Vitamin N E-Book

Richard Louv

• Herausgeber: Atlantic Books
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Seitenzahl: 365

Beschreibung

From the bestselling authority on connecting children with nature, a one-of-a-kind guide chock-full of practical ideas, advice and inspiration for creating a nature-rich life - for kids and grown-ups. In his groundbreaking international bestseller Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv spotlighted the alienation of children from the natural world, coining the term 'nature-deficit disorder'. Vitamin N is the comprehensive practical handbook, a complete prescription for enjoying the natural world. Includes: Five hundred activities Scores of informational websites An abundance of down-to-earth advice Dozens of thought-provoking essays. Unlike other guidebooks, Vitamin N (for 'nature') addresses the whole family and the wider community, encouraging parents eager to share nature with their kids. It is a dose of pure inspiration, reminding us that looking up at the stars or taking a walk in the woods is as joyful as it is essential, at any age.

Leseprobe

To the thousands of people building the new nature movement. And to my friend and colleague Dean Stahl, who is one of them.

“What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.”

—CROWFOOT, CHIEF OF THE SIKSIKA FIRST NATION, 1890

Contents

In Search of a Nature-Rich Life

A Note to Readers

Part 1 THE GIFT OF MEMORY

You’re Not Alone: Strengthening the Bonds of Family and Friendship

Start from Day One

Simple Ways to Expand Time and Space for Kids and Adults

Give the Gifts of Nature and Create New Family and Friendship Rituals

Make Room for Independent Play and Solitude

Part 2 WAYS OF KNOWING THE WORLD

The Hybrid Mind

Counteract Sensory Dysfunction

Hidden Superpowers

Extra Ways to Develop Extra-vision

Discover the Lost Art of Finding Your Way

Try a Little Mindfulness

High-Tech, High-Nature?

Go Wildsnapping

Be a Soundcatcher

Natural Creativity: Do It, Build it, Paint It, Play It

Small Projects for Small Hands

More Challenging Construction Projects

Discover the Art of Nature

Nature Writing

These Games (from Around the World) Will Not Be Digitized

Part 3 THE NATURE-RICH HOME AND GARDEN

Everyday Eden

Make Good Use of What You Already Have

Build a Backyard Nature Preserve

The Yard, Balcony, or Rooftop Farm

The Restorative Home: Bring the Outside In

Buy, Build, or Rent a Family Getaway Cabin

Part 4 NURTURING NATURAL RESILIENCE

Don’t Cut Down the Tree; Build Up the Kid

Be a Natural Neighbor

A Brief Developmental Guide to Nature Play

Leave No Child (or Anyone Else) Inside

Call in the Reinforcements: Grand Ideas for Grandparents & Grandfriends

The Hummingbird Parent

Part 5 GO WILD AND WILDER

The Wild Nearby

Explore Nearby Nature

Bond with Your Bioregion

Become a Citizen Naturalist

Wilder Still

Step It Up

Set Up Camp

Get Wet and Wetter

Ride and Roll

Go to Extremes

Nurture Your Inner Hunter & Gatherer

Be a Wildwatcher

Practice Wildcrafting

Part 6 GROW OUTSIDE: THE NATURE PRESCRIPTION

Healthy by Nature

Create Your Own Nature Gym

General Outdoor Strategies for Physical and Mental Health

Visit a Nature Therapy Retreat

Go On Your Own Nature Retreat for Mental Health

Be a Weather Warrior

Activities and Safety Tips for Cold, Wet, and Snowy Weather

Activities and Safety Tips for Very Hot Weather

The Indoor Expedition: For When You Can’t Go Outside

Be a Weather Detective

Part 7 THE SCHOOL OF NATURE

Be a Natural Teacher, at Home and at School

Ignite Natural Learning at Home and School

The Nature-Rich School: How Parents and Teachers Can Support One Another as Natural Teachers

Create a Support System for Nature-Based Education

Use Your Parent/Teacher Political Power in the Community

Honor the Natural Teachers in Schools, Home, and Community

Part 8 THE NATURE-RICH COMMUNITY

Not Back to Nature, Forward to Nature

What Every Parent, Teacher, and Young Person Needs to Know about the Coming Opportunities in Nature-Smart Careers

The Essential Role of Libraries in Creating Nature-Rich Communities

Vitamin N for the Soul: The Potential of Faith-Based Organisations

Make Your City the Best in the Nation (or the World) for Connecting Families to Nature

Peace Like a River

Acknowledgments

Bibliography and Recommended Reading

Notes

How to Get Involved in the New Nature Movement

About Richard Louv

Index

Introduction

IN SEARCH OF A NATURE-RICH LIFE

In 2009, Janet Ady of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stood before a crowd of grassroots leaders gathered from across the nation by the Children & Nature Network. She held up an outsized pharmacy bottle. On the bottle was a physician’s “prescription”—one that would be as appropriate for adults as it would be for children. The label read:

DIRECTIONS: Use daily, outdoors in nature. Go on a nature walk, watch birds, and observe trees. Practice respectful outdoor behavior in solitude or take with friends and family. REFILLS: Unlimited. Expires: Never.

