The Children & Nature Movement

hi my name is Janice and if you know me you know I'm really committed to connecting all children and families to Nature because I believe we're really facing a crisis just a couple of generations ago nature was an integral part of daily life now we've chipped away at that so much that the fact that kids spend 90% of their time indoors seems normal in our busy technology-driven and overscheduled lives for so many people there doesn't seem to be any time for nature somehow our society has lost sight of its value to our lives despite the growing body of research and plain common sense that tells us of the importance of Nature and unstructured play to the healthy development of our children we're not getting our kids outdoors this may be particularly true for children in urban areas and underserved communities why should we care here's some sobering statistics kids these days are spending well over 50 hours a week plugged into some sort of electronic media and 90% of their time indoors the rates of childhood obesity and being severely overweight has increased from 4% in the 60s to about 20% today preschoolers are the fastest growing market for anti-depressants but there is hope the children in nature network is championing a worldwide movement to reconnect children families and communities to the natural world for their health and for the health of our planet through campaigns around the world we're mobilizing people just like you to organize and create change for example our natural teachers Network provides support for teachers and Educators to put nature back on the academic calendar our natural leaders network is empowering a worldwide youth movement to engage communities and the next generation of outdoor leaders our natural families Network promotes family nature clubs which break down some of the most common barriers to getting out in nature they help get nature back on the calendar and share places to go they provide safety and numbers perhaps most of all family nature clubs are fun for everyone and provide a central bonding time for parents grandparents children and Friends knitting together communities that have begun to disintegrate in the modern world see for yourself as you hear from a few members of a family nature Club here in San Diego hi my name is Pauline Jimenez and this is my mom Carmen Jimenez I have two little boys uh one is Xavier and he is 6 years old and my other son is Eli and he is two Xavier and Eli really enjoy the nature club and just all the activities we do they like the things we find along the way interesting bugs and climbing the trees I'd love to see them run free and I learn about nature about animals and uh just enjoy it I grew up in nature myself when they're outside versus inside I think it's just that kind of sense of Freedom you know there's not as many rules you can just kind of be and just connect and run around and be loud and don't have to worry about inside voice and all that kind of stuff I'm Christa I have a 9-year-old son Kellen I'm a single mom so before we joined the nature club we always had to go areas where there were a lot of people and I definitely kept a really close eye on my son so since joining the nature club we are now provided with the opportunity to um go off the beaten path a little bit I mean Kellen has bonded with his friends in the nature Club he's identifying birds and plants and and it's just it's not even um like a big deal it's just a part of our everyday now and um and it makes me really happy so my name is Joe Robbins and I've been with uh Family Adventures in nature for about 3 years now and I feel that the Family Adventures in nature provides me with a support network and especially as a single dad often there's a little more of a cognitive effort that's required to push me to a nature event or a nature outing that sort of a framework already exists with Family Adventures in nature and makes it so much easier for me especially to connect with people who are of a similar mindset and who sees the value of uh of Nature and as being part of a a human being growing up Jonathan flits uh back and forth between uh being the perfect modern American child perfectly comfortable with his machine uh and games uh and being outside what I do see is a slow sort of appreciation he sees other kids uh being out in nature so now he's growing comfortable and he's beginning to enjoy it I see a sort of a transition he has not reached a point where I felt like it was like me back home but I I see that uh the trajectory to which uh he's going so that is something that I do see I'm Amanda bisac I have a little boy with albanism and autism and I run a local nature Group in San Diego when you have a child with special needs you often times have medical concerns you have therapies upon therapies that you have to go to you are scheduled all day long and you can get therapy fatigue but getting Outdoors getting a couple hours on a trail uh with some friends it seems to reset him and we go home in a better better attitude able to transition to bed better it gets rid of some of that energy that gets cooped up more on you it's blun Adam pushes himself to do things he wouldn't normally do here some of those vegetables for you vegetables for me thank you right here I see him build confidence and become a enthusiastic happy little boy when we get out with our friends seeing what a peer does and following their lead and trying things that he would never try before I am the children of nature movement I am the children and nature movement I am the children in nature movement I am the children in nature and movement so are [Music] you [Music]