by Alicia MacLeay
Do you have outdoor plans for the weekend: hiking, backpacking, camping, skiing, snowshoeing, or climbing perhaps? If so, will any kids come along on your outdoor adventures?
I know that getting just one child dressed for the conditions, equiped with snacks, water, and gear, and out the door, can seem like its own endurance event. Add in another kid and you may wonder if you'll ever get beyond the mudroom.
After you've taken your toddler in and out of the backpack or pulk too many times to count, or your older child has whined, you may wonder if the effort is even worth it.
Well it is. Kids who spend regular time outdoors in nature have higher grades, less depression and hyperactivity, longer attention spans, better social skills, better eyesight, more creativity, stronger connections and respect for nature and others, and longer, healthier life expectancies.
And, as you know, being outdoors is fun, rewarding, even transformative. I know it's worth it when my son says, "I want to take the whole world home with me" while at Acadia or points out a beaver lodge to me. Or this past week when my toddler/co-pilot instructed from the kid carrier, "mommy climb mountain" or yelled "whee!" from the ski pulk on every downhill.
More and more kids aren't experiencing the outdoors though. Here are some worrisome stats, courtesy of the Outdoor Foundation and the National Wildlife Federation:
- In recent years, youth participation in outdoor recreation (even just one outing a year) has fallen every year for boys and girls in every age group.
- From 2006 to 2008, participation for girls ages 6 to 12 dropped from 77 to 58 percent; boys' participation in the same age group fell from 79 to 69 percent.
- The average American child spends almost eight hours a day watching electronic entertainment (TV, computers, video games, etc.). At the same time, kids spend an average of four minutes a day playing outside.
So, what can you do? Take a kid on a hike or cross-country ski. Support or volunteer with organizations that get kids — all kids — outside and increase their access to the outdoors. (Shameless plug: I'm planning to climb Mount Rainier with Summit for Someone this summer to benefit Big City Mountaineers.)
Whatever you do, whether it's taking a kid on a hike or a snowshoe, sleeping out in a tent, or making a commitment to a youth recreation program, you really can make a difference, for kids, the future of outdoor recreation, and the backcountry areas we all love. Help buck the indoor-youth trend.
If future generations don't go outdoors, will there be an outdoors to go to?
