Comments on: Geeks In the Woods http://greencouple.com/2008/06/26/geeks-in-the-woods/ Learning to live green and live together Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:21:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Maggie http://greencouple.com/2008/06/26/geeks-in-the-woods/comment-page-1/#comment-1403 Maggie Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:29:12 +0000 http://greencouple.com/?p=255#comment-1403 One of the other interesting things that Richard Louv said was that kids are losing their ability to self-regulate. He believes it's at least partly due to the fact that they are supervised so much and kept in highly regulated spaces where they don't get a chance to experiment. Children need to be allowed to run too fast and fall down so they learn not to run so fast, even if they also experience bruised knees. They also need to learn how to calm themselves down without having an adult force them to. Interesting stuff. I do think it's a challenge to find ways to give kids extra freedom while still feeling that they are safe. I ran around like a wild child and turned out fine but I'm not sure I'll feel comfortable letting my own kids do the same. But I'll try. One of the other interesting things that Richard Louv said was that kids are losing their ability to self-regulate. He believes it’s at least partly due to the fact that they are supervised so much and kept in highly regulated spaces where they don’t get a chance to experiment. Children need to be allowed to run too fast and fall down so they learn not to run so fast, even if they also experience bruised knees. They also need to learn how to calm themselves down without having an adult force them to.

Interesting stuff. I do think it’s a challenge to find ways to give kids extra freedom while still feeling that they are safe. I ran around like a wild child and turned out fine but I’m not sure I’ll feel comfortable letting my own kids do the same. But I’ll try.

]]> By: Gini http://greencouple.com/2008/06/26/geeks-in-the-woods/comment-page-1/#comment-1374 Gini Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:09:51 +0000 http://greencouple.com/?p=255#comment-1374 It's my experience that most young children (under 6 years old) are naturally drawn to nature study-- especially bugs and worms! Given the opportunity, they are eager to turn over logs and dig in the dirt to see what they can find. Fostering this affinity to nature is the first step in developing awareness of our place in the natural world. David Sobel wrote a book, Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education (cited by Louv), in which he talks about the importance of establishing empathy first, then engaging children in exploration, and finally addressing social action. He relates these stages to stages in children's development-- developing empathy in early childhood (4-7 years old), exploration in middle childhood (8-11 years old) and addressing social action in early adolescence (12-15 years old). These stages correlate with the size of a child's world and the ability to abstract. I see a lot of anxious kids under the age of 6, and if we begin by intoducing them to problems, they may just become more anxious or even despondent about the world they live in. The world becomes too big, too soon for them. As my school embarks more seriously in environmental education, I am trying to focus attention on that first stage-- trips to Yellowstone are terrific, but unless we foster empathy and connectedness in our own backyards, nature will always be something 'out there', to be visited on holiday, rather than something we are immersed in and have an impact on all the time. There are important issues of developing comfort and independence, too. I believe Will has fond memories of being dropped off near the woods in order to walk part of the way to school even though I was driving there anyway. Manufactured experiences are better than no experiences at all, and if a child is always closely supervised, how does a sense of ones own capacities develop? It’s my experience that most young children (under 6 years old) are naturally drawn to nature study– especially bugs and worms! Given the opportunity, they are eager to turn over logs and dig in the dirt to see what they can find. Fostering this affinity to nature is the first step in developing awareness of our place in the natural world. David Sobel wrote a book, Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education (cited by Louv), in which he talks about the importance of establishing empathy first, then engaging children in exploration, and finally addressing social action. He relates these stages to stages in children’s development– developing empathy in early childhood (4-7 years old), exploration in middle childhood (8-11 years old) and addressing social action in early adolescence (12-15 years old). These stages correlate with the size of a child’s world and the ability to abstract.

I see a lot of anxious kids under the age of 6, and if we begin by intoducing them to problems, they may just become more anxious or even despondent about the world they live in. The world becomes too big, too soon for them. As my school embarks more seriously in environmental education, I am trying to focus attention on that first stage– trips to Yellowstone are terrific, but unless we foster empathy and connectedness in our own backyards, nature will always be something ‘out there’, to be visited on holiday, rather than something we are immersed in and have an impact on all the time.

There are important issues of developing comfort and independence, too.
I believe Will has fond memories of being dropped off near the woods in order to walk part of the way to school even though I was driving there anyway. Manufactured experiences are better than no experiences at all, and if a child is always closely supervised, how does a sense of ones own capacities develop?

]]>