Here was a deceptively simple treatment for improving physical and mental health, for stimulating learning, creativity, and a sense of being fully alive; definitely not a panacea, but an appropriate elixir in the age of nature-deficit disorder.

The contents of the medicine bottle included a listing of National Wildlife Refuges by state, a guide to animal tracks, tips on how to experience nature without damaging it, information on planting native vegetation to help restore butterfly and bird migration routes, a protein bar, and other items — including paste-on tattoos depicting migratory birds. Later, Janet handed me the stage-prop medicine bottle.

In 2010, I was invited to give the plenary keynote to the annual national conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), to several thousand pediatricians, pediatric nurse practitioners, and other professionals.

I reported on the growing body of scientific research on the benefits of nature experience for children and adults. The evidence indicates that experiences in the natural world may reduce the symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, serve as a buffer to depression and anxiety, help prevent or reduce obesity and myopia, boost the immune system, and offer many other psychological and physical health benefits. Time spent in nature may also improve social bonding and reduce social violence, stimulate learning and creativity, strengthen the conservation ethic, and even help raise standardized test scores.

At the AAP conference, I held up Janet’s medicine bottle and suggested to the doctors that they consider prescribing “vitamin N”—“N” for nature — as an antidote to nature-deficit disorder, which is not a medical diagnosis (though perhaps it should be), but a metaphor for the price paid, particularly by children, for our societal disconnect from the natural world.

Many of the pediatric professionals there that day were more than ready to start prescribing or recommending nature time for the families they served. Daphne Miller, MD, a general practitioner in Noe Valley, California, had already begun to write nature prescriptions as part of the burgeoning field of integrated medicine. “It’s another tool in our toolbox.” In Washington, DC, Robert Zarr, MD, now writes “park prescriptions.” Zarr has even created an extensive database of Washington DC’s urban parks so that pediatricians know where to direct families.

For decades, people who worked directly with children and families in natural settings have been making the common sense case for nature’s benefits. Today, they’re bolstered by more science, and by a fast-growing new nature movement.

I should note that though most of the early studies were correlative, they pointed in the same direction — a rare occurrence for any emerging body of research. Many subsequent studies, some of them extensive and longitudinal, have underscored the earlier findings. Yes, we need more research, including studies that will show how nature experiences can best be applied. But as Howard Frumkin, dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Washington, has said, “We know enough to act.”

Many public health experts, psychologists, and psychiatrists are doing just that. So are policy makers, urban planners, and educators. A few years ago I wrote, half in jest, “Want your kids to get into Harvard? Tell ’em to go outside.” In fact, nature-based education is spreading. Nature preschools and school gardens are multiplying. Even the National League of Cities has signed on.

Still, parents are the backbone of this movement. They don’t have to wait for a physician to write a prescription or for a school board to change its policies. Parents can act now, as can anyone — single or married, urban or rural, of any age.

Last Child in the Woods and its sequel, The Nature Principle, which focused on adults, identified nature-deficit disorder as a societal diagnosis. Vitamin N takes the next step by serving as a companion handbook, offering a range of over five hundred practical actions that readers can apply in their everyday life and the life of their community. Parents will likely be the primary audience, but I hope Vitamin N will also be helpful to grandparents, aunts, uncles, teenagers, people without children of their own, and to teachers and other caring professionals whose work touches families every day.

As you use this book, I hope you’ll keep the following in mind:

This book isn’t just for kids.

Many of the actions in Vitamin N are focused on families with children, but all of us belong to some kind of family or circle of friends. Throughout the following pages you’ll find activities for adults, too, and ones that can be adapted to the needs of most families, friends, and individuals.

Different abilities offer different opportunities.

I’ve offered some specific suggestions for children and adults with disabilities. Most of these actions can be adapted to the needs of people with special learning or physical requirements. And, as the section on the senses points out, physical or mental differences can sometimes foster exceptional abilities in the natural world.

