I found a book at the library that is entitled: Last Child in the Woods...saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. By Richard Louv.
In case you haven't already guessed, he thinks our children these days do not play outside enough. Well, I think that also. You seldom drive down a residential street and actually see children playing outside, but perhaps they're behind that privacy fence at the back of the house.
He has a list of 100 actions we can take to change this. Here are a few.
1. In South Carolina, a father bought a load of dirt for his daughters, plus plastic buckets and shovels. It cost the same as a video game.
2. Tell your children stories about your special childhood places, then help them find their own. Under a weeping willow, the ditch behind the house, a meadow.
5. Find a scrap board and place it on bare dirt. Come back in a day or two, lift the board, and see how many species have found shelter there. Identify with a field guide. Return once a month and discover who's new.
6. Camping in the backyard. Buy them a tent or help them make a canvas tepee and leave it up all summer.
He lists numerous websites and books pertaining to this topic. It's worth checking out if you have couch potato children. For more information, visit www.lastchildinthewoods.com or www.cnaturenet.org
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6 comments:
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Nick -- the channel that plays Sponge Bob is off the air for 3 hours today to encourage kids to go outside and play.
My kids just changed the channel.
What a great blog. I do worry about what our society will be like in the future with children who only know how to play with video games and only know how to interact with people by phone, text and computer. The constant need for music in the ear or need for techno contact with others--no privacy or time to listen to one's thoughts--what kind of society will we have? Also maybe people won't know how to spell or write grammatically correct sentences. This is my bandwagon, my hobby horse and my soapbox.
Kay, uh...yeah! No, not really, but I did have a thought of two about your lovely children. He tells of a family who told their kids they had to play outside for two hours. They came back in after four hours, having had such fun. The next day, it was suggested that perhaps they'd like to go outside. "Naw, we already did that."
great ideas
Great ideas... My kids love to play outside, but we live in a townhouse community and there isn't a lot of room to roam. They get creative though.
My MIL told me she wanted to get a Wii toy for my kids and after reseaerching it (I had no idea what it was) I tried to call and tell her that I don't want them to have it. Pray that conversation goes well whenever I get through to her.
If they want to play a video type game they can on the computer or at the library - we certainly don't need something that is going to end up costing us a bundle in batteries and new games (that I won't buy). It limits the clutter too.
I'm sure many people will think I'm crazy to turn down this gift for my kids, but I really think its for the best. Would I rather them help me shovel snow for the neighbors or play video games...hmmm I know my answer :) Oh by the way my kids and I are all crazy we actually enjoy shoveling snow.
Of course after shoveling snow I'm usually in pain unless I wore my back support... but I really have to shovel because my husband has a really hard time doing it because of his physical limitations and instability on slick surfaces. He always says he's glad he found a hard working country girl who has always been taught to work through the pain.
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