Children need a relationship with nature to thrive

posted 06:18 AM 05/28
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I grew up collecting angleworms in a tin can after a rain, watching spider eggs hatch in a paper bag, finding polliwogs in the ditch behind our house and seeing them transform into frogs.

My brothers and I grew vegetables in paper cups, gently planting them in the garden and then picking and eating them at the end of the season. My dad gave us a nickel if we could spot wildlife whenever we went for a drive.

Nature had an endless sense of wonder.

When I talk with other adults about their best memories of childhood, it most often is a memory of playing outdoors in nature, and the play was most always child-directed rather than adult-directed.

Times have changed for children of the current generation. Most children play indoors with electronic devices, and if they do play outside, it is under the direct adult supervision in structured games or team sports. Parents, child care providers and teachers all feel enormous pressure to keep children safe, and in doing so might be depriving them of childhood essentials like free creative play outdoors and a personal relationship with nature.

School-age children learn about nature and the environment as if it is a lost cause because of pollution, devastation of old-growth forests and global warming. Unfortunately, the effect this has is that kids zone out because it all feels so hopeless.

If we want this next generation to care about our environment, children need an optimistic, constructive relationship with nature starting at very young age. Children need to feel hopeful about the future of the environment they will inherit. Parents, caregivers and teachers need to intentionally rekindle that sense of curiosity and wonder for children that will encourage them to find ways that they can make a positive impact on nature and create a sustainable world.

South Sound is a wonderland of nature opportunities for children, which take so little effort to encounter. As adults, we often think this means a long drive to the beach or the mountains, but to a child, finding a caterpillar on a leaf, discovering an ant pile, hearing a hummingbird, seeing clams squirt at low tide, discovering a crab under a rock, creating a secret fort in the backyard or the sight of a rainbow can fuel a child's imagination.

In his most recent book, "Last Child in the Woods," Richard Louv says: "Nature inspires creativity in a child by demanding visualization and full use of the senses. ... In nature a child finds freedom, fantasy, and privacy."

Observations of kids playing on natural playgrounds as opposed to concrete playgrounds show that children think more creatively and play more cooperatively in a natural playground. He also says that "a growing body of research links our mental, physical, and spiritual health directly to our association with nature ..."

It is time for adults to purposefully rekindle that sense of wonder and share it with our children. After all, our children's future is intimately linked with the environment.

Annie Cubberly, executive director of the Child Care Action Council, is a member of The Olympian's Board of Contributors. She can be reached at annie@ccacwa.org.

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