Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder

Last Child in the Woods is a very good book about social trends over the past couple of decades- trends that are taking children away from the great outdoors and back inside where electronic games, cell phones, televisions, and similar types of entertainment consume almost all of their time and attention. The book's intent is to illustrate the negative impacts of too little time spent in nature and what parents and even localities can do to get more nature in kids' lives and make inner cities more accommodating to natural activities. I'm not much of an outdoorsman, but I agree that exposure to natural settings is a positive experience for countless reasons. When you spend your time working and living in a city, an excursion into the countryside is good because it helps relieve stress, offers some fresh air, exposes you to wildlife, etc. and I would probably partake in these activities more often if my schedule permitted. Last Child in the Woods stresses that parents need to find a way make time, for the sake of their kids and themselves. The benefits from hiking, camping, and otherwise re-connecting with the outdoors are immeasurable and they apply to adults and kids alike. Most of Last Child in the Woods is dedicated to children and what needs to be done to help reverse the trends of the past thirty years and get kids to put down their cell phones, remote controls, and joysticks in favor of some time spent exploring a park, forest, or other natural setting. The consequences of too much time indoors include some obvious and not- so- obvious outcomes. The inactivity is part of the reason that child obesity is such a serious and growing problem. Too much time inside also leads to boredom and a reduction of creative and problem- solving skills. But as this book points out, the negative results extend into areas that many would not have even considered. One example is the growing problem with ADHD. Studies have shown that ADHD diagnosis is lessened with more exposure to natural settings and this trend toward less outdoor activity could be part of the reason that ADHD is more common today than in the past. Besides the emphasis on children and improving their outdoor IQ, this book is also about change on other levels. It talks about the role of cities in making the move toward a more nature- friendly urban and suburban setting. It talks about the movements in some large cities to establish more green space; construct buildings with green rooftops; plant more trees; and increase environmental education at the elementary and high school levels. These specialty schools are a great idea for the education they provide, but as the book points out, any school can take a step in the right direction by utilizing the outdoors as part of the educational process. Any school can talk about outdoors and even hold some of the classes in an outdoor setting. It can work wonders for children and can pay handsome dividends in the future. Last Child in the Woods is a thoughtful book with much to offer. Not only does the author make many good points about nature and its importance to children, he even includes several supplemental sections that offer good recommendations and advice. There is a section with 100 actions we can take to improve the recent trends; good books for kids and families; suggestions to transform communities; etc. The author really went beyond the call of duty with these extras. The main part of the book is already very good, but now you get all of this extra guidance and assistance. Anyone who is not sure where to start can benefit tremendously from reading these extra sections. The trend away from outdoor recreation has been going on for decades and while many may not think about a subject like this, it is certainly one that deserves our time and consideration. Today's children are far less inclined to spend time outdoors than their parents and grandparents and this lack of interaction with the natural world can have dire consequences. Everyone could benefit from more time outside and while this book could have benefitted from more official studies to back its claims and findings, it is still a very good, useful, thoughtful book that everyone should take the time to read.

