Nature Deficit Disorder

        By: Christine Gordon, B.A. Psychology

Can you remember the most enjoyable, meaningful and peaceful times of your childhood? What did they involve? Playing soccer, having your friends over for birthday parties, or was it when you had all the time you wanted to just explore and discover the world around you?  When you were just able to be yourself, and interact with bugs, and frogs and tiny little ecosystems that nobody else even knew existed?  Whether alone, or with a friend, unstructured playtime in nature has probably the highest impact on our mental, spiritual and physical growth.  "Last Child in the Woods" is a groundbreaking new book written by Richard Louv which describes the impact on children who are deprived of nature.  He coins a new term called "Nature Deficit Disorder".  Not a term made up by medical professionals, but a practical term he uses from years of research and observation of children who don't get to experience nature first hand.

Today's society is fast paced and competitive, hyper-focused on instant gratification. Patience and time to reflect are scarce commodities; therefore we tend to be very highly organized and over-scheduled. Children who are raised in this environment lose their ability to enjoy their downtime and just 'stop and smell the roses'.  Kids today are pushed into hours of programmed extracurricular activities like soccer, piano, karate, and swimming in an effort to create well rounded 'super children'.  Not that these activities are bad for growth and development, but they don't allow children to develop practical life skills to figure things out for themselves and thrive in an unstructured world. Studies have shown that if you turn a group of kids loose in a manicured playground, they will likely congregate in a ditch or on an old fallen log at the edge of the park, so that they can use the landscape to discover new things, and exercise their own imagination.

The benefits of allowing children free time to play in nature is tremendous:

•  Nature allows children to improve their cognitive skills,
   imagination and creative thinking.

•  Social skills are strengthened & children cultivate better
   friendships.

•  Children develop strength and agility by playing & interacting
   in nature's playground.

•  They get to learn by trial and error without criticism, which
   improves their self-confidence.

•  Children come to appreciate the quieting of Nature and inner
   peace.

•  Overall psychological resilience has often been a by-product
   of children who play outdoors on a regular basis.

Psychological resilience is extremely important in this day and age. It is crucial to nurture healthy minds to offset the pressures that children have in their lives, and to alleviate the many psychological disorders diagnosed in young people. Studies show that thoughts produce new neuroconnections in the brain.  A child raised in a fast-paced environment is more prone to mental health disorders such as stress, anxiety and depression.   Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common mental health problems in our school systems today.  Increasingly, parents and doctors are relying on medications to help children focus and filter extraneous 'noise' in their minds.  'Down time' is not like it used to be. Children are plugged into TVs, iPods, the Internet, cell phones, video games, texting...the list is endless. Children are losing the ability to sit quietly and listen to themselves, enjoy the world around them.  A natural environment has been shown to have a significant positive impact on children coping with ADHD. They become engaged, and they begin to relax and enjoy learning in a natural, self-taught and unstructured way.

Despite Canada's international reputation for being the epitome of wilderness, most Canadian children never actually experience the wild spaces around them. They're much more likely to be spending their time racking up virtual knowledge from electronic sources. So, while pond owner's kids are splashing after frogs and watching plants bloom this spring, most Canadian youngsters will be sitting in front of computer screens merely reading about the natural reality that lies just outside their front door. That's unfortunate, because they're missing out on a lot - including improved physical, psychological, social and spiritual development. So here's a prescription from The Pond Clinic this season. Do right by your children and join them for a walk in the forest, sit together by your pond, or encourage them to help out in your garden - then watch their imaginations go wild!