Reclaiming the Outdoors

by Rebecca Davis

Muddy feet. Skinned knees. Mosquito bites.

Generations of children wore these badges of outdoor play with pride. Their parents would no more have kept those kids cooped up all day than they would have locked them in a dungeon. Imagine if Huck Finn hadn’t braved the Mississippi, if Tom Sawyer hadn’t been allowed to whitewash that fence (there may have been lead in the paint!) and if Mary Lennox never had the opportunity to discover the joys of gardening — secret or otherwise. Those fictional characters reflect a love of nature that was common to less sophisticated times.

With all the progress we’ve made technologically, how did we lose sight of the fact that kids need to connect with the outdoors as much as they need to breathe? We’ve scared ourselves into equating indoors with safety, and the outdoors with everything we fear and can’t control. Richard Louv coined the term “nature deficit disorder” to describe the disconnect between children and nature in his landmark book Last Child in the Woods, winner of the 2008 Audubon Medal. John D. Rogner, field supervisor, US Fish and Wildlife Service and Chair, Chicago Wilderness alliance, explains, “It’s not an actual clinical term, but we intuitively understand what he means. It’s a good phrase that people understand.”

Louv’s book sparked a national discussion that resulted in the national No Child Left Inside Act. The Chicago Wilderness Leave No Child Inside initiative (LNCI) was inspired by Louv’s book and the national initiative. It’s a concept that promotes environmental education for school children, and its mission is to connect children to nature in ways that foster generations of healthy children who care about nature and will protect it.

As Louv observed in an article in Orion Magazine, “Thinking about children’s need for nature helps us begin to paint a picture of that world — which is something that has to be done, because the price of not painting that picture is too high.”

LNCI does not stop at environmental education; in a broader sense, it promotes a reawakening to the premise that children and nature go together, and that the absence of that connection is damaging to both.

“Parents are attentive to kids’ danger,” says Rogner. “They think it’s too dangerous to let them out to play, or to let them out of their sight. There are powerful forces attracting kids — consumer electronics, computers.”

The Leave No Child Inside initiative is a priority of Chicago Wilderness, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service has been involved right from the start, explains Rogner. “The agency hosted the very first meetings when this topic was first mentioned — a workshop focusing on children and nature — and Richard Louv was there.”

Developing a conservation mentality

Rogner doesn’t minimize the difficulty of the task ahead. “The future of conservation, fixing what ails the lands, comes down to people caring — nothing else will matter. It won’t be easy to just turn them around. We seem bent on cleaning up our landscapes, instead of letting them grow wild. Lawns have to be purged so yards become more than manicured bluegrass. There’s a danger there — no kid-friendly back yards. We’re keeping the flame alive; this is our last stand.”

Marc Miller, director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), says he speaks for himself and Governor Pat Quinn in support of Leave No Child Inside Month. “June is a great month to take kids out fishing,” he says, noting that IDNR has a number of programs for children. He says he believes the future of the environment may indeed depend on bringing children back to nature. “Governor Quinn and I both see fewer sales of hunting and fishing licenses. Our concern is the long-term health of conservation. Programs are in peril because participation in park and river activities is down. Less and less funding will be coming to this department, making it harder to run the programs necessary to protect, enhance and manage the environment.”

Bonding with the Earth

As research focuses on the effects of distancing children from nature, several things are becoming clear. Not only is it important to reintroduce children to nature, but to be conscious of the different ways children learn from their surroundings at different ages. Conservation writer David Sobel is concerned that we are raising a generation of children with “ecophobia” — the fear of “oil spills, rainforest destruction, whale hunting, acid rain, the ozone hole and Lyme disease. Fear of just being outside.”

To avoid this, Sobel recommends allowing children to get to know the world around them at their own pace, with activities appropriate to their developmental stage. “Exploring the nearby world and knowing your place should be a primary objective for the ‘bonding with the Earth’ stage, from age eight to eleven. Making forts, creating small imaginary worlds, hunting and gathering, searching for treasures, following streams and pathways, exploring the landscape, taking care of animals, gardening and shaping the Earth can be primary activities at this age.”