When I was growing up in Boise Idaho, I thought nothing of spending an afternoon away from my parents fishing ponds along the Boise River. As I graduated to fly fishing, I spent time on the river itself. Closer to home, the canal which ran below South Federal Way offered a miniature green belt where my friends and I built forts and rode bikes. Urban as Boise was, even then, this tiny greenbelt was still sufficiently wild that I would occasionally find a porcupine in our front yard. Our cats were fairly adept at finding quail (and bringing their still quivering bodies to us) and in general I found it easy to retreat to a relatively tame and yet exciting out of doors. Children today have no such privileges. Indeed, as Richard Louv points out, they are literally suffering from nature deficit disorder and its effects are far more pervasive than most of us would be willing to acknowledge. Increasing urbanization is part of the problem, but only a small part. A larger portion of the blame lies with the unintentional effects of our best intentions: legislation and regulations to protect and educate children. Louv's hypothesis, in brief, is that we have entered a third frontier. Following the argument of America's first great historian, Frederick Jackson Turner, Louv suggests that America's frontier did indeed close in the 1890s, but it was replaced almost immediately by a second great frontier: life on farms, institutions such as scouting, and outdoor activities were, he argues, commonplace until the 1980s. But, just as Turner's thesis begins with the 1890 census, Louv finds the 1990 census an equally useful demarcation point, for beginning with this census, separate farm records are no longer kept, due to the decline in the rural population. A decline (and aging of) people involved in outdoor recreation also dates from about this time. And what of the new generation of children? Louv quotes from many of them, but the most revealing is a 5th grade boy who says he prefers to play indoors, because that is where the electrical outlets are.... Children simply do not spend the quality time they once did out of doors. And there are many consequences to this change. Citing several lines of research, Louv links his "nature-deficit disorder" to ADHD, depression, childhood obesity, gang problems, recovery from illness, and even underperformance in school. Taken individually, the research supporting any one of these claims seems fairly minimal: I suspect many researchers do not even recognize the problem. After all, it was years after Howard Gardner developed his multiple intelligence theory that it even occurred to him that there was a "naturalist" intelligence and many in academe are even more oblivious to considering research along these lines. However, taken as a whole Louv has presented a powerful case that the new world of gameboys, TV, cell phones, IPods and Internet has some unintended consequences that are not beneficial. Instinctively, most parents know this. Many say they try to limit TV time and encourage children to play outside, but as Louv demonstrates, we as a society don't really mean what we say and our children are very aware of that. Outside activity is becoming increasingly restricted these days, and not just by development. "Environmental Activists," whom one might think would want promote outdoor activities are busy restricting it. Flying kites on the beach, after all, might scare snowy plovers (an endangered bird that nests on California beaches). Tree houses harm trees! So does climbing them. And God forbid you should build a fort, bicycle on a single track use trail, or any of a whole host of other activities. PETA activists, always on the cutting edge of extremism, have actively campaigned against hunting and fishing, especially among the young, and yet these are precisely the sort of activities that many first experience nature with. When I grew up, hunting was so common that all boys and girls had mandatory hunter safety in 7th grade PE. Today, we read stories about Audabon in our state approved readers blissfully unaware that the great naturalist often shot and ate the birds that he painted. As Louv points out, our children are so disconnected from nature that they do not even recognize that it is the source of the food they consume. Environmental activists of course do not share all the blame. Our increasingly litigious society makes it difficult to promote recreation. School field trips, summer camps, and even playing in a "vacant" lot all involve substantial liability and the cost of liability insurance is going up. Louv notes that in California statuatory law does provide some protection for property owners who allow people access to their land for recreation. But the law is narrowly interpreted. A girl's parents sued when she fell off her bike while crossing a private bridge. Biking, the judge explained, was not recreation. {?} Damages from a single such suit can prevent further access. Schools are also to blame, though in this instance the problem lies not so much with local school boards as it does with national legislation, specifically No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Louv recognizes that schools have dramatically cut field trips, recess, and even PE, but he does not explicitly tie this to NCLB. Teachers, however, will tell you that at this point, almost all attention is focused on math and language arts and schools face outright dissolution if they fail to meet the ever increasing demands of this legislation. I personally am fortunate enough to work at a school where the principal found enough value in the "Earth Club" to fund a field trip to our local mountains. But in an age of budget cuts, many other administrators will, understandably, cut such expenditures first. Under NCLB, "enrichment" of children does not enrich a school. Ultimately then Louv suggests we face an increasely bleak future. As a society, we do not value what we cannot name and fewer and fewer children can identify even local animals and plants. But they are alienated, bored, and increasingly, heavily medicated so they can function in our urban society. To avoid the attendant ills which come with our brave new world of an electronic mall culture, we need to create areas of open space, but we also need to let go of these areas and our kids. Rather than stiffle youngsters with regulations and "protections" we need to give them the freedom many of us had as children. This means, ultimately, we must protect our children from our own best intentions.

