Less contact with nature

[DebW]

Here's an article from CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/02/05/nature.interest.ap/index.html) about declining outdoor recreation correlated to the rise in video entertainment. Probable results are declining health and less interest in conservation and biodiversity. At least this community is bucking the national trend.

[Trek420]

Yes, but we need to get youth to log off and get outside. How to do that? :cool:

[melissam]

Yes, but we need to get youth to log off and get outside. How to do that? :cool:

Send 'em all an email?

Make a video and post it on youtube?

[singletrackmind]

It'd be much easier to do that if all parents limited screen watching. That way your kid isn't rushing off to watch tv/computer/games at so and so's house.

In home, you just limit them. Start by taking small chunks off the total screen time slowly. They'll notice, but will (just barely) survive. Better yet, limit the whole family. Of course, you'll now have to spend more time with them. Harder if the dad unit isn't on board, but not entirely impossible.

It's like most everything else, moderation is key.

[singletrackmind]

Send 'em all an email?

Make a video and post it on youtube?

Bwahahaha!! http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y141/smcr/rofl.gif

The irony of my post is not lost on me -meaning screen time- either, but it's too cold to go out and my youngest is taking a nap and the other two aren't here.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Crankin]

I saw this on TV this morning. Even my kids who are 25 and 22 think that they were different from others because we let them play outside in the woods. Most parents are afraid to let their kids be outside... even in the very safe suburbs. One time one of my kids commented that they were brought up in a "wholesome" way. I thought that sounded kind of '50's-ish, but I knew what he meant. They watched TV and played computer games, but there was no Nintendo. Plus, both of them went to an Audubon camp that instilled a healthy respect for the outdoors. I think most adults don't want to be outside, either!

[Tuckervill]

I have very radical ideas about "screen time" (which I think is a ridiculous term--no one ever uses the term "book time", and if they do they're probably sucking all the fun out of everything for their kid).

I believe that in the context of a healthy, balanced, engaged life, no recreational activity should be off-limits, nor limited by extrinsic circumstances. (extrinsic=you didn't eat your broccoli--no guitar hero for you. intrinsic=you can't play guitar hero and go to swim practice at the same time.)

I believe that all children learn from everything they do, including video games (even the slasher ones), movies, television, and playing outside.

I believe that if a child is intensely focusing on one activity over and over to the exclusion of everything else, they are either very passionate about that one thing, or--in the case of overscheduled kids who spend most of their days in school or daycare and after-school classes--are likely escaping and avoiding something else. In the first case, who can argue with someone who's found a personal passion? In the second case, the activity is not the problem--something else is. A good parent would find out what that something else is, wouldn't they?

Karen

[Crankin]

Oh, there were plenty of things that I allowed my kids to do that other parents wouldn't hear of! One of them had something like 9 different "passions" before he graduated. When he was 12, we had to take him in a snowstorm, to watch the MIT juggling club on a Sunday, because he was obsessed with juggling.
I agree with the over scheduled business. They were allowed to do one activity in addition to Hebrew School, which was mandatory (and my kids actually enjoyed that). That activity changed frequently until each sort of decided what he really was into. For one it was music and luckily for me, for the other it was cycling. The reason I limited the video games was because one of them was extremely overstimulated by them. He just needed a lot more structure in certain areas.
I've said this before, but some parents need to lighten up (my observation from my own friends and years of teaching). They don't really enjoy their children and see them as projects to be completed. My kids grew up to be very good adults, despite the fact that they saw R rated movies, had to do chores, stayed by themselves starting at age 10, had a working mother who put them in various kinds of daycare...

[KnottedYet]

SKnot loves computers, Gameboys, video games. He programs his own animations, does stop-action animations, and took a computer animation class at Nintendo.

Oh, and he got into biiiiiiig trouble at school over computer activities.

I've bought him bikes his whole life, I've taken him to parks and beaches and on walks, I've sent him outside to play, I've offered every sports class and activity and equipment I could find. No enthusiasm. He loves animation and drama and music and computers.

He isn't me, and his interests/passions aren't the same as mine. Hard to accept, but he is his own person and I can't push him to be crazy about other things.

I'm starting to let him have screen time based on the idea that it's his passion. But I still set limits on it.

Edit: he's on the couch playing ukulele right now, after working on memorizing the guitar part from a song he heard in the sound track of a TV show, which he downloaded into his computer. Screen time serving a "higher" purpose, I suppose!

[shootingstar]

Well, I'll answer first just to the above topic title..less contact with nature..

My first camping trip..was at age 32 ..after I returned to cycling and we went on cycling trip within 5 months of me getting back onto the back. He had a canvass tent... I didn't do real wilderness hiking until..my late 20's.

Parents should gently in a fun way, introduce child to outdoor activities. At least the child has tried. And no one should use the excuse of money, ie. paid day camps, organized sports teams... one of the reasons why my strict parents sent us outdoors to play....was to allow my father to take an early afternoon nap for a few hrs. before his late afternoon to midnight shift as a restaurant cook. And as eldest child, I was granted the 'joyous' role of automatic babysitter for other siblings (5 others). I suspect my mother was relieved to have peace at home for a few hrs. :rolleyes:

If my parents hadn't made outdoor play mandatory for us, to keep their sanity as parents, I wouldn't have wanted to play outdoors. I was a bookworm.

But the bike..kept me outside..:):)

I don't have children but 1 of my sisters clearly rationed tv watching for their 2 kids, now adults. Niece is a bookish woman but she does do minor cycling around town and hiking about with friends. Nephew did competitive swimming for a few years ..that he was addicted on. Now, he does cycle to university. He and his father did do some cycling together as a bonding thing. After all, his father still cycles his short ride to work.