“If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, then let us allow them to love the Earth before we ask them to save it. Perhaps this is what Thoreau had in mind when he said, ‘The more slowly trees grow at first, the sounder they are at the core, and I think the same is true of human beings.’”

Practical Benefits

Emilian Geczi, coordinator of the Chicago Wilderness Leave No Child Inside initiative, has more than a philosophical reason for supporting LNCI. “I have a three-year-old boy, and I see a big difference in how he’s growing up and how I grew up. I wanted to see if we could do something about it. There is a whole host of research on the physical, social and emotional benefits of unstructured outdoor time.”

A problem for some parents is that they have lost their own connection with nature, making it hard for them to act as role models. “Many parents look at going out with kids as a chore — maybe they have grown distant from nature,” says Geczi. “It’s very simple to engage your children in those activities. My son loves to dig in the sand or the dirt and stack the logs at the Hamill Family Play Zoo, at the Brookfield Zoo. The most effective ways of getting kids outside is to tap into parents’ or caregivers’ interest in something like fishing. That goes a long way to ingraining the activity with kids. Outdoor activity doesn’t necessarily mean exploring a canyon or a forest preserve. It can be as simple as biking or taking a walk — simple family traditions.”

The Hamill Family Play Zoo, which opened in 2001, is a two-acre zoo within the Brookfield Zoo. It was created especially for young children (from infancy to age 10). Some of its success stems from the fact that it was partly designed by children. In the zoo’s three areas, children are free to touch and explore, to plant a garden, to play in the mud, to splash in a stream or to sit back and daydream.

Know what to fear

Most parents are aware that spending hours in front of a computer screen or television set is bad for their children’s health. What they may not have considered is the behavioral risks and the attention disorder problems that can result from a life spent primarily indoors. While this field of research is relatively new, evidence already shows that spending time outdoors improves concentration and impulse control, helps children cope with stress and emotional problems, improves their balance and motor skills and develops self control. Kids who play outdoors are sick less often than kids who spend more time indoors. Outdoor activities help children with ADD or ADHD function better, broaden their imagination and develop creativity, which may in turn improve language and collaborative skills.

One study indicates that exposure to a natural environment can improve children’s cognitive development, including their reasoning and observational skills. Kids who spend time outdoors improve their physical condition, their ability to relate socially and, ultimately, they form an appreciation of the outdoor world that will last throughout their lives.

The latter is not just a “touchy feely” observation; the future of conservation and the next generation’s approach to the environment depend, in a very real sense, on kids finding what nature is all about while they are young enough to form a bond with nature.

At the same time as research confirms the benefits of spending time outdoors, studies show that children’s access to play space has declined, as has their access to neighborhood space. They spend significantly less time outdoors than their parents did, with the majority of their time spent both indoors and under supervision. Kids visit local and national parks less, hunt and fish less (based on declining sales of licenses), and what little time they do spend outdoors is structured and supervised. It’s not just that kids aren’t going out for unsupervised, unstructured play — it’s that many kids aren’t going out at all. The days when kids hung out at the corner lot and played ball, or played hopscotch on the front sidewalk, are rapidly declining, if they aren’t already gone.

John Hayes is executive director of the Dunes Learning Center. He notes that, “Getting children outside comes down to this. Number one, they are healthier, because they get more physical activity. Number two, they’re happier — at a time when depression is rampant. And number three, they’re smarter; research supports this. The joy of discovery and wonder returns when children play outside — the release of freedom, the opportunity to just be outside — you see happiness prevail.”

“In our summer camps, it’s really great education that offers authentic experiences outdoors — more fun, more engaging, more memorable. School groups come out here; our programs meet curriculum standards — they aren’t just for helping people connect to the environment. It’s a great way to learn. Children are missing out if their only education is within the four walls of a classroom. Kids who may have behavior problems in a classroom environment often become stars outside, and really shine. This especially applies to younger students — they appreciate the outdoors and tap into that sense of wonder.”

