Let's create safe places for kids to get dirty
Thursday, August 25, 2011 at 3:15PM
Rowe Woods summer campers preview the Cincinnati Nature Center's new Nature PlayScape with their preschool director, Tisha Luthy. / Community Press/Kellie Geist-May
As I talk with adults about playing in nature, I invariably hear about special places they remember from their childhood. Their eyes light up and their voices rise as they describe the times they spent outside as a child.
Experiences in nature are critical to the healthy development of all children. Today, research provides proof of the benefits - physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.
When I ask parents if they let their children have the freedom they had to play outside, they say "no." Many state that it is not safe for their child, even though statistics indicate the incidence of stranger abduction is lower today than it was 30 years ago. But the fear is real.
Other contributors to lack of time in nature are competition from electronic media, reduced access to natural areas due to urbanization and the belief that academic readiness requires children to have frequent structured activities. Sports leagues, play groups, outings and music lessons are all beneficial activities, but in each one the adults are setting the rules, giving the instructions, dictating the activities and even deciding which children participate.
This generation of children is not experiencing neighborhood flashlight tag games, summer walks to the creek to find critters or playing in the mud - all organized and managed by kids. Today the children are playing video games for hours with a person in Australia or Japan without building a relationship. Children as young as 6 are texting each other and never connecting. Some children spend an endless amount of time sitting on a couch in front of a screen.
To reverse this trend, we must be more intentional.
We have to create places in nature that parents feel are safe, and that will allow their children to explore and discover on their own.
One such place is The Marge & Charles Schott Nature PlayScape at Cincinnati Nature Center. It is 1.6 acres designed for children to climb, build, dig, splash, discover and explore. A perimeter fence assures parents their child is safe.
Cincinnati Nature Center - in collaboration with University of Cincinnati's Arlitt Early Childhood Development Center, the Nutrition Council of Greater Cincinnati and others - is launching the Nature PlayScape Initiative to promote nature play and facilitate the creation of Nature PlayScapes throughout the region.
The initiative provides educational programs, training for adults and tours of the Schott Nature PlayScape to encourage people to "PlayScape" their backyards, neighborhoods, parks and school grounds.
The opening of the Marge & Charles Schott Nature PlayScape is 11 a.m. Tuesday at CNC Rowe Woods, 4949 Tealtown Road, Milford. It is open to the public, and admission will be free for the entire day.
For information, go to www.cincynature.org/nature-playscape.html.
Bill Hopple is executive director of the Cincinnati Nature Center.
Reader Comments (2)
I think they probably call this "free range parenting" where we let our kids explore as much as they can to learn about the things around them up close. As much as I can, I let my kids wander where I know they are safer and when I'm also watching (especially now that they're still small). I'm still cautious about the possible dangers though considering the crimes that are already happening in our society today.
But when speaking of the therapeutic advantages that are brought by being exposed to nature, I can never go against that certain fact. I have always believed that nature has the power to heal and it has it's way of teaching us the way of life. So probably when my kids become older, I can be very open to let them experience wilderness camps and give them an experience that I'm sure is worth remembering. I would want them to develop survival skills and establish their own capabilities as a person through these programs. Thank you for sharing!
We are so very glad that you see the value of what we are doing here at Frosty Pines! We appreciate your positive review and apologize for the delayed response to your comment. We believe that if we guide children through nature mentoring them along the way with encouragement that we will help them face the edge of possibility as they know it and and then reach confidently beyond that point to find their true potential. Watching children grow and learn life skills along the way is truly a reward all in itself, for they are the true teachers.