According to many doctors, children's behavioral malaise
largely reflects diagnosable medical problems. But do people
(adults or children) exist principally in isolation, or do
we live largely in relationship to other humans and to our
environment? In Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children
from Nature Deficit Disorder (Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books,
2005), Richard Louv observes that everyone needs nature,
that children are being cut off from it, and that the
resulting alienation is disastrous both for the individual
and for society as a whole.
Scientific, medical, and historical sources, including
published research and interviews, help Louv show that
people have an innate affinity for nature and respond
positively to it. When we absorb ourselves in the
technological world to the exclusion of all else, we give up
precious opportunities for physical and emotional exercise.
We lose a sense of proportion. In the process we grow fat
and increase our vulnerability to mental and physical
stress.
Louv writes, "Although countless children who suffer from
mental illness and attention disorders do benefit from
medication, the use of nature as an alternative, additional,
or preventive therapy is being overlooked. In fact, new
evidence suggests that the need for such medications is
intensified by children's disconnection from nature" (p.
48). Some studies show that children are better able to
focus and pay attention when they spend more time outside.
Could attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) be a
set of symptoms aggravated by deprivation? Woe unto the
pharmaceutical industry if so.
With or without drugs, nature heals humans. Just consider a
few of Louv's many points in this book:
Teenagers are able to focus and calm down after viewing
natural images, for example, when they study or play in
rooms with a view of nature.
Children work through problems by playing outdoors,
interpreting natural sights and sounds in ways that reflect
their inner experience (one child may see a mound of earth
as a pregnant belly, for instance, another, as a grave).
A piece of landscape-preferably messy and ungroomed-affords
children almost unlimited learning opportunities and ways of
expressing themselves. The exercise of building a simple
tree house teaches many practical skills.
Nature lets people escape from troubling issues without
leaving the real world; outdoor education programs have
amply demonstrated their therapeutic value for youth.
When we stop experiencing the environment directly, we feel
less personally involved in the world. The boob tube, the
Game Boy, the iPod, and their cousins isolate us in a
virtual prison cell. Portable technology lets us manipulate
our immediate surroundings while preventing us from seeing
how we fit in.
Nature soothes us. It also nurtures our innate inventiveness
and creativity. It instills a dynamic awareness of our
relationship with place and with our senses. It gives us
ecstatic moments and reminds us that human beings are not
the center of the universe but, as living organisms, only
part of its fabric. If people need nature and need to
remember that we are part of it, why have we distanced
ourselves from it?
Perhaps we suffer from a fear of danger fed by a lack of
knowledge. For example, when we recognize and name common
plants and animals found in the wild, we have a way of
knowing them. Today's children often do not have such
knowledge. And yet stewardship of the earth can hardly be
entrusted to a generation of citizens with no information
about it.
As parents and members of the community, we adults shoulder
much of the responsibility for educating children. Kids need
unstructured time in nature. The great outdoors offers them
chances to develop confidence in their own instincts and to
learn how to assess and manage risks. Where do we start?
Families can go hiking, camping, and fishing. Schools can
provide children with hands-on, intimate contact with the
earth and living things. Teachers can take students outside,
engage them in gardening, invite them to explore and
discover. Schools can also open their doors to local,
national, and international efforts to broaden children's
awareness.
Children who appreciate nature will live in the world
differently, Louv suggests. People who understand animals
more fully-their thought processes and habits-notice not
only their astonishing complexity but also their similarity
to humans. As we humans become more aware of our dependence
on nature for our mental health, we become more open to the
need for peaceful coexistence with other forms of life. As
long as we try to subdue the earth, we prepare for our own
destruction. When we live in harmony with other beings, we
awaken physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Marcia E. Brubeck, a psychotherapist and
advocate in private practice, is a graduate of the
University of Connecticut Schools of Law and Social Work.
You can learn more about me and my work by visiting my
website,
http://www.MarciaBrubeck.com
A Healthy Breakfast
For Your Child
By
Carolyn Joana
Breakfast is usually the time
when you're busiest - what with packing your kids off to
school, looking after the house and rushing to work too.
Often moms give a ready-to-serve breakfast with sweet
cereals and cereal bars which do not have much of a
nutrition profile to boast of.
Read more...
Everything
Mom needs to know...
