Reconnecting Children to Nature (page 3)

Detrimental Outcomes of NDD

There is evidence to suggest that outcomes associated with children’s disconnect from nature include

•     diminished health
•     obesity
•     reduced cognitive, creative, and problem-solving capacities
•     lower school achievement
•     lower self esteem
•     less self discipline
•     attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Nature Can Improve Mental Health and Cognition

Children’s cognitive flexibility and creativity are enhanced if they learn to problem-solve in natural settings rather than in highly controlled, human-dominated settings like concrete playgrounds and manicured playing fields with little ecological diversity. There are also mental health benefits to being outside. There is now a substantial body of work that indicates the simple act of going outdoors reduces stress, anxiety, depression, and attention-deficit disorders. The results are dramatic for people of all ages.

Becoming Stewards of the Environment

If we are in the outdoors often enough to watch and experience the seasonal changes, we learn about “place”, natural cycles, and changes within an ecological setting. We will be far more likely to care about the health of living systems over time, more likely to make informed decisions, and more likely to effect responsible actions.

Actions We Can Each Take 

• Take a child outside—and create the opportunity for your children to have unstructured time to play outdoors every day.
• Create a nature club for families and plan monthly outings with other parents and families in your community.
• Start a new kind of neighborhood watch so that children can play within sight of adults while still experiencing some of the wonder and learning inspired through free range play.
• Ride your bike or walk to school with your children and others in the neighborhood.
• Encourage nature-based, child-friendly spaces and places throughout communities.
• Make reconnecting children and nature a priority.
• Educate parents, grandparents, and other caregivers about the cognitive, physiological, and emotional benefits to children who play in the outdoors on a regular basis.
• Engage the local medical community to encourage physicians and other medical practitioners to prescribe nature-play because it is good for children.
• Educate local architects, builders, community planners, and civic leaders about the need for areas of native habitats in planned developments and existing neighborhoods, so children have places to play that foster their imagination.
• Build new partnerships and support existing efforts to bring the resources of the private sector together with public agencies in bold, balanced, and conserving ways to achieve a sustainable future.
• Get other parents and the community involved—because nature-based learning is good for everyone.

Our Living Legacy

Together we can heal the separation between children and nature, by re-establishing a healthy, natural balance between technology and natural systems. We can build a movement that succeeds in reconnecting children and nature, inspiring a new generation to believe in a better future.

Resources

Children & Nature Network (C&NN), www.childrenandnature.org, is a non-profit organization co-founded by Richard Louv, Cheryl Charles, and others to build a movement to reconnect children and nature. C&NN provides news, articles, resources, and annotated bibliographies of research while encouraging grassroots leadership. Cheryl Charles, Ph.D., is an educator, author, innovator, and organizational executive, and co-founder of the Children & Nature Network, www.childrenandnature.org.