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Last
Child in the Woods Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv Algonquin Books, 2005. |
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Parenting columnist and child advocacy expert Richard Louv confronts the loss of nature experiences in the average American child's upbringing in this challenging text. "A kid today can likely tell you about the Amazon rain forest -- but not about the last time he or she explored the woods in solitude, or lay in a field listening to the wind and watching the clouds move," he observes. |
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| What difference does the lack of nature experiences -- or "nature-deficit disorder," as Louv calls it -- make in the lives of developing children? Nearly 8 million children in the U.S. suffer from mental disorders. More children are being treated for obesity and depression and hyperactivity than ever before. Can this be linked to the lack of unsupervised play in green spaces? | In Sweden, Australia, Canada, and the United States, studies of children in schoolyards with both green areas and manufactured play areas found that children engaged in more creative forms of play in the green areas. One of these studies found that a more natural schoolyard encouraged more fantasy and make-believe play in particular, which provided ways for boys and girls to play together in egalitarian ways; another reported that children showed a greater sense of wonder. | ||||
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| Louv's book is packed with suggestions of how to improve children's access to nature and examples of where and how parents, schools, governments, community groups and environmental organizations are taking positive steps to ensure greater access to the outdoors. |
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