Week 5: Socialization or Intro to Nature Deprivation?

This week there were so many topics to think about I was a little overwhelmed.  I decided to narrow my blog topic down to the new diagnoses ( at least new to me) of Nature Deficit Disorder.  I find it very hard to comprehend since we are blessed we live in such a beautiful place, despite the rain.  I find it very disturbing that most of the world's children are living in conditions where they sleep on a mat on a dirt floor and don't get enough to eat while many American children who are over weight ( one in six) sit on the couch playing video games and watching television.  I sound like a broken record but it's the truth.  Are there really some children who spend so much time inside that they don't know what it is like to climb a tree or smell the flowers.....REALLY?

Sorry, it just really irritates me sometimes.

I was scanning a book called Last Child In The Woods; Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv and trying to understand the fact that children in countries where technology rules have a diminishing capacity to understand nature and it's becoming more and more prevalent.

Studies have shown that nature can be therapeutic.  Nature can help bring back the calmness and help us re-group.  It can help children with ADHD settle down and focus on simple things.  A little extra exercise and oxygen usually helps clear the head too.

Now I am by no modern standards considered a hippie ( not that there's anything wrong with being a hippie ).  I wear make-up, attempt to be but am not always environmentally friendly.  I recycle and try to buy local.  I totally agree we need to save the environment and so would most children these days.  The thing I'm wondering now is do they really know what it feels like in the natural environment?  In the Northwest I would say more so than in some other areas but I don't know the stats on that one.   I do think nature is very important, it's here for a reason.  We have lived for centuries in nature and most of us survived it.

My point is we must need to teach our kids to go outside more.  We need to take kids for walks, learn about the trees and plants and animals hands on.  Do most kids know the difference between a squirrel and a chipmunk?

A lot of times it's the little things in life that people cherish forever and if you need a lift you can always go back to nature, it's free.