Nearby urban nature is as essential as wilderness.

This book is for people who live in every kind of neighborhood: rural, suburban, or densely populated urban areas. It also recognizes that different cultures experience nature differently. And that’s a good thing. This book also emphasizes that connecting with nature isn’t only a spectator sport; it can also involve work, including conservation projects and the creation of new natural habitats in the most urban places.

Look for a balance between organized activities and those that encourage free, independent play and exploration.

Even though violent crime against children has decreased in recent years, safety is still a real concern in many neighborhoods. In the age of the twenty-four-hour news cycle, the fear of strangers remains a fact of life. So if kids are going to enjoy more experiences in nature, much of that time will require adult presence. However, please keep in mind that most of the supervised activities described in Vitamin N can be altered to provide more independent experiences.

Finally, Vitamin N should be an antidote to toxic stress, not the cause. This isn’t a book of shoulds, but of possibilities. With that in mind, here’s a suggestion: pick five or ten actions from these pages, try them, and come back for more if you wish. In the meantime, relax. Take a break. Look at the clouds. Listen to the wind. Let the birds do the heavy lifting.

A Note to Readers

To learn more about research into the benefits to child and human development, please see the Children & Nature Network’s research section at ChildrenandNature.org, as well as Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder and The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age.

As with any approach to health, readers should consult with their physician or other health professional before making major changes in health regimens and lifestyle. Also, the legal discussions shared in these pages are not offered as legal advice.

No list of actions is ever complete. So please share your own creative ideas and help grow the movement at VitaminNforNature.com.

Part 1

The Gift of Memory

“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder . . . he [or she] needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.”

—RACHEL CARSON

YOU’RE NOT ALONE: STRENGTHENING THE BONDS OF FAMILY AND FRIENDSHIP

Is nature time absolutely necessary for a healthy, happy, fulfilling life? No. But for many children and adults it can make all the difference.

For some of us, experiencing the natural world is part of everyday life. We’d like to make more time and space for nature, learn about new paths or revive old ones. But for many folks, connecting with nature doesn’t come naturally, even if we were privileged to have had that exposure when we were young. Electronic media, longer school hours, traffic, poor urban design, fear of strangers, the worry that we don’t know enough to share nature; these are just some of the barriers. The purpose of this book is to show how those barriers can be overcome, beginning with simple actions at home.

Let’s focus first on one of the most gratifying benefits of a nature-rich life: the building of stronger relationships within the family, among friends, and in the community.

What better way to enhance parent-child attachment than to go on a walk in the woods together, disengaging from distracting electronics, advertising, and peer pressure?

“Since the 1960s, child development research has yielded a wealth of information about the importance of the quality of parent-infant attachment as a powerful influence on a child’s lifelong development,” according to Martha Farrell Erickson, developmental psychologist and founding director of the Children, Youth & Family Consortium at the University of Minnesota. “Building gradually and slowly over the first year of a child’s life, parent-infant attachment is a child’s first close relationship and, to a large extent, a model for all relationships that follow.”

As she writes in Together in Nature: Shared Nature Experience as a Pathway to Strong Family Bonds, “The natural world seems to invite and facilitate parent-child connection and sensitive interactions.” Unplugging and taking a baby away from electronic distractions “creates an opportunity for what is called ‘affective sharing’ — oohing and aahing together over the sun shining through the leaves of a big tree . . . feeling a soft spring rain or a light winter snowfall on your face.”

Start from Day One

Give a baby the gift of nature.

Introduce a newborn to the world outside. When our first son was born, I held him in my arms and walked to the window, and showed him his very first day. If the time and place are right, you can show your child the world in the beginning — the blue sky, gray clouds, the moon, the stars, the frost on the pane, the dawn.

Use nature to reduce the stress of parenthood.

Studies show that adults receive many of the same benefits as children from being outdoors: stress reduction, improvements in mental and physical health, and the ability to think more clearly and be more creative. Even before a child is born, nature time can be a healing time for parents.

Calm an infant, through nature.

Is a baby throwing a fit in a restaurant or other public setting? Take the baby outside, find a tree, and together explore the bark or leaves through sight and touch, while expressing excitement and surprise. In many cases this quickly calms a fussy child. Or an embarrassed, stressed-out parent.

Explore the universe together.

In your child’s first months and years, and beyond, go to a park together, spread out a blanket, lie side by side for an hour or more; look up through moving leaves and branches at clouds or moon or stars. Bring water and milk. You may be there a long time.

Get the right infant or child backpack carrier.