Thank God for Richard Louv who has written what should be required reading in all high school and college level classes. Last Child in the Woods, Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, is a superb study of an essential yet fading resource, one that we can’t afford to lose. Part science, part self-help and part spiritual advisory, Last Child in the Woods takes a hard look at what separation from the natural world is doing not only to the human psyche, but to our natural intelligence. There are things learned in nature, Louv posits, that cannot be learned anywhere else, not from books, or stories, or even the finest universities. Schools themselves may be partially responsible for our disenfranchisement from nature since the naturalist curriculum has been all but dropped from today’s scholastic regimen. Gone are the terrariums, the aquariums and the mini biospheres. Math and sciences such as microbiology and chemical engineering have taken center stage while naturalists have become the poor second cousins. And yet, where would the world be without naturalists like John Muir or Teddy Roosevelt? Without state and national parks is where had Muir and Roosevelt not had the contact with the natural world they’d both experienced as children. According to Louv, in today’s world we’re “continually on the alert.” As more of the natural world is lost to pavement, the incessant images pouring from our televisions and computers and iPhones have become our constant companions. Louv doesn’t point a single finger, but a dozen. He considers various factors such as suburban sprawl which takes away the number of places a child can find solitude in nature, as well as a hyper-vigilant society that is always worried about where our children are and whether any harm may befall them. The latter is not a bad thing. However, it is significant to note that statistically, our children are in no more danger today than at other times in history. It just seems that way given our 24/7 newsfeed that inundates us with bad news and spares us the good. Other factors: soccer practice vs. a hammer and nails. Louv surmises that while structured play provides exercise it is sorely lacking in the very thing that unstructured play provides to kids: time to breathe and grow and make connections they may not have made because every second of their day is accounted for; time to formulate opinions; time to dream. Kids gravitate to the corners of a playground, Louv says, the tree line, the rock formations, the nooks and crannies, the creeks. A wide open space with nothing but grass is a bore. Kids need less structure and more dimension to spur creativity. For Louv, building a tree fort in his backyard and keeping a turtle that his father had saved from being run over on the highway opened up more synapses in his brain and avenues in his life than winning any soccer game ever could. I’m not dismissing organized sports, simply making a case for a more well-rounded childhood experience. Louv draws on study after study to prove his point and after ten years of research, felt comfortable enough to coin the term “nature deficit disorder.” Neither harbinger of doom nor bell toller, Louv offers positive suggestions about how to begin solving some of these very complex issues -- starting with getting the kids off the couch and back out into the yard -- and paints a beautiful portrait of where, with just a bit of effort, we all could be.

Louv offers a compelling case for why children need to have more interaction with nature. He expands upon all the benefits of children having lots of exploration and play time in nature. These experiences for kids are not only healthy, he argues, but can teach children and adults many things about our natural world. Louv writes from a politically balanced position throughout most of the book. He takes on those who are inhibiting this connection to nature such as homeowner's associations and parents who freak out when their kids get a little muddy, build a tree house or--gasp--wander off into the woods for play time. Two disappointing things about this book: 1) In Chapter 20, Louv writes about a transformation of America's farmland into "Garden Cities." The notions brought up in this chapter have little sense of reality and of all the complexity involved with what this chapter suggests. 2) With all the positives Louv discusses in children's connection with nature, you'd think he'd promote hunting, trapping, and fishing more. But no. Hunting is only mentioned on a couple of pages in the entire work. States all across America are able to, in a large part, maintain and promote conservation of habitat precisely through the purchase of hunting and fishing licenses and gear. I would have thought Louv would have taken a golden opportunity to promote what hunters and anglers give back to conservation as well as the many, many life lessons and lessons about nature learned through hunting and fishing.

A really good book, I kind of had to take it in chunks. Not because it was bad, but because it gave me a lot to think about.

