Are Children Losing Touch With the Natural World?

DawnCt1

<font color=red>I had to wonder what "holiday" he
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While this study was conducted in the UK, I would think that the experience would be similar in the USA. One cause that was listed is "over protective parents". When we were kids, we played in the woods, along brooks, ponds, fields, etc. Now many kids are kept in their backyards or restricted to their neighborhoods.
http://www.independent.co.uk/enviro...oxed-by-test-on-the-natural-world-882624.html
Attenborough alarmed as children are left flummoxed by test on the natural world

By Sarah Cassidy, Education Correspondent
Friday, 1 August 2008


Children have lost touch with the natural world and are unable to identify common animals and plants, according to a survey.

Half of youngsters aged nine to 11 were unable to identify a daddy-long-legs, oak tree, blue tit or bluebell, in the poll by BBC Wildlife Magazine. The study also found that playing in the countryside was children's least popular way of spending their spare time, and that they would rather see friends or play on their computer than go for a walk or play outdoors.

The survey asked 700 children to identify pictured flora and fauna. Just over half could name bluebells, 54 per cent knew what blue **** were and 45 per cent could identify an oak. Less than two-thirds (62 per cent) identified frogs and 12 per cent knew what a primrose was.

Children performed better at identifying robins (95 per cent) and badgers, correctly labelled by nine out of 10.

Sir David Attenborough warned that children who lack any understanding of the natural world would not grow into adults who cared about the environment. "The wild world is becoming so remote to children that they miss out," he said, "and an interest in the natural world doesn't grow as it should. Nobody is going protect the natural world unless they understand it."

Fergus Collins, of BBC Wildlife Magazine, said the results "reinforce the idea that many children don't spend enough time playing in the green outdoors and enjoying wildlife – something older generations might have taken for granted".

A surprisingly large number of children incorrectly identified the bluebells as lavender, and the deer was commonly misidentified as an antelope.

The newt, recognised by 42 per cent, was mistaken for a lizard while the primrose was thought to be a dandelion.

Experts blamed the widening gulf between children and nature on over-protective parents and the hostility to children among some conservationists, who fear that they will damage the environment. They said that this lack of exposure to outdoor play in natural environments was vital for children's social and emotional development.

Dr Martin Maudsley, play development officer for Playwork Partnerships, at the University of Gloucestershire, said that adults had become too protective of wild places: "Environmental sensitivities should not be prioritised over children."

He said: "Play is the primary mechanism through which children engage and connect with the world, and natural environments are particularly attractive, inspiring and satisfying for kids. Something magical occurs when children and wild spaces mix."

 
When I was a little girl, I was out in the "natural world" most of the time, since computers and videos hadn't been invented. Still, I lived in a typical suburban neighborhood, and never set eyes on a pond or field, or a set of woods. We had a small park nearby and we did spend hours playing in or near the creek. Most of our "natural world" exposure, though, came from the backyards of my family and our friends up and down the street.

So I think my children have had about the same amount of exposure I did - certainly not as much as a kid who lived in the country, but enough to label what I assume the American counterparts of those test items would be - correctly. They could tell you that a tree was either a pine or a dogwood (the only examples of trees commonly found in our Southern climates) and could also identify a squirrel, a chipmunk and the occasional raccoon or possum that they saw dead on the side of the road. And they could tell you the difference between a cardinal, a bluejay, and a robin.

I'm not sure the situation is that dire, nor do I think that hands-on observation is the only way to learn about the natural world. My daughter might not have had the "hands on" childhood experience, but she is planning to major in an environmental ecology program, and I suspect by the end of it she will be learning more about, and making a bigger impact on, the natural world than I ever did, even with the freedom I had to ride my bike wherever I wanted during the daylight hours.
 
;) I dont blame over protective parenting. I would say that urbanization (or suburbinization) is a leading cause. Many more people today live either in the inner city or the suburbs.(urban sprawl)..This contributes to the 'over parenting' because kids are more likely to contact people than trees.
I, similarly, grew up in the country, where I would be lost in the woods for hours on end, each and every day.
With an influx of people living in the city, and the city itself spreading outward, kids are more likely to experience what is in their own yards, or designed parks, than they would be if they had acres of woods behind or around their homes.
The primary cause, IMO, is electronic stimulation. My kids today spend entirely too much time moving from tv, to pc, to xbox, to ipod, etc. I have addressed this issue over and over with them, and they do try to expand themselves, but its something that they cant seem to escape. I could (and do) send them out, but they end up over someone else's home, doing the same thing..
Simply taking them to the parks, or woodland areas, helps, but I think they need that repeated exposure. The only option is to move to a more isolated area, but even considering that, there is simply less isolated areas to move to.
I had an interesting conversation with my neighbor the other day regarding why our kids dont spend more time with eachother..His simple answer was that his kids are too busy seeking electronic stimulation in their home. Why would they go out and seek entertainment, when its at their fingertips.
Good points are raised about putting the natural worlds interests above the kids. I hate it when I see people telling kids not to pick the flowers..
Its and interesting thread, and thanks again Dawn, for more food for thought..
 
