Want healthier kids? Send them outside

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Want healthier kids? Send them outside

 

http://www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=212657

 

BY JASON KING

Daily Herald Staff Writer

Posted Monday, July 31, 2006

 

Sean Taylor watched as 5-year-old son Payton played "snake tag" with other children at the Grant Woods Forest Preserve in Lake Villa.

 

The father and son were participating in the Lake County Forest Preserve District's Knee High Naturalist program, which focused on snakes that day.

 

Taylor said he wants his son to play outdoors as much as possible and, luckily, Payton loves to do so.

 

"If he stays inside all day, at night he's just crazy," said Taylor, of Lake Villa. "He loves being outdoors. On rainy days and in the winter, by the end of the day, he's just nuts."

 

There may be more to such behavior than pent-up energy. In his book "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder," author Richard Louv writes that children, who spend less time outdoors than their parents and grandparents did, need time outside to essentially balance their physical and mental systems.

 

The book, released in 2005 and in its ninth printing, and the term "nature deficit disorder," have resonated with parents and outdoor educators alike across the Chicago area and country.

 

Conservationists and environmentalists in the suburbs are using a variety of methods, from backpacks that can be checked out like library books, to kids clubs and family-oriented outdoor activities like hiking, to encourage children to play outside, unfettered, in nature.

 

Nan Buckardt, the environmental education manager for the Lake County Forest Preserve District, has noticed the trend over the past two decades.

 

"I've been in this field for 25 years, and as I've talked to people, I see people that have less connection to the earth," she said. "Between home and work, they're outside less than 20 percent of their life."

 

Buckardt said the district has many activities designed to get children out in nature, from the standard camps, field trips and family activities to a hiking program.

 

It also started an effort with the Warren-Newport Public Library that makes backpacks available for families to borrow. The backpacks can be checked out from the Warren library, the Ela Area Public Library in Lake Zurich and the Ryerson Conservation Area in Riverwoods.

 

Inside the backpacks are reading materials and activities geared toward helping parents educate their children about nature, Buckardt said.

 

Valerie Blaine, nature program manager for the Kane County Forest Preserve District, says families should make nature a priority.

 

"The place to start is the simplest thing - spending some time walking a trail," Blaine said. "It doesn't have to be some big camping expedition. There are so many pretty natural areas nearby."

 

The forest preserve district and the St. Charles Park District offer multiple programs. St. Charles is offering weeklong nature camps this summer.

 

A similar message is preached by Carl Strang, a naturalist with the DuPage County Forest Preserve District.

 

"What we want to do is make ourselves no longer necessary because people are out there doing things on their own," he said. "The idea would be to get people excited about this and interested enough that they have an awareness and are plugged into the wild landscape around them."

 

Interestingly, Louv writes, getting people outside in nature is sometimes hampered by the stewards of the land, who prevent activities in sensitive natural areas or invoke overly restrictive rules in residential subdivisions.

 

Strang said his district tackles that issue through education. In the district's summer newsletter, Strang writes the district allows people to climb trees as long as they behave safely and the tree won't be harmed. Visitors to the preserves can also wander off trail as long as the areas aren't posted off-limits, and he encourages visitors to follow a deer trail through the woods.

 

"The boundaries are often further out there than people are aware of," he said. "You don't have to stay on the groomed trails always or refrain from catching a frog as long as you release it right away and don't hurt it."

 

Throughout the book, Louv points to research from the University of Illinois that indicates children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder can benefit from time outdoors in nature. Further, he questions if the lack of time spent outdoors exacerbates or is a contributing factor to the increase in the disorder in children.

 

Louv said ongoing research continues to indicate children with the disorder benefit from time outdoors, though it is not known why that is.

 

Dr. Robert Whitaker, with Mathematica Policy Research Inc. of Princeton, N.J., co-authored a study last year arguing that free play - particularly active, unstructured, outdoor play - needs to be restored in children's lives.

 

"Children at a young age are, by their nature, very active and they're trying to, in a natural way, stimulate their own brain development with activity," Whitaker said. "The complexity of their indoor environment may be low. But the back yard is always changing. It's a very interactive environment."

 

Which is the opposite, Whitaker said, from the media that children are seemingly bombarded with these days.

 

"With parents restoring some things that have been lost, like outdoor play, they may find it changes their child in a way they really like," he said.