The extinction of experience

Distancing children from nature has taken a toll. In addition to problems with ADD and ADHD, today’s children have chronic health issues including diabetes, heart problems and obesity, many of which relate directly to their sedentary, indoor lifestyle. A report from the Sierra Club notes, “In the early 1980s, kids spent about 100 minutes/week engaged in some type of outdoor activity. Today, that number has been halved to just 50 minutes/week.” The report also notes, “The obesity rate among youth has risen from 5.7% in the 1970s to 18% today. Nearly one-third of American children are overweight and risk developing diabetes and other chronic illnesses. For the first time in history, a generation of youth may have a shorter life expectancy than its parents.”

This is because, for the first time in history, large numbers of children have lost touch with the world outside of their home. As one report notes, “For most of history, when children were free to play, their first choice was often to flee to the nearest wild place — whether it was a big tree or brushy area in the yard or a watercourse or woodland nearby. Two hundred years ago, most children spent their days surrounded by fields, farms or in the wild nature at its edges. By the late 20th century, many children’s environments had become urbanized. But even then, as recently as 1970, children had access to nature and the world at large. They spent the bulk of their recreation time outdoors, using the sidewalks, streets, playgrounds, parks, greenways, vacant lots and other spaces “left over” during the urbanization process or the fields, forests, streams and yards of suburbia. Children had the freedom to play, explore and interact with the natural world with little or no restriction or supervision.

Today, with children’s lives disconnected from the natural world, their experiences are predominantly mediated in media, written language and visual images. The virtual is replacing the real. Not only does the loss of children’s contact with the natural world negatively impact the growth and development of the whole child and their acquisition of knowledge, it also sets the stage for a continuing loss of the natural environment.

Leading the charge outdoors

Chicago Wilderness members share a common dream: that the children of this region will grow up with a strong connection to nature, and, as a result, will be healthier and motivated to become its caring stewards. With June named Leave No Child Inside Month, the Chicago Wilderness alliance is striving to reconnect children and nature by providing numerous opportunities for kids and their families.

The Chicago Park District offers many outdoor and environmental education programs, including Camp Chicago, Fish’n’Kids, Harvest Garden, Junior Earth Team, Urban Campers, TRACE (Teens Reimagining Art, Community and Environment), Sand-tastic, Nature Oasis Outings, Under Illinois Skies, and more.

Peggy Stewart, manager of outdoor and environmental education for the Chicago Park District, has been involved with Leave No Child Inside since the very beginning. She was enthused about the Leave No Child Inside workshop for educators, parents and kids, held at the Humboldt Park Boathouse in early June, which provided parents and educators tools to encourage and lead children in outdoor play. Activities focusing on the Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights gave kids an opportunity to connect with nature by catching fish, tracking animals, planting flowers and even roasting marshmallows. The Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights is a 10-point manifesto of simple activities every child can do to tune-in with nature.

Chicago Wilderness and its partners helped staff the event, manning the various activity stations. “Kids could stay at one station or try them all,” Stewart explains. “The idea was to show them the ropes so they’d be more comfortable – camping, fishing, gardening – in natural areas of the parks.” These kinds of activities allow young children to interact with the natural world in a relatively unstructured format, under the supervision of parents or caregivers.

The stick

Stewart, who is thinking about a mud festival as a future possibility, says she is excited that the Stick was recently inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. Not a battery-operated, plastic molded toy that looks like a stick, but the actual piece of wood — a stick, as in a piece of a tree. The Toy Hall of Fame celebrates a number of toys that relate to a simpler era; the Stick joins other luminaries including the Bicycle, Cardboard Box, Duncan® Yo-Yo, Frisbee®, Hula Hoop®, Jacks, Jump Rope, Kite, Marbles, Radio Flyer® Wagon, Roller Skates and Tonka® Trucks, as well as many other classic toys.

The best things about simple toys such as the stick, is that there are no demographic boundaries. Children don’t need wealthy parents to provide sticks for them to play with.

