By Lyndi Toohill
While the upcoming school year will be very different, I think there may be some interesting opportunities. Hear me out. In March I was amazed at how many people were on the recreation path, floored by how many families were in our neighborhood riding bikes that had been hanging in the garage for years. We know time spent outdoors lowers our stress levels but yet our busy lives often get in the way of getting our “Vitamin N(ature).”
Stopping to smell the roses at Sinnissippi Rose Garden)
Based on the heavy use on the stretch of recreation path at the conservatory and at other local parks and forest preserves, people are finding solace in nature like never before. Have you found yourself looking at the world and your time a little differently? Have you noticed it in your children?
My son, who is 4 ½, takes after me in his love of being outside, no matter the weather. Since March 13 we spend even more time outdoors – exploring our neighborhood park, hiking and kayaking at local forest preserves, and digging a variety of holes in the backyard garden (dog holes, construction holes, even a hole rumored to go the center of the earth).
At times I wondered, as many parents did, “should I print some worksheets or something?” “Should I construct an elaborate Pinterest set up for his development?” But as always, my son teaches me that he doesn’t need (or want) any of that to learn. As a preschooler who was only beginning to learn to write his name before school shut down, he wanted to write his name in the sand by the river on our quarantine morning walks. Now months later, he is writing his name everywhere – in the dirt, on the sidewalk, on every piece of paper in our house. I never once forced it on him. It is fun to write and draw in the sand, so he practiced… a lot! This isn’t the only way he is learning his “traditional” skills while in nature. This summer he counts the same way – collecting rocks, counting butterflies, seeing how many peas are in each pea pod… all with just occasional questions or queries from me.
Learning outside has enormous physical benefits for children. We all know “fresh air” is good but it goes beyond that. Studies show benefits to children’s physical development and calculated risk-taking skills when they climb trees. Climbing a tree combines physical balance, agility and strength, with cognitive calculations: which branches look sturdy and are within reach. All the while children are making decisions utilizing their own risk-assessment.
So as all of us parents and grandparents are trying to figure out what the heck to do with our kids this fall, I have found myself many times recommending one of my favorite books, “How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature,” by Scott D. Sampson. Let your kids, and yourselves, get a little feral this year. Take your time in the woods, in a prairie, in your neighborhood park. Beyond the benefits to kids, I am always surprised at how much more calm I am as a parent when I’m with my son outside, letting him get muddy, climb trees, and pretend to be a “forest dog.” Nature is good for stressed out adults too! Let go (…and bring a change of clothes)!
Sampson’s book starts with the “CliffNotes” version of the work done by Richard Louv, author of “Last Child in the Woods,” espousing the huge benefit of getting kids outside into nature. The “meat” of the book Sampson, who is a paleontologist, science communicator, and parent, breaks down how to be a nature mentor for your child. (Hint: you definitely don’t have to know all of the plants and animals you see. In fact, if you knew everything it would be pretty boring for your child!) Your role as nature mentor is to ask the right questions about what your child is seeing or experiencing. I’ll let you in on a secret from the inside… our education staffers at NCG don’t know all of the plants and animals in the gardens (gasp!) But we do know how to ask the right questions, with the ultimate goal to inspire wonder and curiosity. To us, fostering wonder and curiosity of nature is a more worthwhile endeavor than having kids memorizing names of plants and animals.
“How to Raise a Wild Child” breaks down different approaches to nature mentoring based on the child’s age. The way we engage with nature changes. As young children we are naturals at nature – it’s in our blood. We want to climb everything, make mud soup and imagine digging a hole to the center of the earth. In our middle childhood, we start to want a space of our own. Maybe you can remember your childhood outdoor space. Mine was the annual fall cornstalk teepee my dad built for me. I would sit for hours and listen to my Pocahontas soundtrack cassette tape and pretend I had the magic power to heal trees. In our adolescent years, the power of “doing something big” is big – whether that is staging a cleanup of a local waterway, learning to snowboard, or maybe even becoming a nature mentor for a younger child.
Frog encounter at Martin Park
Luckily we don’t have to book an RV and plan an elaborate trip to Yosemite to experience nature with our kids. As adults we forget that nature can be found in the cracks of a sidewalk, your backyard or your neighborhood. In Winnebago County we are amazingly fortunate to have 1,561 acres in Rockford Park District neighborhood parks, 10,500 acres in Winnebago County Forest Preserves and 3,092 acres in Rock Cut State Park. That’s over 15,000 acres available us to explore just within our county! It may feel mundane for adults to stick close to home, but in the words of Walt Streightiff, “There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million.” To a child, Rock Cut State Park might as well be Yosemite.
If time is what we’ve always needed to get outside, many of us seem to have found ourselves with more time now that our 2020 fridge calendars are void of footballs games, dance recitals, and eating out. Time spent in nature is valuable, memorable and critical to children’s physical development, problem solving, creativity, and more! You might find your child looking up videos on hydrology after visiting Blackhawk Springs, pretending to be an owl after hearing one at Atwood Park, or intently watching the intriguing life of ants play out in a sidewalk crack. Join me in filling up your calendar with more nature this year. Our kids may just remember 2020 not as a year of anxiety but may look back on this being a formative and fun year in nature!
If this school year finds your family spending more time at home or if you are looking for ways to engage with nature, I would encourage you to read, “How to Raise a Wild Child.” It is available for purchase at a variety of places online and is listed in the catalogs of many of our local libraries.
For families with small children, join us at Nicholas Conservatory every Friday, 10-10:45am for a FREE Family Garden Hike! Our goal with this new program is to offer opportunities for young children (ages 3-6) and their caregivers to experience the gardens with the kind of curiosity and wonder that comes so naturally to little ones. Space is limited and pre-registration is required! Masks are required. This program is made possible by the Nicholas Family Foundation.