Blink of an Eye: Nature Calls

The cold winter days keep us indoors most of the time, but after awhile we feel the need to get out and get some fresh air. Whenever we give the kids the option of where to go, they almost always shout out, "Nature walk! Nature walk!" This is great because there are so many amazing places in this general area to enjoy a romp in nature. Kurt and I also enjoy getting out in nature (vs. being indoors, at say, a shopping mall) and find that being outside instantly calms us all down and shakes away the winter blues and general crankiness that tends to seep out when we're cooped up inside.

Robert Louv addresses the importance of nature in our children's lives in his bestselling book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. I'm probably one of the last moms I know not to have read it yet, and it is definitely on my must-read list for 2011. Among other things, Louv writes about how today's kids are increasingly disconnected from the natural world. At this point in my kids' (young) lives, they naturally gravitate toward the natural world. Now this is not to say that they don't enjoy lounging on the couch with cartoons or sitting on dad's lap as he watches a YouTube video. But collecting rocks, throwing stones into a stream, crunching on leaves, splashing in puddles, throwing snowballs, walking on a tree-shaded path, examining a wooly bear, plucking juicy strawberries from the vine--this is pure joy, heaven on earth for them. This is one thing I hope will never change.