To prepare for visiting nearby nature or hiking, parents will want to do some research before buying an infant or child carrier. One source for general information is the Live For The Outdoors (live-fortheoutdoors.com), which also provides information more specific to nature exploration. Both offer advice on appropriate sizes for different ages and weights, and information about safety and use.

Get the right buggy, preferably an all-terrain model.

As with backpack carriers, a buggy is a good device for exposing your baby or toddler to the sights, smells, and textures of the outdoors — especially when you stop along the way and talk about what you’re experiencing. The first decision is whether you need a jogging stroller or an all-terrain buggy, which is best for hiking. Mothercare and Madeformums.com share advice about making the choice, as well as reviews and a buying guide.

Use nature to reduce social isolation as a parent.

Join one of the networks of parents who take their infants and toddlers into nature. “If you have an infant or toddler, consider organizing a neighborhood stroller group that meets for weekly nature walks,” suggests the National Audubon Society. Existing networks include the groups Fitmums.org.uk and Ramblers.org.uk, which organize walks for all abilities, with babies, toddlers, and the rest of the family. The National Trust organizes toddler trails and walking events throughout the year at a variety of different locations UK-wide, Barnardo’s has a yearly charity walk for families, and councils such as Wandsworth and Durham have local groups which are easy to join. If such a network doesn’t exist in your region, band together with other parents and start one.

Take the “Hike it Baby” challenge.

Feel competitive? Hike it Baby 30 (www.hikeitbaby.com) sponsors a national quarterly campaign to encourage families to get outside for a walk or hike for a minimum of thirty minutes a day for at least half of the month. The minutes can be completed by mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandparent, nanny, or anyone who wants to get outside with a baby. So far, they only operate in Hampshire in the UK, but they hope to expand to other areas.

Begin to build a nature vocabulary.

On a nature walk with your toddler, point out objects or landscape features. This will help anchor the words to what is seen, felt, or heard, according to the National Association for the Education of Young Children: “By providing real objects, we help infants associate words with the concrete objects they represent.”

When walking with toddlers, go slow and be ready for sudden stops.

Let them lead the way. Encourage them to stop to turn over rocks, touch moss, toss pebbles into a puddle or pond, and, when they can, climb on and over rocks and fallen trees. Whatever the environment, which you assess for any unreasonable hazards, the toddler can set the pace — stimulating confidence, agility, problem solving, creativity, and a sense of wonder.

Watch your child become fascinated with a blade of grass, a pebble, the way the clouds move.

Don’t interrupt.

SIMPLE WAYS TO EXPAND TIME AND SPACE FOR KIDS AND ADULTS

Many of us hunger for unscheduled free time in nature, with good reason. Research shows that when children play in natural spaces, they’re far more likely to invent their own games than in more structured settings — a key factor in becoming self-directed and inventive as children and later in life. In fact, creativity and learning throughout life can be stimulated by more time in nature. But here’s the paradox. To make time for unorganized time in nature, a busy family is probably going to have to organize a lot of it. Doing that with a sense of proportion and humor helps.

Put nature on the calendar.

If you plan the family’s sports commitments and vacations in advance, do the same for time spent in nature. Try skipping organized sports for a season and use that time to get outside. That suggestion won’t work for everyone, but for busy families, taking time for nature requires taking time — and putting it on the calendar.

Practice “friluftsliv.”

“Friluftsliv” is a Norwegian term, introduced in 1859, that roughly translates as “free air life.” It’s a general lifestyle idea that promotes outdoor activity as good for all aspects of human health. The protocol is pretty straightforward — just be outside as much as possible. Work it into your schedule by committing to being in nature for a minimum amount of time every day, or a certain number of days a month.

Think of nature time as enrichment time.

Leisure is good. Of course! Play is essential. But our culture tends to dismiss independent play, leisure, and nature time as non-essential nice-to-haves. But in terms of child development, or human development at any age, nature time is as important as activities we now consider educational or developmental enrichment.

Turn your commute time into a nature safari.

If you’re stuck in traffic, entertain yourself and your kids by keeping an eye out for plants, animals, or other natural curiosities on the side of the road. If you see something really intriguing, pull over and take a look. “We’ve pulled over more times than I can count because one of us spotted something worth watching. Cool cloud formations, gorgeous sunsets and make-you-smile rainbows. And the birds — oh, the birds — they never disappoint!” says one mother.

Take a First Day Hike.

New to hiking? No problem. National parks (nationalparks.org.uk) all over Britain have routes for introductory family walks, as do the National Trust and the Youth Hostel Association. For more information about the see the YHA.org.uk or the nationaltrust.org.uk.

