CHAWK-Book Review Last Child in the Woods

CHAWK BOOK REVIEW
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, by Richard Louv, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2005, hardcover, $24.95 By the 1990s, the radius around their homes where children roam on their own had shrunk to a ninth of what it was in 1970. The average 8-year-old can more readily identify characters in cartoons than trees in their neighborhoods. And doctors are prescribing double the number of antidepressants to children today than they did just five years ago. These are but a few examples child-advocacy expert Richard Louv uses to illustrate what he says is a line that’s being drawn that may well signify the end of individuals’ direct experiences in nature. When children spend less time in natural settings, Louv writes, “their senses narrow, physiologically and psychologically, and this reduces the richness of human experience.” For just as children need good nutrition and adequate sleep, they may also need contact with nature. Sadly, for a growing number of children today, “nature is more abstraction than reality,” something that’s seen on TV, glimpsed on summer vacations, or viewed through the windows of a car. Fewer families have first-hand experiences of farms and many children know little about where their food originates. Parents’ work schedules and the desire to give children a plethora of opportunities can mean more structured time inside, away from nature. And for many of us, wilderness is something that occurs far from where we live. Louv links the lack of nature in children's lives to such modern-day trends as the rise in obesity and depression in kids. These trends are not new-anyone who reads the newspaper is aware of them. But what Louv does is outline the reasons why nature is important to children's emotional, mental, and physical development, and the ways that simples acts of unstructured outdoor play such as building a tree-house or imagining a fairy garden have amazing restorative powers for youngsters. One of the primary strengths of Louv's work is its references to research that shows the value to kids of outside time. Also of merit is Louv's discussion of how fear-of abductions, traffic, even mosquitoes bearing viruses-contributes to what he terms nature-deficit disorder--not a scientific term but a phrase Louv has coined to draw attention to this issue. And parents and teachers alike will find his concrete suggestions--including examples of innovative environment-based school programs that offer hands-on lessons in nature--for how to bring children and nature back together very helpful. Perhaps most useful, however, will be the benefits of such a reconnection to nature, for Louv is hopeful that when children are taught to see the wonder of the outside world, a new generation of stewards of nature is born. One of the book's drawbacks of this 324-page book its very in-depth treatment of these issues, which may turn off the casual reader. And Louv tends to go into tangents that aren't always completely relevant. In addition, critics are concerned that Louv's efforts to tie the lack of nature in children's lives with ADD, among other disorders, is not credible based in part on the lack of rigorous science to back his claims. On par, however, Last Child in the Woods is an eye-opening and useful book that belongs on the shelves of anyone who cares about children as well as the natural world around us. After reading the book, I watched my own 7-year-old hike by my side in the woods. Before my eyes, I saw her confidence grow as she crossed tricky paths and forged rock-filled streams, I witnessed a letting-go of fears as her breathing slowed, and I saw an awakening to the wonders of the soil and the trees, the stones and the water, the plants and the sky. As my child bonded with her surroundings, I saw her become more grounded. And I thought back to Louv’s comment that as a child, “nature calmed me, focused me, and yet excited my senses.” --Reviewed by Anne Bridgman