Talk:Nature deficit disorder

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funny, the subject of kids not playing outside in nature comes up all the time where i work. I live in a small city (30,000)in central British Columbia. Access to nature is easy here, we are surrounded by forests, wetlands, riparian systems on major and minor rivers. There exists, near the centre of town, many small, wild areas that kids could access. I spend a great deal of time near the Fraser River with my kids in the non-winter months, mostly because it is both free and fun! We make forts, and the kids play endless imagination games.

The area on the river we go to is a five minute bike ride from our house. Other than the couple of weeks when the river is in flood, it has cobbly beaches near the river, sandy areas, frequently flooded areas with small cottonwood and willow, then the less frequently flooded areas with mature cottonwood forest. It's all great fun, and what really amazes me is how, in a town of 30,000, practically no one uses it! You can spend all day there in summer and not see another soul.

I ask myself, "where are the kids, the teenagers, the forts?" And like an old gheezer, I find myself saying, "when I was a boy...", because, indeed, as children we seemed to do nothing BUT play in nature. We built endless forts, salvaging and dragging tons of old lumber from one place to another, building trails, finding special places to keep secret from rivals.

It seems like we hardly saw our parents! were they negligent to leave us like that? I can't remember having any serious injuries. Sometimes we'd pack up and stay out for several nights. In winter we'd camp in puptents in Garibaldi Park, climb 8000ft mountains and endure harsh storms and terrain. We'd climb with skinny X-country skis, using 100m "avalanche cords" to mark where to find our bodies in the event of an avalanche. We were careful, without the serious, organized sort of training available today. We had a mantra of food, raingear, hat, sunglasses, water, compass etc., and never left without them on a serious hike.

I believe that this "nature deficit disorder" will seriously impact society, and in ways that we just never foresaw. My own kids love to get outside and play, but they appear to be the exception.