Conscious Choice Seattle: Living Inside Out

August 2005 | From the Editor

Living Inside Out

By Bob Condor

When author and newspaper columnist Richard Louv toured the country to research a book about childhood, one theme kept popping up.

Kids are indoors too much.

The reasons are multiple. One boy told Louv he prefers to be inside because it’s where the electrical outlets are located.

Think about that for a moment.

Another reason: Earlier this year, the Kaiser Family Foundation released a study that shouldn’t be surprising but nonetheless stuns any of us who recall a childhood that included lots of free play and, yes, going outside in the morning and not returning home much before dinner.

The Kaiser survey reported U.S. kids consume some form of recreational media for an average of 8.5 hours per day. Recreational media covers non-school use of TV, videos, music, video games, computers, print and radio. The numbers are up about an hour from five years ago, mostly because kids are using computers three times as much.

And this without iPods hitting full stride..

In fact, the researchers determined that kids actually use media about 6.5 real-time hours per day. The other two hours come from multi-tasking, such as listening to the radio or watching television while emailing friends.

There’s no wonder most kids have an “Outdoor I.Q.” lower than previous generations.

Louv refers to it as “nature-deficit disorder” in his essay about kids and the outdoors. He is clear that parents and other involved adults must do more than lament that today’s kids get outside more often.

In our main story for this month’s cover report, local writer Ritzy Ryciak talks to local educators, parents and kids themselves about how to get in better touch with nature. Lots of good ideas in there.

There are more reasons why kids are skipping the outdoors. One factor is parents’ fear that kids are not safe in the woods, at the park or even in the front yard. Here’s a fact: U.S. children are safer now than they have been at any time since 1975, and violent victimization of children has dropped by more than 38 percent, according to Duke University’s 2005 Child Well Being Index. What’s increased in round-the-clock media coverage of certain tragedies.

Other new research points to, believe it or not, a biological need to be outdoors and communing with nature. Edward O. Wilson, a Harvard scientist and Pulitzer Prize winner, calls it “biophilia” or “the urge to affiliate with other forms of life.” He and colleagues argue that nature experiences can encourage more complete psychological and emotional development.

One example: University of Illinois researchers at the Human-Environment Research Laboratory found children as young as 5 showed a significant reduction in the symptoms of attention-deficit disorder when they engaged with nature. At Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill., psychology professor Guy Renzaglia and colleagues have been using the Touch of Nature juvenile delinquent program for two decades as a way to help wayward teens find trust, peace and stability in their lives.

The reasons are plenty. But as parents and adults involved with kids we can’t stop there. It’s our responsibility to engage children in nature settings. It might mean going for a beach picnic instead of stopping for fast food (leave time for exploring). Or maybe you simply work together to move a bug out of the house alive. Maybe you can hike a new trail or simply get out of the car to look at a stand of trees. Bird watching is always possible in these parts.

Whatever you choose, August is the ideal month to raise kids’ Outdoor I.Q.—and add a few points on your own.

Recommend this page to a friend

Top Ten pages recommended to friends: