I think it's very important to foster children's love for nature, to teach them to care for it, to love it, and to respect it. And I believe there's no other way to promote this than by having them spend time in natural environments.
Children need to play with dirt, jump in puddles, chase lizards, climb trees, and ultimately play outdoors surrounded by nature.
However, the reality is that in many cases, they spend too much time indoors surrounded by walls and screens. And the truth is, nowadays, parents tend to overprotect them from anything that might get them dirty, hurt them, or make them sick, without realizing that often our fears deprive them of a basic and essential part of their development.
Richard Louv, an American journalist and author of the bestseller “Last Child in the Woods”, after conducting more than 3,000 interviews with parents in the United States, even talks about nature deficit disorder, a social disorder that can lead to a devaluation of the senses, concentration difficulties, and even physical and emotional illnesses in children.
This author explains that all human beings have an innate need for contact with the natural world and states that parents, in addition to providing our children with good nutrition and adequate sleep, should ensure their connection with the earth.
Up until 30 years ago, Louv says, "Children played among the trees or in the fields. Today's children can no longer get their feet muddy, run to distant horizons, hang from a tree, or recreate worlds with what is available in nature. In just two generations, childhood has lost its most precious legacy: the play that was invented tens of thousands of years ago."
In response to parents who are overly concerned about avoiding all risky situations for their children, Louv comments on something I find very noteworthy: "In controlled environments, there is no true experimentation. Although risk is precisely what parents want to avoid, it is what teaches us the most and stimulates creativity when it comes to finding solutions."
The journalist maintains that children exposed to nature show intellectual, spiritual, and physical improvements compared to those who stay indoors. Thus, their concentration levels improve, they manage stress, and they promote creative solutions to problems.
This book has promoted a real back-to-nature movement. School gardens are becoming very common in cities like New York, and forest kindergartens, where all activities take place outdoors, are becoming increasingly common in European countries like Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Let's hope they arrive in Spain soon too.
What do you think about this topic?
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