Nature: Kids' last-minute summer fun

[fgoodwin]

Nature: Kids' last-minute summer fun

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-0816_o_brotmanaug16,1,4695732.column

http://tinyurl.com/ynv36m

 

Barbara Brotman

August 16, 2007

 

Ah, the sounds of August. Buzzing bees, chirping birds and a plaintive youthful cry:

 

"There's nothing to do. I'm bored!"

 

Add the grinding of parental teeth and the sounds of rending garments by nature lovers. Nothing to do? With a world of summer outside?

 

But here's the good news. This is the ideal time of year to take a whack at what Richard Louv diagnosed as rampant "nature deficit disorder" in children in his 2005 book, "Last Child in the Woods."

 

Nature has less competition now. Summer camp is over. School has not begun. Kids have time on their hands. Why shouldn't they use it to get their hands on a cricket or frog?

 

But how exactly does the urban parent, maybe with a touch of NDD himself, introduce a child to the outdoors? Once you go outside with your child, what exactly are you supposed to do there?

 

Luckily, the answer is something we can all handle:

 

Nothing much.

 

"[be] as simple as possible," suggested Melinda Pruett-Jones, executive director of the Chicago Wilderness coalition, which in June launched a Leave No Child Inside campaign to encourage parents to take their children out into nature.

 

"Start with the familiar -- the garden, the woods behind your church, the commons in your neighborhood, the big open area behind your school. Let your children direct the activity. ... They might pick up a couple of sticks and start building a fort. They may pick up a fallen log and look under it."

 

A parent can then ask some questions: "What do you see under there? What does that mud feel like between your toes?"

 

Pruett-Jones said: "It's so simple, and it doesn't have to involve fancy, expensive equipment. It can just be a walk to school together."

 

No special knowledge is required, said Jan Little, assistant director of education at The Morton Arboretum. "We turn nature into a museum thing, and it's not. It's our world; we are part of nature," she said. "It's really just going on an adventure and letting that adventure happen."

 

Rely on your memories of what you used to do outside, suggested Katherine Johnson, children's garden manager at the arboretum. Search with your children for a four-leaf clover. Show your children how you used to put a dandelion flower or buttercup under someone's chin to show whether or not they liked butter.

 

My own favorite outdoor memory is of the time our nanny took me and my sister to visit a nearby woods. I'm not sure what really happened, but I emerged ecstatically certain that I had met the Three Bears.

 

I have been unable to produce Mama, Papa and Baby Bear for my own children, to their dismay. Still, we have had lovely outings involving no more than digging in dirt with a stick. And while I can't teach them how to fish, I have tried to pass on my own special humble outdoors skill -- tightening a blade of grass between my pressed-together thumbs and making a loud whistle by blowing, using the grass as a reed.

 

If you're really flummoxed at the thought of taking your children outdoors, there are plenty of family-friendly nature programs to give you a start. The Chicago Park District offers bird walks, prairie strolls and a Toddlers Tunes & Turtles series at parks around the city.

 

"Come with us; we'll show you how to do it. Then hopefully you'll come back on your own," said Peggy Stewart, manager of outdoor and environmental education for the park district.

 

But the most important thing you can do, in Johnson's view, is also the easiest: Go outside yourself. "For parents who spend all their time indoors to say, 'You kids go outside,' that will not work," she said. "You have to go outside and you have to model enjoying it."

 

I am happy to oblige, including on vacation. Although this goes against the low-key focus of Leave No Child Inside, I have found that a wilderness trip to someplace exotic has a powerful effect that lasts for years.

 

But the small outings never lost their appeal, even for my almost-grown girls. The 16-year-old and I recently spent an enchanting hour trying to catch frogs near Beverly Lake. And my 18-year-old and I had a lovely time wandering along the peaceful Humboldt Park lagoon, watching ducks and talking about life.

 

The beautiful thing about spending time with children outdoors is that it incorporates their favorite thing in the world -- you spending time with them. Add some neat-looking rocks, a few butterflies and a blade of grass, and you'll all wish school didn't start till October.

 

Need ideas? Try your local forest preserve, or go to kidsoutside.info. More structured programs can be found at chicagoparkdistrict.com.

 

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bbrotman@tribune.com