Friday Nudge: Take the Kids Outside
A call to action that will bring joy to kids and adults alike
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My kids love canoe camping; they were at me for weeks before we left in early August, wanting to know when we were going, what we could bring, how many nights we’d be gone, and if could they bring fishing rods. While I have a hard time getting them off their screens at home during the summer, one of the things that they have told me is that they enjoy the time away from the TV and computers!
This year’s excursion was no different. While my youngest found the long trips in the canoe a bit much, all three were thrilled to explore the campsite, the forest it was nestled in, and the water’s edge on Grand Lake. The wonder they expressed at each of the distinct mushrooms that popped up overnight, and their joy at witnessing a red-tailed hawk soaring over the Barron Canyon, magnified my own wonder and joy, too.
I was reminded about the fact that we need to be outside of our houses, away from our screens and other features of contemporary life, in order to be reminded of and experience the wildness of the Earth community. If you are like me, you have experiences of what it was like when you were a child, playing in the bush or on a vacant lot down the street, where animals and birds, butterflies and slugs, trees, water and wind, would be your companions. If you are like me, you had a childhood that included encounters with wild others, whether in the country or the city.
Today, however, fewer and fewer children are getting outside to experience the natural world that we are a part of. Richard Louv documents the need for children to have direct exposure to the natural world for their own physical and emotional growth in his book Last Child in the Woods.
However, such encounters, such immersion into the world beyond our human reality, are vital for children’s spiritual health, and for their ability to fall in love with the Earth community. Without such spiritual health and love, they will not be able to build the resilience, strength, and drive to take climate action. Without such spiritual health and love, they will not be able to build the resources within the community to support and hold each other up as the climate crisis worsens and humanity’s fate lies in the balance.
Call to Action: Get Kids Outside
So, today’s call to action is to invite you to get kids outside (and get out there with them!) Whether it’s your own children, your grandchildren, or the children of your friends, I encourage you to take them outside. Go for a hike, paddle, swim, or play along the water’s edge. It can be in the city; even better if you can get out of the city for a little while. Make it a screen-free time, for all of you. That is critical.
You can create a kind of scavenger hunt: Make a game where each of you looks for certain things: a red leaf; a caterpillar; a bug under a rock; a mushroom; or different coloured stones at the water’s edge. Leave no trash, only footprints. Take with you beautiful memories, and make a commitment to return, and to explore other wild places, again and again with the same children, and with others. Allow the children to fall in love with the Earth community around them, and allow yourself to, as well.
Taking the kids outside can be discipleship for climate action!
Have you had a recent experience in the natural world with kids? What was it like for them, and what was it like for you?
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