Children and Nature need each other

January and February are typically the coldest and often snowiest months of winter, despite the fact that the days are slowly and gradually getting longer. At such times, most people (hardcore skiers excepted) adopt a modified form of hibernation, or at least nesting behavior, hiding out indoors where central heating, sweaters, and blankets – not to mention cups of hot cocoa or soup – help to make the weather more bearable.

It may seem strange at such a time to be talking about getting outdoors, but in fact what better time to think about, and plan for, warm weather? The fact is, though, that while we talk a lot about getting out more in the spring and summer, it’s by no means clear that we actually do it. This is particularly the case with children. The days when kids spent summer days outside in unstructured, largely unsupervised play seem to be just a memory.

They are certainly in my memories! Growing up in a then mostly-rural Howard County, I was almost literally kicked out of the house on sunshine-y days. Not because my mother didn’t love me, but because she knew what was common wisdom for untold generations, that playing outside was good for children’s health and development. That intuitive understanding, passed down through generations, has in more recent years been born out by study after study. But nowadays, the reality falls far short of that ideal.

Studies quoted in the Wisconsin State Journal indicate that children, on average, spend 30 hours per week plugged into electronic devices: iPods, PlayStations, cell phones, Wiis, the internet. In contrast, again on average, American children spend less than an hour each month – not each week, but each month – in nature. Even more optimistic reports indicate that the average American child spends less than a half-hour each week in nature.

And it’s been long established by research that the average American teenager can name or at least recognize 1,000 corporate logos, but can’t name 5 birds, 5 trees, or 5 wild animals local to his or her area. In short, we are developing a nation of children who are computer-literate, but nature-illiterate; who are deeply in tune with corporate marketing, but deeply out of tune with the earth on which we are absolutely dependent for our continued existence.

That this is bad news for children is well-attested. The American Academy of Pediatrics states that free and unstructured play is both healthy and essential to children, contributing to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth. That news alone ought to have parents and educators earnestly seeking to provide opportunities for such free and unstructured play for the children in their charge. Sadly, this is not the case.

Nor is it children alone who benefit. The land itself benefits from children whose growing years included frequent, authentic, and positive experiences in the outdoors, and it suffers from the reverse. A Nature Conservancy-funded study has found that “The greatest threat to conservation…may be more subtle than bulldozers and chainsaws,” according to study authors Oliver Pergams, Ph.D. and Patricia Zaradic, Ph.D. “Direct experience with nature is the most highly cited influence on environmental attitude and conservation activism,” adding that if the youngest generation loses that experience, the future of conservation is in jeopardy.

The evidence is clear. Children need authentic, unstructured outdoor experiences for their psycho-emotional as well as physical well-being. And nature itself needs such children, to grow up and become its defenders. Sometimes, in this complex world, the answers really are simple: “go out and play” may well be one of the most important things you can say to your children.