This book appeals to the parent, the educator, the club leader, the community leader, the philosopher, the nature-lover, the urban planner, the financial advisor and just about anyone else who exists on our country. For these people, I absolutely recommend this book. The combination of a very literary narrative and comprehensive research makes Last Child not only a feast for the intellect, but also awakens the reader to take personal responsibility for the broken, and seemingly disappearing relationship between children and nature. The ramifications of this broken relationship are evident: Children today express fear of things natural; they experience a disconnect between their understanding of local natural habitats and the more trendy, distant kind of nature loving, such as protecting the rainforests and saving endangered species across the world; and they are experiencing physical and psycho-social effects of this relatively recent upswing in indoor, climate-controlled children, such as increases in childhood obesity, depression and attention deficit disorders. Louv makes a strong case for getting children outside at home, at school and in communities of all sizes. In the chapter called The Jungle Blackboard, the author proposes changes in the structure of classrooms and suggests putting the force of education to use in a proactive way to rebuild the relationship between children and nature through recognizing the edifying properties of our natural world, and rightfully places some blame on the educational system for being so squeamish about letting kids outside in the past 30 years. But no one leaves this reading unscathed--the culpability starts at home with the family, expands to educational systems, to communities who plan for pavement instead of plants, and continues to the cultural vultures in the media, who fill children and parents with fear of the wide-open spaces because of the chance of vicious creatures, extreme weather and predatory humans. Though this almost global guilt is a major influence in making any reader want to push their kids out into a forest glen and tell them to "run free," Louv carefully crafts this book to offer a broad, uplifting sense that there is still hope if we act today. The book is rich with examples of Montessori and charter schools who have made getting children outdoors their priority, of communities who have targeted new neighborhoods to be rife with accessible green spaces while awakening old urban plots with gardens, and of families who have spent their time outdoors reaping the healthy benefits and looking to share the wealth. Last Child in the Woods leaves no stone unturned when it comes to making the point that nature should be accessible and is necessary for all populations of people, and that is the responsibility of everyone to get outside and reconnect on a physical, mental, social and spiritual level with the planet that is our home. I think the major point of this book is that the nurturing of the child is dependent upon how adults nurture and renew the child's naturally curious, caring and chaotic relationship with the earth.

Needed it for an assignment. This book raises interesting points about the importance of nature in children’s lives. The ideas are thought-provoking and the topic is important. Some sections feel a bit repetitive, but the overall message is still meaningful. Worth reading if have to use it for an assignment for school like I did

When our children come to school nowadays they are less and less familiar with the outdoors, nature, the open sky, wild animals and the quiet. As the percent of children who live in bigger and bigger cities continue to increase, and neighborhoods increasingly have no parks or green space for children to play in, our students are left to pair up with a computer screen for games, movies and chats. Richard Louv has done an enormous amount of quality research to help parents re-orient their family life with their children to include regular opportunities for them to 'run wild', build forts, hike, get to know the names of trees and flowers -away from the noise and asphalt of the city. His ending quote (p316) says it well: We have such a brief opportunity to pass on to our children our love for this Earth, and to tell our stories. These are the moments when the world is made whole. In my children's memories, the adventures we've had together in nature will always exist. These will be their turtle calls." In another quote (p210) an English teacher shares that her students 'didn't feel connected to the place in which they live.' This book has very user-friendly 'Notes from the Field' section for parents and teachers at the end that makes it a terrific research section for a classroom project, or a family and neighborhood action challenge to build real local nature opportunities in any city or neighborhood. Mr. Louv's book is a sensitive reminder to parents and teachers that leaving our children with a computer screen is a recipe for life-long sadness. He reminds us that the quiet of a real nature walk & talk with our children and students often build lasting emotional connection with the beautiful nature Mother Earth surrounds us with.

Excelente libro

迅速なご発送で満足しました。内容はゆっくりよんでいます。深い内容です

A must-read for all parents, teachers, mentors, researchers, educationists, and managers who are committed to ushering a sustainable future on our Planet. Very inspiring.

Es una pena que este libro tan interesante y práctico no esté en castellano. Nos recuerda lo importante que es estar en contacto con la naturaleza, en este mundo cada vez más tecnologico.

This book raises and discusses many issues regarding the closure and enclosure of previously open and available space in many of our neighbourhoods and communities, and how this has a negative effect on our health and wellbeing. It deals mainly with a U.S. scenario, but much of the concerns are applicable, if in less serious form, to my country, Ireland at least, and I am sure to many others too. Adults scold children for 'lounging' around the house and ask them to go outside and play, but where can they do this if not as part of some organised activity or sport? Everywhere they congregate they are accused of loitering and asked to move on. We are developing a de-natured society that is very unhealthy. While many people who stop to consider this situation may have a grasp of this situation, Louv brings a wealth of research and professional thinking together to make a compelling argument for his thesis. An excellent and easily readable book that I would recommend to anyone who is interested in our environment and everyone's,especially children's opportunity to experience it.