The kids and nature debate

At first I scoffed at Sunday's story about "nature-deficit disorder," thinking it was yet another group of "experts" offering a new label for parents to stress and worry about how they're raising their kids. But as I read the story I realized there is a lot of truth to the issue of kids not spending enough time playing outside and learning about nature.

Now I have to admit, only recently have I allowed my kids to play out in the backyard without being outside with them. And I still don't let them walk around our neighborhood without an adult.

Am I too overprotective? Yeah probably. But I know my kids and they are not nearly as street-savvy as they should be and that worries me. I don't really agree with this particular thinking from the story that basically says parents should relax about their child's safety:

Richard Louv, who has interviewed thousands of parents and children about the subject, said the main culprit is parental fear of "stranger danger" - a fear that he says has been overblown by the 24-hour news cycle that repeats stories about tragedies suffered by children over and over. "That's the very definition of conditioning," he said. "We're being conditioned to live in a state of fear." Louv said he realizes that there are "monsters out there." But the numbers show that stranger abductions have been either stable or declining for the last 20 years. "That's particularly true for the last 10," he said. "It's not nearly as unsafe out there as parents think."

Read the whole story: Back to Nature

But getting back to why kids today aren't spending time outdoors ... I think that parents have to show an interest and do it themselves in order to foster their  child's interest. Because frankly, if you don't spend time outside why would the kids think they should?

So I do believe as the expert suggests in the story, that a great way to spend time outside is to find an outdoor-related hobby.

My family learned to geocache a couple of years ago even though Fino and I knew nothing about the game other than it required a GPS unit, a gadget I really wanted to have an excuse to buy. But as we learned to play, the kids discovered that they were better at actually finding the geocaches than Fino and I were. That sense of empowerment was a wonderful thing to witness and a gift I didn't realize I could give to them while trekking through the forest looking for a plastic box. Another unexpected bonus was that my kids' time on the computer at home converged with their new outdoor hobby when we discovered Travel Bugs (geocaching game pieces) and started tracking them online.

As a child growing up in an urban area, I had never done a lot of the outdoor activities I do with my kids now. It took some time for Fino and I to figure out how to orienteer, letterbox, navigate a corn maze or mine for gems not to mention I hadn't learned how to cross country ski or snowboard until a few years ago when the kids wanted to learn. But I found the sometimes humbling experience of learning something new and juggling my family's hectic activity/work schedule was well worth the effort. My family has some wonderful memories of spending time together outdoors.

How to you teach your children to appreciate and enjoy nature and the outdoors? I'd love to hear what you think about the "nature-deficit disorder" issue. Post a comment and let's compare notes!