Walk this way.

On their first hike, younger children can enjoy playing a game called “walk this way” — imitating different animals along the way. Bring toys and props that will make it more fun, like hats and fake swords. Walkie-talkies are also a big hit. Encourage kids to take turns as “hike leader,” walking in front and setting the pace. To help kids pay attention during longer hikes, play find ten critters — which means discovering footprints or other signs of an animal passing through. Recommended book: The Down and Dirty Guide to Camping with Kids.

Go on a moon walk.

Take a family walk when the moon is full. Cindy Ross is a longtime devotee of full-moon walks. “We’ve walked by balmy summer moons in T-shirts, with katydids singing and lightning bugs flashing in a multi-sensory display.” But the best moon walks, she says, are under the winter moons. “I started out going on full moon walks for myself . . . but I also did it for my children, so they would grow up to realize there is much magic in the natural world and most of it is free.” Bring a flashlight, of course, but it’s important to turn it off sometimes and let your senses emerge and adjust. Listen for animal sounds (a whole new crew is out at night), watch for the silhouettes of owls and bats looking for prey, and keep your eye out for life that glows, including glow worms and fungus on trees.

Set a star date.

If your family is lucky enough to live where the stars are visible, stargaze in the evening or very early morning. In the yard, from a balcony, or out beyond the city lights, take a blanket, binoculars, or small telescope, and stargaze together. With your kids, locate a few key constellations and orient to those. Air and light pollution prevent two-thirds of the US population and more than half of Europe’s population from seeing the Milky Way with the naked eye. Schools, sky-watcher groups, amateur meteorologists, and even star charts in our smartphones can help. Good resources include For Spacious Skies, a sky-awareness program, and Dark Sky Initiative, which works to preserve and protect the nighttime environment.

Lose the cell phone; get a better connection.

Tech isn’t the enemy, but it can certainly be a barrier. Vow to leave your cell phone in your pocket, ringer off, as well as all the beeps, tweets, and repeats, so you’re more present to your child. Limit access to texting, computers, and TV part of the day or week. For example, schedule Saturday as a “Smartphone and iPad-Free Outdoor Play Day” for the kids and the parents as well (more about that later).

Play hooky.

That’s right. Hooky, preferably with the teacher’s permission. In his book, Home Grown: Adventures in Parenting off the Beaten Path, Ben Hewitt suggests that parents of school-aged children “take them out of school for a day.” And take the day off work yourself. He suggests unplugging all screens at home and, for at least part of the day, heading for the woods, a park, the middle of a hayfield, with no agenda.

GIVE THE GIFTS OF NATURE AND CREATE NEW FAMILY AND FRIENDSHIP RITUALS

This holiday season, give a partridge in a pear tree. If you can’t find a partridge or a pear tree, here are a few suggestions for natural gifts for any occasion. Some of these can inspire direct experience. Others can be the experience. All of them can last for decades.

Make an outdoor coupon book.

Give your child, other family member, or friend an envelope with several coupons for day hikes, fishing trips, tree climbing, stargazing, wild watching, a mound of dirt (cheaper than a video game), or any of the gifts below. These coupons can be redeemed during the holidays or throughout the year.

Hold a holiday or family celebration outdoors.

Bring your next birthday, anniversary, or family reunion into nature. Kathy Ambrosini, an environmental educator in New York, suggests this holiday approach: “Change it up this Easter! Invite family to come early for a pre-feast walk. Those who stay overnight can join you for a walk at a neighborhood preserve in the morning.” Do it twice, and make it a new family tradition. Need an alternative site? Some nature centers offer indoor and outdoor spaces for special events.

Create a gardening gift basket.

Assemble seeds for native plants, trowels, kneepads, and other gardening tools, and plant a traditional vegetable or flower garden. Or, go native. Include a guide to local native plants and animals (or download and assemble your own guide from online resources). Add a journal to record the progress of the garden, and, if you go native, to record the native insects and other critters that show up to rebuild the food web.

Put together a family G.O. Bag.

Stuff a duffel bag with daypacks, a compass, binoculars, nature guides, and maybe a topo-map of your bioregion. Add granola bars, hats, gloves, fleece vests, sunglasses, collapsible hiking poles, some old hiking shoes or other comfortable footwear, and water bottles. Wrap your G.O. Bag. Stash it in your car trunk. Now your family can Go Outside on a moment’s notice.

Create natural decorations for holidays and birthday.