Reaching out to children who might have limited opportunities to enjoy nature is an important concern of Chicago Wilderness and its partners. Mighty Acorns is a Chicago Wilderness program that first took shape in 1993 with a goal of introducing the youth of the Chicago metropolitan area “to nature through stewardship and exploration in a way that fosters a personal connection to our natural areas.” Mighty Acorns serves more than 5,000 children annually, with school programs that feature free exploration, key concept activities and stewardship activities. In summer, outings to Mighty Acorn Nature Camp are available to children who have completed the program. Through Mighty Acorns, children from widely diverse communities have the opportunity to connect with natural areas.

Laurel M. Ross, urban conservation director of environmental and conservation programs at The Field Museum, was an early Mighty Acorns organizer, and is still involved with the program. “From the very beginning of Mighty Acorns 15 years ago, the goal was to foster a personal connection between children and nature. Since then, tens of thousands of city kids have been through this program that encourages exploration and discovery, while teaching the basics of stewardship. Our hope is that we are growing the next generation of conservationists, poets, and other nature lovers which our society needs so much.”

Fishin’ Buddies! Inc., a nonprofit conservation program and a Chicago Wilderness member, was founded by Chicago businessman John Kidd, Jr. and his wife Andrea in 1991, kicking off with a fishing derby held at Wolf Lake in the city’s Williams Powers State Park. Dedicated to introducing children to nature, and specifically to introduce urban children to the outdoors, the goal of Fishin’ Buddies! is “to introduce children to science, to show learning can be fun, to show children the magic of life all around us, to mentor those in need, to laugh, giggle and play and to catch some fish along the way.”

Summer activities included a youth conservation conference and a conservation boot camp in June, and Kids Fest at Montrose Beach in July. “Kids Fest is about conservation, with fishing only a small part,” says Kidd. “There were about 40 different booths featuring conservation agencies, vendors and green infrastructure agencies, plus activities like archery, fishing, canoeing and boating.”

Draw a line in the sand (or dirt)

Chicago Wilderness’ Leave No Child Inside is not just an idea whose time has come, it is an environmental imperative. Being a parent isn’t easy, and for today’s parents, time is at a premium. It’s convenient and “safe” to let kids sit on the couch and watch TV or play video games, and play on the computer. They’re having fun, right?

What harm can it do?

When kids can identify cartoon characters and characters from video games more accurately than they can identify native wildlife, when even biology students are unable to identify common plants, it’s time to take another look at our priorities. Childhood should be a time of adventure, a time of discovery, a time to share in the wonders of the world around us. Our children must be helped to understand that they are an important part of that world — not just an observer, whose only contact with nature is through a television screen or a computer monitor.

It sounds like an exaggeration, but it’s not — the future of our world may well depend on teaching our kids the joys of nature. Leave No Child Inside — Repeat it. Believe it. Do it.

Special Thanks...

to Illinois State Representative Monique D. Davis (D-27) and Senator Mike Frerichs (D-52) who spearheaded legislation to have June named the Chicago Wilderness Leave No Child Inside month in the state of Illinois.

“Leave No Child Inside is a great idea to encourage children to enjoy the outdoors,” says Davis. “Playing outdoors gives kids the ability to use their senses. When I taught school, I would give listening lessons. I’d ask kids to write down all the sounds they could hear (outdoors). They were surprised to hear crickets and the chirping of birds, a dog, a baby.”

“The recognition of those senses separates us from other animals and makes us human. It makes us appreciate all God’s creatures. When kids get outdoors, they also learn to value life. They can do so much outdoors — ride bikes together, change their lives for the better. [It’s important to] give kids the opportunity to grow into the person God meant them to be.”

“Make friends at the park district, the forest preserves — it’s a wonderful world. Enjoy it, appreciate it. Save it.”

Likewise, Senator Frerichs says, “Research shows that children’s cognitive skills benefit from time spent in nature. When children plant a flower, camp under the stars, or follow a trail, they strengthen their health, and social and emotional well-being. And when we encourage children to connect to their natural heritage, we give them a sense of being part of Illinois’ gloriously diverse landscape. I am pleased to support the Chicago Wilderness Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights and to celebrate June as Leave No Child Inside Month.”

Related Articles:

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Bluegills, CW, Spring 2009

Your Kids in Nature, CW, Spring 2008

People: Nurture and Nature, CW, Summer 2007