I picked up this book,Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, last week at the library. I have mixed feelings about this book. Not that I disagree with what the author is saying. I totally agree that kids don't have the freedom to roam in nature like they used to. My problem comes in how to change this for my children. We live in a tiny house with very tiny yard and we live in a neighborhood that isn't really kid friendly. Not a place where I am about to just let them out and run around without supervision. So what do I do? Pack up my family and move to the country? My parents would love it if we moved up there to where they live but then what does my husband do for a living? We do have to bring in an income somehow.
We do go on nature walks a lot but that is still structured, it isn't just free time out in nature. I have decided I need to find a good place to just go and let my kids roam for a little bit each day. It isn't easy when you live in the city. But trips to the park don't really count because it isn't really interaction with nature it is just outside. So I have to get them to parks that have more wildish type places.
Maybe I should also finish the book. Maybe they give some ideas for us city dwellers to get a little more nature time.
2 comments:
When you get some ideas, let me know. We live in the city too, and I struggle with this. My children can't just roam freely out of doors like I did as a child. But too, if we move, where would we move, what would dh do for employment. I'd really miss the city too and all the cultural opportunities we have here. It's a dilemma.
This is partly why we loved Maine in September, about the minute you leave the city, it's rural. It's wonderful, but I can't quite picture packing up and moving to Maine. Almost, but not quite.
Are there any natural fauna recovery programs, or wildlife habitats in your city/ We live in Seattle and there are little parks that have swings and slides but then they have these trails that go into a more natural area. They are working on removing foreign and noxious, or domineering, plant growth so that native plants can be reintroduced. If we go when they have workers there they can tell us all about the plants and then when we go alone, later, the kids know what it is they are looking at. Although, we have to watch out for the occasional homeless person sleeping under a bush.
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