Kids today have it weird.

They are shuffled to and from events....play on computers and text message friends (rarely talk in person).

When I was a kid my mother got us fed, dressed, and then you were out of the house. You were not allowed back in except for lunch, bathroom, or if there was a monster chasing you.

Kids rarely play outside.....its sad.
 

Interesting article. Thanks.

I agree that my own kids spend much less time outside than I did as a kid. Our family does go camping, so we try to make an effort during hiking, etc. to expose them to nature, but they do love the electronic gadgets!

All of my children love to read, which I think is also on the decline, and coincidentally my 15-yr old and I are currently reading together "The Secret Garden", in which you have Dickon, who knows much about plants and animals, sharing what he knows with the others.

Good food for thought.
 
Interesting article. Thanks.

I agree that my own kids spend much less time outside than I did as a kid. Our family does go camping, so we try to make an effort during hiking, etc. to expose them to nature, but they do love the electronic gadgets!

All of my children love to read, which I think is also on the decline, and coincidentally my 15-yr old and I are currently reading together "The Secret Garden", in which you have Dickon, who knows much about plants and animals, sharing what he knows with the others.

Good food for thought.

My favorite books growing up were the Kenneth Grahame books, "Wind in the Willows", etc. No wonder I was so upset when Disney eliminated Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. It was really a part of my childhood....before Disney was.
 
Kids today have it weird.

They are shuffled to and from events....play on computers and text message friends (rarely talk in person).

When I was a kid my mother got us fed, dressed, and then you were out of the house. You were not allowed back in except for lunch, bathroom, or if there was a monster chasing you.

Kids rarely play outside.....its sad.

:thumbsup2
 
/
My girls are outside as much as (or more than) I was as a child. We live in the country, on one of the great lakes. We walk to the lake nearly every day, throw stones in, feed the ducks, etc. There is a creek that winds through our hamlet where my kids play and catch frogs and such. They're always coming to me with a snake, or a grasshopper, or something that they've caught. We are surrounding by endless acres of apple and cherry orchards, where the kids walk and explore, picking fruit and eating it off the tree.
 
I have worried about this with my own kids. As a child, I lived a short bike ride from the "country" although it was mostly agricultural. We did have creeks and little wooded areas and as a family we did a lot of camping. We got very, very dirty and we spent very little time indoors.

I now live in a very urban/suburban area with some forest preserves scattered around. (I wouldn't let my kids run wild in a forest preserve for any number of reasons). To counter this I have tried to avoid having a typical suburban backyard. We have minimized the grass and planted several different types of flower beds to attract wildlife. We also have a small fish pond that attracted a little too much nature last week when something with very sharp claws (probably a raccoon) trashed the water plants and snatched a fish. My girls know the names of most of the plants, trees, and shrubs in the backyard. Their friends like to come over and chase butterflies with them. My goal, at the moment, is to teach them about bees. They are fascinated by the bees at the children's zoo at Brookfield Zoo so we have begun discussing how important bees are. It is only a small thing, but I hope they get it.
 
Kids today have it weird.

They are shuffled to and from events....play on computers and text message friends (rarely talk in person).

When I was a kid my mother got us fed, dressed, and then you were out of the house. You were not allowed back in except for lunch, bathroom, or if there was a monster chasing you.

Kids rarely play outside.....its sad.

My girls talk "in person" to their friends all day - and all night if I would let them!! They are constantly on the phone - yes, sometimes they are texting but they would chat on the phone all day if they could. And that hasn't changed - I was exactly the same way and I suspect any girl who had a Princess phone in her bedroom was the same way, too!! They do spend far less time outdoors on their own, though.

