Growing Up Denatured:

[Earth_First]

Growing Up Denatured
By BRADFORD McKEE
Published: April 28, 2005

The days of free-range childhood seem to be over. And parents can now add a new worry to the list of things that make them feel inept: increasingly their children, as Woody Allen might say, are at two with nature.

But a new front is opening in the campaign against children's indolence. Experts are speculating, without empirical evidence, that a variety of cultural pressures have pushed children too far from the natural world. The disconnection bodes ill, they say, both for children and for nature.

The author Richard Louv calls the problem "nature-deficit disorder." He came up with the term, he said, to describe an environmental ennui flowing from children's fixation on artificial entertainment rather than natural wonders. Those who are obsessed with computer games or are driven from sport to sport, he maintains, miss the restorative effects that come with the nimbler bodies, broader minds and sharper senses that are developed during random running-around at the relative edges of civilization.

"We definitely want kids to be able to go out and play," Dr. Broughton said. "The sedentary lifestyle is a huge problem in my practice every single day.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/28/garden/28kids.html?ex=1272340800&en=f0988c8058f2763d&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

I came across this article as I was doing some background on Richard Louv's book. Just wonder what others are thinking...

[pooja]

1. children today have every gidget and gadget you can think of...

but they have always grown up with these things. Also, with parents both working and children blocked into a chained fence for recess/ play at daycare doesn't leave much to the imagination. And as our cities and suburbs grow into monstrosaties and the "neighborhood" becomes less "neighborly", you cannot just send your children out to play.

I grew up in the country, country... out to play was fields, woods, bikes, streams, dogs, dirt, climbing trees, fishing, relaxing on the back porch, catching lightning bugs. Now, its deadlines, learning tools, computers, transporting from spoting activity to music lessons. This world tells us that children are behind. No one wants a "dumb" child... but they miss the key ingredient... active participation in their education, engaging conversations, nature walks, geography lessons, turning off the t.v. My husband is a constant t.v. on--noise to drown out thought. When I turn off the t.v., my son hands me the remote (he doesn't even talk beyond a couple of words yet). He is already programmed into constant noise surrounding him.

[notadmblnd]

2. not my boy. the minute his feet hit the floor in the morning

his butt is outside. I have to call him and tell him when it's time to come in, which was about an hour ago. sure he'll spend more time in the house during the winter if there's no snow. But let us get more than 2 inches and the days will be filled with snowboarding and fort building.

[Warpy]

3. Not just denatured, overscheduled

Working parents are PARANOID about having their kids have down time. The kids go from one organized activity to another. Playing out in the street with all the other kids in the neighborhood is something they just don't DO in a lot of the "better" suburbs.

The kids are on a treadmill of seeming well rounded, with homework and scheduled sports and other activities taking up most waking moments. The lucky ones get to goof off for a few hours on the weekends with video games, but forget exploring the woods or even the neighborhood.

These kids are not only going to be at a loss when confronted by nature, they're going to be at a loss when confronted with unstructured free time.

It's going to be interesting to see how these kids cope as they get away from all this.

[pooja]

5. I've seen them at college. They normally drink way too much...

and have no idea how to handle time management... we had introductory classes on time management... sadly its been since 2001 since I graduated... I can't imagine how much worse it has gotten.

[The Jacobin]

4. Did anyone else think of protein?

I assumed we were talking organic chemistry.

Sorry.

Carry on.

[Cleita]

6. I grew up with a lot of outdoors to explore, but

I went to college with kids who grew up playing on streets and didn't know any differently. I once convinced a college friend of mine, who grew up in a poor neighborhood in Detroit, to go to Alaska for a summer break.

I was in heaven and years later she told me she was frightened to death the whole time we were there. The absence of city blocks where you could go to buy things and meet friends just terrified her although she never told me then.