A walk in the woods, the gurgle of brooks, the morning bird song, these voices of nature have compelled mystics, poets, and philosophers for millennia. “In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous,” said Aristotle. Many more, old as the ages, have spoken of nature’s mystery.
Children seem to marvel at nature most. A leopard frog in a child’s tiny palm, the wriggle of blue salamanders, baby turtles hatching from a burrow — all elicit wonder and glee in children whose parents might seem preoccupied.
All the more poignant and problematic now: Not only are these many wild animals and wild spaces being threatened with extinction, but modern-day children are quickly losing the opportunity and the very capacity to appreciate the clouds, rocks, rivers and the creatures which have comprised the natural world from time immemorial … a “nature deficit.”
As in so many things, children’s mental foundations are established in the very early years of life, before they turn 5 years old. We are all part of the natural world, but without early childhood’s intuitive, emotional experience to link us to our natural history, that connection is fading.
An early, uninhibited romp over fields and fens, into the wild wooded corner of the park, on bikes, in Keds, on kids’ flights of imagination the bond builds between child and nature. The strongest predictor of active adults, healthy weight kids, lifelong conservationists and students free from attention deficit disorders is intimate early experiences with nature.
Sadly, the days when mothers ushered their children outside for two hours between the end of school and supper — “Go outside and play!” — are waning. Cities and suburbs have cleared most of the wild lots that dotted children’s fancy and exploration. Worse, “virtual reality” (an oxymoron if ever there was one!) has replaced even concrete with pixels.
Today, an average child spends more than seven hours per day, not counting classwork, viewing electronic screens; TVs, computers, cell phones and video games. Today, many children are also overweight or obese, prone to hyperactivity and allergies, and for the first time in history, they can expect a shorter life-span than their parents.
Sierra Club founder John Muir famously said, “When one tugs at a single thing in Nature, he or she finds attached to it … the rest of the world.” That identity with the natural world is what children innately, inherently and genetically grasp. Children in their innocence, given the chance, identify with the striving and thriving of nature’s creation — something, sometimes, we older folks forget.
Nature play, children chasing their imaginations through the woods, unrestricted flights of fancy and exploration, snowflakes falling in their backyards, watching a cumulus cloud turn into a buffalo chasing across the sky — those are the moments when babies realize they are truly children of the natural world.
Nature is singing right outside the door. Let’s let the children find her!