Create holiday ornaments or cards from sticks, rocks, and leaves. For a wreath, bend a wire hanger into a circle. As suggested in The Kids’ Outdoor Adventure Book, gather evergreen branches and wrap them around the hanger, securing with twine. Collect other natural materials from the yard or nearby nature to decorate it. Add some berries and a bow. Now take a bow.

Give a book that will inspire an outdoor adventure.

Most of us can recall our favorite childhood books: picture books, books for early and middle readers, and for young adults. As gift books, the ones that parents and other family members loved when they were children will have special meaning for kids. The books most likely to inspire children to head outdoors aren’t environmental sermons (plenty of time for those later), but about adventure and wonder. Such inspirational titles include Island of the Blue Dolphins, Julie of the Wolves, Tom Sawyer, The Jungle Book, and The Curious Garden. And don’t forget adult family members and friends; inspire them with Robert Michael Pyle’s The Thunder Tree, Jon Young’s What the Robin Knows, Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire, and Rachel Carson’s The Sense of Wonder.

Make the “green hour” a new family tradition.

The National Wildlife Federation recommends that parents give their kids a daily green hour for unstructured play and interaction with the natural world. Can’t spare a green hour? Fifteen minutes is a good start. “Imagine a map with your home in the center. Draw ever-widening circles around it, each representing a successively older child’s realm of experience,” NWF suggests. “Whenever possible, encourage some independent exploration as your child develops new skills and greater confidence.”

Take a vacation or staycation at a state or national park.

Participate in one of the family or group outing programs offered by local and state parks, such as the New Forest National Park. Some programs offer fishing lessons, hiking events, and geocaching treasure hunts. Around the country, national and state parks may seem overcrowded, but that crush is mainly on the roads. The vast number of visitors to national and state parks never venture farther than a few yards from their cars.

Purchase a family park pass.

National parks, national monuments, and some refuges and regional parks exist in urban as well as wilderness areas. Many parks charge for admission, but as Forbes magazine points out, they aren’t a bad deal when compared to other forms of recreation: “Going to a movie for a family of four can cost around £50. Bowling for four for two hours on a Saturday can cost around £60, not including food.” In comparison, it is free to enter the glorious National Parks of Great Britain and to walk along the National Trails, while the Ramblers Association is only £45 for two people for a year and the National Trust annual membership fee for a family of four is typically £111.

Plant a family or friendship tree, or adopt one.

Adopt or plant a tree to help mark important family occasions — a holiday, a birth, death, or marriage. The Tree Council (treecouncil.org.uk) has information about tree-planting opportunities. Susan J. Tweit, plant biologist and author of Walking Nature Home, offers this suggestion: “Get to know a tree or shrub in your neighborhood intimately by observing it over the course of a growing season. Every week, check your adopted tree or shrub and note any changes.” The Take a Child Outside Week campaign suggests taking pictures of your live family tree in its first snow or after a big windstorm. Make bark rubbings using crayons and paper. Make a digital adoption notebook with photos, videos, and observations. Plant its seeds. If the tree dies, save some leaves or branches as remembrances. One UK-wide initiative aiming to unlock an environmental mystery is the Great British Elm Experiment. The Conservation Foundation has taken cuttings from mature trees across the UK that appear to have resisted Dutch elm disease, and the resulting saplings are available to plant in schools, community groups and local authorities, as well as for private individuals. Order yours now, and help to record the health of the trees as part of this long-term experiment.

Build memories, but don’t expect immediate results.

Especially for older children and teenagers, shared outdoor experiences encourage indirect communication — rather than the kind of in-your-face parental quizzes they dread. Even if the pay-off isn’t immediately visible, wait for it. When reminiscing with their families about childhood memories, grown children seldom mention the best day they spent watching TV or playing a video game. Among the memories they do recall, if they’re lucky enough to have had such experiences with their families, are outdoor adventures — even if they complained loudly about such outings at the time.

Give the gift of radical amazement.

The great teacher Abraham Joshua Heschel once wrote that our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. Birthdays and holidays are an especially good time to remind ourselves that this is so. As Heschel advised, take nothing for granted: “Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” Along with sharing time, radical amazement is the best present you can offer, best delivered by example. And you don’t even have to wrap it.

MAKE ROOM FOR INDEPENDENT PLAY AND SOLITUDE

While it’s essential to put nature on the calendar, parents and other guardians also need to know when to unschedule. Tamra Willis, associate professor in the College of Education at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia, suggests parents be aware of the tension between independent and structured play. But rather than feeling compelled to choose between guided or independent play, consider play a spectrum of activities. There’s a time to guide. There’s a time to share the experience together. There’s a time to step back. And there’s a time for solitude.

