Raising Wild Children

How can you recognize a wild child? Is he sitting on the couch playing computer games or bending over a parent’s smart phone? No. 

What Do You Smell?

Wild children are outside, exercising, playing, and discovering the wonders of nature.
  Discouraging research suggests that the average North American child spends about seven hours a day watching screens while only seven minutes playing outside!  In his new book, “How To Raise a Wild Child”, Scott Sampson, chief curator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, suggests that the present-day disconnect from nature, which is becoming so apparent, points to “one of the greatest and most overlooked crises or our time”.
   How can we counteract this disturbing trend towards virtual reality and pretend people who live in a cartoon world?  With permission from Dr. Sampson and Claudia Carbone, author of a nature article published in “Colorado Parent” magazine, the following are ways to foster “wild children”, kids who share deep connections with nature and real people.
  Sampson writes, “Nothing will spark a child’s interest in nature more than his or her parent’s own passion for the natural world.”  Here’s how to do it.
Notice Nature
 

What Do You Hear?

  Nature is all around us.  Find a place where you and your children can sit for a few minutes day after day and season after season to open your senses and deepen your nature connection.
This is an activity easily done by kids of all ages.  Be immersed in the environment. What do you see? What is changing?  What do you hear?
Engage Children
  Connect and engage with nature through walks, exploring various ecosystems, puddles, mud, streams, gardens, and climbing around or making collections of natural materials.  Talk together as you explore.

Where Can You Walk?

Wonder with Children
   Ignite the senses and get kids wondering about all sorts of things.  Tell stories and share your experiences.  Decide to research some things together that you wonder about.  Find books about nature at the children’s library or bookstore and read them together.   You will be building background knowledge and vocabulary at the same time.  Dr. Sampson writes:  “Technology has created a gaping chasm between children and nature. 

What Do You Wonder?

Immersion in wilderness not only awakens the senses and provokes deep thoughts and feelings, it also often leads to transcendent experiences that deepen the bond with nature.”
   Parents and other caregivers can help close the gap between nature and technology by mentoring our children. There are many easy and inexpensive experiences in nature that can be fun for kids and adults alike. Start today to raise a wild child!  “How To Raise a Wild Child” by Dr. Scott Sampson, is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and available soon at bookstores.
Photos, Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest