The 'awe-factor' and nature
As my son gets older I find myself making mental notes of things I don't want to forget. Now that he's five ("and a half" - he would add) he's figured out his world on a basic level. He's not surprised by technology; he simply expects the television, computer and wii to work as it's supposed to. I catch his moments of awe slightly diminishing as he figures things out.
One of my favorite memories is of waking up in the morning when he was two-years-old. I would open my eyes and he would be standing next to my bed in complete silence, just his nose and eyes peeking up over the bed at me. When he saw I was awake he would explode in delight. His eyes would widen and then narrow into slits of joy as his smile pushed up his cheeks. Sometimes he would whisper a happy "mommy" as if he suddenly recognized me at that moment when my eyes opened to the new day.
There's nothing like the expression of joy and wonder on the face of a child.
Now I see those big blue eyes widen when he searches to find the queen amongst the bees at the Cape Girardeau Nature Center and when he carefully runs two fingers over the back of one of the center's snakes. His favorite is the two headed snake at the center, but he also likes the yellow-bellied water snake because it's larger and feels like a rubbery bicycle tire.
My boy is a high energy child. He will jump up from his seat and pump his arms like little wings simply because he has to release some energy before he can again focus on the task ahead of him. All children benefit from contact with nature, but high energy children like Liam especially need the benefits of their natural world.
This was the motivation behind Richard Louv's book "Last Child in the Woods", which was written with the intent to help connect children with nature. Louv has spurred teachers, parents, health professionals, and others to push for more opportunities for children to play in natural settings. Louv reports on studies that find children who have too little contact with nature have a greater risk of developing obesity, depression, anti-social behavior, lack of empathy, and lower language and imaginative skills. According to www.4children.org, studies also show:
While it's socially and educationally important to provide children with opportunities to experience man-made technology, such as computers, research adequately demonstrates that compromises must be made before children loose their connection to their natural world and the benefits that come with it.
The "awe-factor" is all I need to see on my little guy's face when we go to the nature center or go outside to look for bugs to know he's building a web of connections to nature as we explore everyday activities and how they're related to nature.
He's especially inspired by Spiderman. Luckily for me, Spiderman has a straight-forward connection to nature, even though he's a fictional character. We can look at real spiders and observe their characteristics, while appreciating the fantasy of fiction. Then on a cold day, when we would rather stay inside, we can talk about spiders and how they build webs after he plays a Spiderman video game or watches the cartoon.
These lessons in nature are providing more moments of awe and wonder for both of us as well as more memories for the scrapbook as he grows.
Connecting your kids to nature
· Put up a bird feeder for the winter and keep track of your visitors.
· Collect leaves, pine cones or other items from your yard and make a natural centerpiece for your holiday table.
· In a stressful moment with your child, relocate to the backyard. You'll be surprised at how the natural setting in your own yard can help calm a distressed child (and you).
· Pick up leaves, compile a collection and learn to identify the trees they came from.
For more ideas on how to connect with nature, call the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center at 573-290-5218.
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