Category: Deep Thoughts About Gardening

"Children have lost touch with the natural world and are unable to identify common animals and plants," according to a UK survey

julia erickson6 Comments

As a follow-up to my prior post on Richard Louv’s book, Last Child in the Woods – Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, the UK newspaker, The Independent, ran an article about a UK survey on the subject. Sadly, the journalist Sarah Cassidy reports:

“Half of youngsters aged nine to 11 were unable to identify a daddy-long-legs, oak tree…or bluebell, in the poll by BBC Wildlife Magazine. The study also found that playing in the countryside was children’s least popular way of spending their spare time, and that they would rather see friends or play on their computer than go for a walk or play outdoors.”

“Experts blamed the widening gulf between children and nature on over-protective parents and the hostility to children among some conservationists, who fear that they will damage the environment. They said that this lack of exposure to outdoor play in natural environments was vital for children’s social and emotional development.”

“Dr Martin Maudsley, play development officer for Playwork Partnerships, at the University of Gloucestershire, said that adults had become too protective of wild places: ‘Environmental sensitivities should not be prioritised over children.'”

“He said: ‘Play is the primary mechanism through which children engage and connect with the world, and natural environments are particularly attractive, inspiring and satisfying for kids. Something magical occurs when children and wild spaces mix.'”

A Book Worth Talking About: Last Child in the Woods – Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

julia erickson4 Comments

First published in 2005 and re-published in 2008, I first heard about Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv from another book, A Child’s Garden by Molly Dannenmaier, which I read and enthusiastically reviewed last year. I’m reading it right now and would highly recommend it to anyone with children. From the introduction:

“Within the space of a few decades, the way children understand and experience nature has changed radically…Today, kids are aware of the global threats to the environment–but their physical contact, their intimacy with nature, is fading…

…This book explores the increasing divide between the young and the natural world, and the environmental, social, psychological, and spiritual implications of that change. It also describes the accumulating research that reveals the necessity of contact with nature for healthy child–and adult–development…

…Our society is teaching young people to avoid direct experience in nature. That lesson is delivered in schools, families, even organizations devoted to the outdoors, and codified into the legal and regulatory structures of many of our communities…”

An absurd example of this was written about in today’s New York Times in the article “Build a Wiffle Ball Field and Lawyers Will Come,” which reports on the local Greenwich, Connecticut backlash against a group of teenagers who turned an empty, town-owned lot into a miniature Fenway Park. The saddest quote comes from Jeff Currivan, 17: “They think we’re a cult…People think we should be home playing ‘Grand Theft Auto.’ ”