self-destruction, between a rock and a hard place, if you will. The moment we begin to truly believe we're better than nature, that we don't need it, nature reminds us of just how wrong we are.
So, in the spirit of so many parents who claim to want to give their children the kind of start that produces kind, considerate, socially-responsible and contributing members of society, it stands to reason that we should make sure that the youth of today experience the outdoors. Research shows various psychological and developmental benefits reaped by children to play outdoors, but statistics aside, it seems to me that playing outside is the single best way for a child to learn so many things and to do so on their own. Nature can teach a kid that they live in a world that is so much bigger than they are, that they are simply a part of something with many, many more parts. But then, It can also teach them that they are an integral part of this very large world, and that being an integral part comes with a power to affect change. Children can learn just outside in the backyard that their actions have consequences and that they therefore have a certain degree of responsibility, since this world is shared by so many.
In short, I'm of the belief that there's no better, faster, or easier way to teach a child to reflect on the meaning of life, their place in the world and their social responsibility than by ensuring a thorough encounter with nature.
The best way to prepare a child to function in the world: make sure they get out in it.
