by Deborah Nies

Created on: May 18, 2009

Children need nature more than anytime before in our history. Nature is fundamental to children's physical, mental and spiritual well-being. At a time when the health of our planet is at stake, we need our children to enjoy nature now, and so that they grow into caring stewards of our environment in the future.

Remember "A Christmas Story?" Little Ralphie so desperately wanted a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, but everyone kept admonishing him, "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!" It's the same way with our children today. We keep them from really living and experiencing life because of our own (mostly) irrational fears.

We keep our children indoors and espouse that the reason is "safety." To a degree, adult fears are understandable. We watch the news and read newspapers. We are overwhelmed with stories of child abductions, death, injuries, food toxins, etc. The doom and gloom is enough to make us want to roll our children in bubble-wrap, and never let them leave the house.

My generation had a free-range childhood. There were no boundaries in my neighborhood and we spent every possible waking minute outside. Our parents weren't horrible, uncaring people. They just recognized that free play outside was good for you. Today, the thought of allowing our children to freely roam the outdoors, unsettles parents to the core. We worry that they will get hurt in nature, and well, face it, everywhere. They'll fall down, they'll get splinters, they'll bleed, they'll wander into poison ivy, etc. We want to know where our children are at all times.

And, where has this constant vigilance led us? The majority of today's children have cell phones so that Mom and Dad can know exactly where they are every minute of the day. It is an extension of the umbilical cord. Our children do not know how to make decisions for themselves anymore, because a parent is at the ready to jump in.

Additionally, our children don't know how to play anymore. Children today are shuttled from one organized activity to another. With sports, music lessons, and educational classes, the time for unstructured free play has diminished. They have forgotten how to use their imaginations to invent games and activities.

The end result is that the majority of today's children suffer from a new diagnosis called, "Nature Deficit Disorder," which is basically a disconnection from the natural world. Richard Louv wrote a book called, "Last Child in the Woods - Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder." Mr. Louv

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