Recognize that boredom isn’t necessarily a negative.

Especially during summer, parents hear the moaning complaint: “I’m borrrred.” Boredom is fear’s dull cousin. Passive, full of excuses, it can keep children from nature — or drive them to it. Many of us recall how carefully planned activities paled in comparison to more spontaneous experiences, and that boredom often pushed us to create our own stories, which we tell to this day.

Be the guide on the side.

“Parents should encourage children to explore by asking questions and helping them find answers,” says Willis. “There are other times when a parent or teacher should be the ‘guide on the side.’” Environmental educator Joe Baust agrees and suggests the next step on the spectrum: “Don’t be the sage on the stage, set the stage” — a setting for more independent play, with less or no adult supervision or instruction.

Inspire curiosity by example, and accept that you don’t have to know everything.

At times, the parent should lead the way, and actively teach, but other times parents should encourage the child to be the guide — the outdoor leader of adults or other kids. Step back. You don’t have to be a Master Naturalist to know which way the wind blows. Sometimes just introducing a child to the wind is magic enough. You may even discover that you haven’t listened — really listened — to the wind in years. Excitement is contagious. Be a new learner, along with your child — be open to new things. Encourage questions to which you don’t know the answer: “I don’t know! Let’s find out together.” Recommended book: The Nature Connection: An Outdoor Workbook for Kids, Families, and Classrooms.

To encourage independent play, meet up with other families and friends.

This may seem counterintuitive, but one way that parents can encourage kids to play in unstructured ways is to join other families outdoors. Doing so makes it easier for parents to feel comfortable standing back and letting the kids play on their own. Children are more likely to forget the electronics waiting at home and join with other kids in spontaneous play.

Start or Join a Family Nature Club

None of us raises our children by ourselves. Parents need the help of other family members — their own parents and grandparents, for example — and we need the companionship of other families. The gap between children and the rest of the natural world has widened in the recent decade. Therefore, many young parents today had little experience with nature when they were kids.

Here’s a way to create a community of support for parents and children: Join an existing family nature club, or form a new one. It’s a great way to create a community of support for families. This same concept can be adopted by teens or adults without children of their own, in the form of friendship nature clubs.

“Our first son, Owen, who was born prematurely, had his first adventure outside of the neonatal intensive care unit on a hike in San Diego’s Mission Trails Regional Park,” says Janice Swaisgood, a mother of two and former teacher. “Now and then we invited friends to join us on our hikes and camping trips, mostly new families that I had met through a breast-feeding support group.”

But Janice and her husband, Ron, still found it difficult to find the time for nature excursions, or to schedule trips with other families.

Then, four years ago, they read about parents in Roanoke, Virginia, who had launched a free outdoor adventure club for families, mapping out hikes, publishing a monthly schedule of outdoor activities on their website, and inviting other families to join them.

The unofficial members of this new club agreed to meet up at the park, or garden together, or do conservation projects together, or hike in nearby wilderness, rain or shine, with two, five, or ten families at a time.

One rule was absolute: parents or guardians were required to stay with their children at all times, not only for safety, but to make sure that children and parents, and sometimes grandparents, were making memories together. This wasn’t a drop-off daycare service.

The idea was contagious. Janice and Ron started their own family nature club, which they named Family Adventures in Nature (FAN).

Eight volunteer leaders now organize the outings weekly, biweekly, or monthly. “We’ve been known to fill a campground within hours of posting a scheduled campout,” says Janice. Some families like strenuous regional hikes; others prefer closer-to-home adventures. These families continued as members of FAN, but created smaller groups within it. Janice calls them Nearby Nature Clubs. Today, more than fifteen hundred families belong to San Diego’s FAN club. “We’ve had two or three members move to other parts of the country and start their own clubs where they live.”

Here are some of the benefits of nature clubs for families.

• They break down key barriers, including fear of strangers. There’s perceived safety in numbers.

• They can be created in any neighborhood — whether inner city, suburban, or rural — and in any economic setting.

• They can be joined or created by any family — single parents, extended families, friends who feel like families.

• Motivation: It’s much more likely you and your family are going to show up at a park on Saturday morning if you know there’s another family waiting for you.

• Shared knowledge: Many parents want to give their kids the gifts of nature, but they don’t feel they know enough about nature to do so.

• Friendship: Parents and kids make new friends, and widen their social network.