I wonder if that "out the door after breakfast and see you at dinnertime" was really the gold standard we remember it as being, though. Was it better parenting or was it just a tad neglectful? In other words, looking back there were clear benefits, but was that just a happy coincidence? I would have been thrilled if my mom had said, "Today let's all stay home together and watch a movie on telelvision, or play board games, or bake cookies." That kind of stuff NEVER happened - she was busy and we were expected to find our own stuff to so. Again, though, was that really so much better, even if it meant we can all tell the difference between a frog and a salamander today?

Interesting article. Thanks.

I agree that my own kids spend much less time outside than I did as a kid. Our family does go camping, so we try to make an effort during hiking, etc. to expose them to nature, but they do love the electronic gadgets!

All of my children love to read, which I think is also on the decline, and coincidentally my 15-yr old and I are currently reading together "The Secret Garden", in which you have Dickon, who knows much about plants and animals, sharing what he knows with the others.

Good food for thought.

The camping comment made me think that for a lot of kids, summer camp has replaced the outdoor exposure we as kids got from roaming the neighborhoods. My daughters went to summer camp for years - the youngest just finished her 9th summer - and they had the same kind of outdoor activities we are talking about - plus swimming, archery, horseback riding, etc. And the youngest had a wildeness adventure camp as well - rock climbing, backpacking, whitewater canoeing - so she had much more of that kind of outdoor stuff durign the summer than I have in my whole lifetime.
Maybe kids just need to find different ways to get those outdoor experiences - especially suburban kids who have never seen a mountain, a river or a set of woods.

My girls are BIG readers, though - no decline at my house! Part of that comes from my being a children's librarian - they were forced to attend storytime and read!! But luckily for me they have both become avid readers, and we are a house of multiple bookcases. The most exciting event of the summer for them was the release of "Breaking Dawn" and they have both been reading since midnight Friday (they each had to buy a copy of the book so they didn't have to share!! Luckily DD14 won hers free in a raffle!)

I guess my point would be that I don't think there's really any way to lay this research at the feet of "over protective parenting" as much as the natural consequences of developing our cities and towns so that more natural space is given over to commerce, and that kids today have many wonderful things we didn't. I think on balance it probably all evens out.
 
I think it is a choice you make as a parent. My girls are exposed to the natural world and appreciate it. They spend everyday in the summer on their grandparents dairy farm. They ride tractors to plow, spread poop etc. They learn about life and death through the animals on the farm. They know birds, flowers, animals, bugs etc. It really is your choice to keep your kid in the house or not. My DH and I go out of our way to teach them the values we won't them to have - most people just go about their life and pass nature by. Stop and smell the roses they are beautiful and a gift from God.
 
A lot has changed over the past several generations. When I was growing up we had "inside" toys (even way back then), but we still spent most of our time outside.

I grew up in what was fast becoming suburbs of New York City, but we still had empty lots for playing ball (more than a few broken windows and shingles on the neighboring houses) and we still had access to some wooded areas. We didn't have ATVs or dirt bikes, but our bicycles and feet worked just fine. We had one family TV in the living room and, maybe, a radio or record plpayer in our rooms.

Kids today are caught up in their electronic toys, rarely sit down for meals with their families, and just don't seem to have time for being kids. They really miss out on what should be the best years of their lives.
 
I grew up in the city and really never knew what a bluebell was, and the only bird I could name was probably a pigeon, LOL. It doesn't mean I was sheltered, though - I was just the opposite, actually. It wasn't until I met my DH and moved to suburbia that I learned these types of things. My kids already know more about nature than I did at their age. They're almost always outside, just like I was - the differences being environment and parental involvement.
 
Not here, outdoor activities are the thing to do. I've been camping since I was 3 months old. I take my 11 year old niece volunteering with me at the zoo and she also does their youth volunteer program. I hear her say things like "something's wrong with the red panda, they always sleep in trees and he's sleeping on the ground" (she was right, he had to be euthanized this week) and she constantly asks me questions about nature and our environment. The youth program at the zoo also has them do things like learning about different animals so they can become mini-docents and the junior master gardener program. They've been taking samples of water from places like the creek that runs through the zoo and the otter pool to learn about water quality. We work with floating islands international that create islands that naturally purify water to clean our ponds and tanks without using chemicals.
 
I think it depends on where you are raised. Not all kids have a chance to get out in the woods. This isn't something that is new either. There has been urban and rural kids since the word village was created.

I grew up in the country, my nieces and nephews are going up in the country. But I have cousins who never lived in the country. They grew up in Dallas and Houston. I remember their first time here, they were amazed at the trees we have here. They had never seen so many trees.
 

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