Get Out Into Nature!

Here is an opportunity that will appeal to a large number of Kidspace Parents. I'd like to invite you to participate in a live web event with author Richard Louv on Thursday, June 16th. Louv's 2005 book, "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder" served as a wake up call for contemporary parents. It has also served as an enormous catalyst for a fast growing movement in America to reconnect our children with the natural world. If you've read the book, you may have been as shocked as I was to contemplate just how nature deprived we and our kids have become in just a few generations. children once commonly roamed by themselves and with friends and siblings within a several miles radius of their home. Children walked to school, went to other family members and friends homes, played with groups of neighborhood children after school, making up unstructured games and adventures. They climbed trees, rolled down hills, gathered polliwogs from ponds, smelled flowers and caught butterflies, ladybugs, and all manner of creepy crawlers and small critters. All without adults being immediately present or organizing children's play.Today our kids might play in their own fenced back yard, or we may take them to a park, but even there wary parents usually keep direct contact. Children seldom walk to school or or to a friend's house a few blocks away. They don't ride their bikes alone to a park meadow or a trail along a creek. These were activities that brought past generations into everyday contact with nature and gave them a great deal of physical activity. After school time now is generally structured in group activities or lessons, as has summertime, once the paradise of outdoor freedom and exploration. The benefits of children interacting with the natural environment are enormous and affect their physical, emotional, and cognitive well being in profound ways.

The link to the live web cast's information page is here.

And here is a wonderful resource with links to events, ideas, and community movements. 

President Obama has declared June to be "Great Outdoors Month." I hope this topic and listening to the live web cast on June 16th opens conversations and further thought in your own family about how you might get out into nature with your kids. We have outstanding opportunities here in one of the most beautiful regions on earth.You will love what getting outdoors more does for your family and the relaxation and renewal that it brings us nature-starved humans :-).