• Importantly, there is no need to wait for funding. Families can do this themselves and do it now.

Chiara D’Amore, who recently received her doctorate in Sustainability Education from Prescott College, wrote her dissertation about the remarkable impact of family nature clubs, particularly for those families who face extra challenges in their lives. Here are a few voices from the parents she interviewed:

“My family has experienced many unforeseen setbacks this year. If it had not been for learning what I have in the nature play group about the benefits of free outdoor exploration and play I do not think we would have made it through.”

“My youngest son has autism and he seems to do better on days that we are outside exploring nature. He becomes focused, he listens . . . Also I love how excited both my children get . . . When we camp they learn to work together to accomplish a task. They don’t even realize they are learning.”

“As a foster father, I don’t have the same emotional attachment to the children in our care as my wife does. Participating in the family nature club gives me a chance to bond with them in ways I hope they remember for the rest of their lives.”

Today, the Wildlife Trust runs more than 240 regular nature clubs for children across the UK, from Nature Tots and Wildlife Watch groups, to junior volunteering groups and regular WildPlay sessions for the whole family. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has a kids nature club, as does the Woodland Trust, for all ages.

What if there were thousands of nature clubs for families? We’d be well on our way to true cultural change.

To see a list of existing nature clubs for families that you might join, go to the C&NN website at childrenandnature.org. Or better yet, start your own. Download a free C&NN Nature Clubs for Families Tool Kit.

Other Voices

“Bend some rules if necessary. Dinnertime or bedtime can be made into a moveable feast to facilitate some outdoor game that has just transcended time.”

—Bernard Joyce, Ballyvary, Ireland

“We get together with a tribe of homeschoolers for regular campouts, five to seven days at a time. We aim for several trips a year. We set up at a group site or a cluster of sites. Parents set up kitchens together and tents around the perimeter. Kids are then set free. We feed, water and sunscreen them as needed (the youngest are appropriately supervised). The older kids have freedom to explore rocks, forests, deserts, caves, beaches, depending on where we are. Their time is theirs. They band together in multi-age groups and have a splendid time. It’s the best thing we do.”

—Stephanie Funke Crary, Arizona

“We let our eighteen-month-old get into most anything outside. He’s tasted dirt, bark, rocks, flowers. He’s smelled a decaying deer carcass we found on a hike. Unless he is headed for an overtly dangerous situation (common sense prevails here), we let him do whatever he wants in the yard and on hikes and camping trips. He figures out ways to entertain himself much faster outside than he does in a room full of toys. For us, Utah’s mountains are a natural playground and learning laboratory.”

—Jonny Griffith, Utah

“We have a rule. When out camping you can get as dirty as you want as long as you are not eating or in the tent.”

—Heather Monchak Nichols, St. Louis, Missouri

“On Father’s Day I am going to start it as I have all the rest, with a call to my dad saying thanks for working so hard and still finding the commitment to get us outside and active. Then I’m going to take my two-year-old son on a hike.”

—Ray Rivera, Denver, Colorado

Part 2

Ways of Knowing the World

“Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers, water bugs, tadpoles, frogs, mud turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb, brooks to wade in, water lilies, woodchucks, bats, bees, butterflies, various animals to pet, hay fields, pine cones, rocks to roll, sand, snakes, huckleberries and hornets; and any child who has been deprived of these has been deprived of the best part of his education.”

— LUTHER BURBANK

“There is a sixth sense . . . that is the sense of wonder.”

— D. H. LAWRENCE

THE HYBRID MIND

Optimistic researchers suggest that digital technology is creating the smartest generation yet, freed from limitations of geography, weather, and distance — those pesky inconveniences of the physical world. Other people, including many educators, are skeptical, if not hostile to technology.

Here’s a third possibility: the Hybrid Mind. As I wrote in The Nature Principle, the Hybrid Mind represents the ultimate multitasking, which is to use computers to maximize our ability to process intellectual data, and natural environments to ignite our senses and accelerate our ability to learn and feel.

I once met a man who trained young people to become cruise ship pilots. He said he encountered two kinds of students. One kind grew up mainly indoors, spending hours playing video games and working on computers. These students were quick to learn the ship’s electronics, a useful talent, the instructor explained. The other kind of student grew up spending a lot of time outdoors, often in nature. They, too, had a necessary talent. “They actually know where the ship is.”

He wasn’t being cute. To him, the ultimate student would be one with both sets of abilities, abilities that come from both virtual and natural experience. “We need people who have both ways of knowing the world,” he added.