Are these kids overweight? ..no...just slim great adults.

But as cyclists, we know we just have to button (shut) up abit ...and keep on lovin' our cycling...keep on cyclin' rain or shine..and several years later someone in the family..WILL get it and ask for help to get cycling love. We have to have faith..that some, not all the couch potato kids will fall in love with an outdoor activity --new or renewed. Hopefully it won't be a heart attack that will wake up a couch potato...

[Crankin]

Knott, I laughed when you said your son got into biiiig computer in school. When one of mine was in 6th grade, he snuck into the lab at lunch and hacked into the teacher's system. He didn't "do" anything, but his teacher was so upset when he got caught by the lab aide, I had to tell her to send him to the principal.
The principal's solution was to make a contract that he had to sign, saying he wouldn't do it again. My son said fine and signed it, and then proceeded to write a contract for the principal to sign. It said that Scott would not be unfairly accused of hacking into "porn" and other pervy sites.
Oye

[Tuckervill]

Smart kid. :)

Karen

[RoadRaven]

Here is another article, I have used it every year since it was published with my students to get their critical reflection going and really thinking about how they work with children, and what our children are experiencing (or are not experiencing)

http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=70

It starts with a quote from Les Mis
"There was a time when the world was a song and the song was exciting."

In particular I ask students to focus on the section "Children's separation from nature"
and also help them to really come to grips with the concepts behind the names "Biophilia and Biophobia"

In our western world where fewer and fewer children get to walk on grass, and smell rain on the earth, it is certainly important to consider what priority we give to the "natural" world...

[tulip]

I worked with this group in grad school

http://www.naturalearning.org/

[froglegs]

I grew up in the 80s and 90s, when most of the entertainment options that exist today (cable, video games, computers, and when I was a teenager, internet) were all widely available. Of course I partook (and continue to partake) in all of these things, sometimes to excess, but there were three important things that my parents did that helped to turn me into a nature-appreciating and active adult.

From an early age, my parents (my dad in particular) took me out often (just about weekly) to do things in nature. This included hiking, fishing, camping, catching lizards, digging for fossils, going to the beach, etc. Even though I later went through the typical teen phase where I only wanted to hang out with my friends, being outside had become an important part of my life.... so I continued to do things outside with my friends.

My parents also encouraged us to play sports, in my case softball. From the time I was 8 years old until I graduated from high school, I was always on a team, or had just finished or was about to start a season. There were times when money was really tight, but my parents made it a priority for us to be able to play. The result of this was that I was outside running around for a couple hours a day, several days a week.

Also, my parents let us play outside. We didn't exactly live in the ghetto, but we didn't always live in the safest neighborhoods either. Still, they let us run around, ride our bikes and play with neighborhood kids.

[Jolt]

Interesting article; I had heard similar things before. I definitely think parents should encourage their kids to spend time outside being active and limit "screen time", which is OK in moderation but most kids have too much of it. When I was growing up in the 80's and 90's, I spent a lot of time playing outside in our yard or with the neighbor kids, as did my younger sisters. We rode bikes, skated, climbed trees, dug in the dirt and looked for bugs and other creepy-crawlies under rocks, had water fights and played other games. We did watch some TV (well, I usually preferred to read) but didn't have Nintendo or anything like that, and weren't really interested. Of course, we were fortunate to live in safe neighborhoods where parents weren't afraid to let their kids play outside; I realize that's not the case for everyone and that is part of the problem in some areas. What do you think is the best way to improve the situation?

[Jolt]

I think most adults don't want to be outside, either!

Definitely--sad but true!!! They don't know what they're missing...

[Crankin]

Jolt, when I taught in Shrewsbury, we had an environment unit in the fall (7th grade). There was a habitat on campus where we took the kids and they had to i.d. different things and draw them. I was shocked by the reaction of some of the kids, boys especially, who had just moved from Worcester. They were afraid to get wet in the stream and wouldn't touch a lot of stuff. They had never experienced any of this! I think one way to solve this is to make sure all kids, even kids who live in the city, have the chance to play in the woods! It doesn't have to be in school, but a lot of those kids had gone to the Boys and Girl's Club or other community programs where they just stay inside. I mean these kids jumped back and stood by the side and said "eeew." They were not being obstinate, they were really afraid.

[Jolt]

Jolt, when I taught in Shrewsbury, we had an environment unit in the fall (7th grade). There was a habitat on campus where we took the kids and they had to i.d. different things and draw them. I was shocked by the reaction of some of the kids, boys especially, who had just moved from Worcester. They were afraid to get wet in the stream and wouldn't touch a lot of stuff. They had never experienced any of this! I think one way to solve this is to make sure all kids, even kids who live in the city, have the chance to play in the woods! It doesn't have to be in school, but a lot of those kids had gone to the Boys and Girl's Club or other community programs where they just stay inside. I mean these kids jumped back and stood by the side and said "eeew." They were not being obstinate, they were really afraid.

Wow, that is unbelievable. Making sure all kids are exposed to nature and get to play in the woods is definitely a good idea. I think I would have been shocked at those kids' reaction too--I can see how you might have one or two kids stand back and say "ew, yuck" (such as a few of the prissier girls) but sounds like this was a high percentage of the kids and not just a few. Sounds like those community programs need to add some outdoor activities to their offerings.

[nancy sv]

I blogged about that article the other day!! (http://familyonbikes.org/blog/?p=126) I just find it so sad that most kids aren't getting out at all. I'm hoping our bike tour will encourage a few families to get out and do something!