Last Child in the Woods

I've been reading (or rather skimming in most cases) quite a few parenting type books lately. I think it helps me to not feel guilty for not reading for research - not really possible right now since 98% of my time is devoted to the house or baby - while still reading SOMETHING constructive. And I keep thinking that I should be documenting some of these thoughts. So here it goes.

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder

I picked up this book because Justin and I are trying to think through how we are going to raise Martin with a healthy respect for the natural environment. Let's face it... we are urban folk. We are never going to live on an acre in a small town that allows for Martin to build a fort in the backyard tree. (Well, at least I hope that the tenure track job one of us will hopefully get will not be in a place where that is the best housing option.) We like apartment/multi-family living. We like short commutes. So, how are we going to help Martin learn about nature while purposely living in the urban jungle?

This book is on all the lists of must reads on the general subject of teaching children to respect mother earth. I can see why. It throughly documents in a readable way how changing urban design+fear+increase in technological play+decrease in free play+other things I've forgotten already has lead to a decrease in most kids' (and frankly my generations') interaction with the environment. It also plainly explains why this is not only bad for the environment, but bad for a child's development. If you need help thinking through your position on this, it is a good and easy read.

I'm a little disappointed in the book because I was looking for a few more practical ideas - something that is only the last 5th of the book, and even then, in a very general way. (Although it looks like the newest version I linked to might have more on this... I just have an older version from the library.) I kind of feel that I intuitively know that kids having enough environmental interaction is an issue. Furthermore, perhaps because of my urban work or living in PDX, the urban design and fear issues aren't really a new concept for me. (The childhood development stuff more so... but still, it was mostly affirmative to my gut feeling.)

But I need IDEAS. How is the rubber going to meet the road? (Or not meet the road as most of us are trying to figure out these days.)

The good news is that we are doing a lot of things right. We severely limit TV time (only recently introduced to learn signing). We go on lots of walks... urban walks, but walks. We encourage Martin to touch flowers, leaves, dirt, etc. And pre baby, we spent a lot of our leisure time interacting with nature. Hell, I hauled his 20 week fetus and its swimming pool on more than one walk along the ocean or major hike in Glacier National Park.

What we could do more of (or some of my goals for the next year):

• Park time. Even when it is raining. At least 3 times a week. We live near (less than a mile) of two great parks. One is even pretty undeveloped. We need to be taking advantage
• Get to the ocean at least 2 times at the end of this summer and at least twice next spring
• The ocean is so important to Justin - I love it as well - that we redline (just short of literally) the country to be within 2 hours of the ocean when discussing jobs. We need to be taking advantage of the fact that there is beautiful, undeveloped ocean less than 90 minutes from our home in PDX
• Have at least one nature oriented craft activity per week
• Take advantage of the MANY farmers markets in PDX
• Plant a window box of herbs to show Martin how things grow next spring
• Get a bike seat and helmet for Martin so we can go on family bike rides on some of the great trails in PDX
• Go camping at least twice in the next year in OR

Some of the bigger things this book brought up, though not all directly, that we need to think about:

• Our position on hunting and/or fishing with Martin and if we decide we want to expose him to it, how.
• How we are going to deal with Scouts... Scouts can be a great way to learn to respect the environment and community, but not all troops are created equal. LDS troops in particular can often be disorganized leaving less time to emphasize nature. (Plus we aren't thrilled with some of the more political messages in BSA.) We have a good friend in our Ohio ward that combats this by enrolling his kid in the community troop. But do I love BSA that much to do that? Hmmm... at least we can put this one on the back burner for a while.
• Think through/find more reading about balancing free time/play with structured activities.