“Nature deficit disorder” and its effects on children
by Margie James, Volunteer, and Chris Orsinger, Executive Director – Friends of Buford Park & Mt. Pisgah
“Nature Deficit Disorder” is a term coined by Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, that describes the increasingly common tendency for children to have little contact with the natural world. “The human costs of alienation from nature,” asserts Louv, includes “diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses.”
To invite reflection on the trend of youth playing on computers instead of in nature, Martin LeBlanc will gave the keynote address entitled “Leave No Child Inside” at Friends of Buford Park & Mt. Pisgah’s 17th annual Fall Celebration in Nov. 2008.
Two days later, families and children were invited to “Play in the Rain Day,” a fun, rain or shine outdoor event at the Mt. Pisgah Arboretum. These free events resulted from a collaborative partnership initiated by Friends of Buford Park & Mt. Pisgah with Northwest Youth Corps, Bureau of Land Management, U. S. Forest Service, Willamette Resources & Educational Network, and Mt. Pisgah Arboretum.
Children and Nature
“Pediatricians say this generation may be the first in history to have a lower life expectancy than its parents, largely because of our sedentary lifestyle,” explains Louv. While organized sports do involve some youth, “The greatest increase in obesity among children has occurred during the same two decades when there was the greatest increase in organized sports for our children,” notes Louv.
Organizations ranging from the Boy and Girl Scouts to local groups like Nearby Nature have long sought to connect youth with nature. Around the nation, Last Child in the Woods has prompted a decentralized movement of concerned citizens, schools, park and land management agencies and non-profit youth service organizations collaborating to foster a relationship between children and nature (visit www.childrenandnature.org).
Examples of other programs and projects include:
The Chief of the U.S. Forest Service launched an initiative entitled “More Kids in the Woods,” an initiative that offers partnership grants to private groups to create local programs to meet this end.
In September, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the “No Child Left Inside Act of 2008,” authorizing $14 million in grants to schools supporting outdoor environmental education.
Our children are spending increasing amounts of time indoors interacting with one of many electronic gadgets. Time not filled by electronic media may often be spent moving quickly from school to after-school activity to sedentary recreation involving a computer screen (games, e-mail, exploring the internet, etc). The steady stream of activity can create an expectation that life must be exciting and rapidly changing. How can nature compete with this?
Our challenge is to elicit the wonder of nature from those who haven’t yet fully experienced it. Louv says that the reasons children give for not being outside include: it’s not where the jobs are, their parents are afraid of them playing outdoors and there’s not enough time.
But Louv has also found that children are curious about and yearn for a connection to nature. Being connected to nature is a hardwired human need, Louv asserts, that must be nurtured by frequent exposure and education. Being outdoors expands time, heals life’s wounds, inspires creativity through a full use of the senses and offers an opportunity to reinterpret the culture’s fantasies.
“Given a chance, a child will bring the confusion of the world to the woods, wash it in the creek, turn it over to see what lives on the unseen side of confusion,” writes Louv.
Nature also helps children feel connected to the larger world, which can enhance self-esteem and empowerment. This can readily translates into improved academic achievement, motivation and critical thinking, as well as foster an understanding of our part in protecting and stewarding the natural world that rejuvenates us physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Our children’s physical health will improve with time outdoors. All one needs to do is watch children that are free to play in a natural area, the games they create, their exploration and unceasing, and the curiosity that leads one around the next corner. They intuitively will play when they have an opportunity to experience a sense of the mystery and wonder of nature.
As adults, our challenge is to respond to our children’s need to be outdoors by regularly taking them out…so all can enjoy the benefits of spending time in nature.
