Animal Chronicles
Spring & Summer 2008

Nature Deficit Disorder: Out of the Woods

by Gail Ellis

“Ewww”, said the kindergarten boy as we visited the rabbits at the Marin Humane Society, “what’s that terrible smell?” I was surprised. Rabbits have little or no odor and I hadn’t noticed any unusual smells. And then I knew. “You don’t have any pets at home, do you?” I asked the child. “No, my mother thinks animals are dirty”, the boy answered. Nature deficit disorder strikes again.

Today’s children are becoming increasingly disconnected from the natural world. Organized sports, music and dance lessons, schoolwork, and most especially, computers and television, are filling the hours that used to be spent in imaginative play. According to Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, children in the United States spend, on average, six hours a day in front of television, video games, and computers.

Along with hyperactivity, lack of concentration and low self-esteem, nature deficit disorder has been linked to loss of imagination in today’s youth. But I think the biggest losers are imagination and empathy. Today’s over-scheduled children don’t have the simple luxury of time on their hands. As soon as they express boredom we supply them with games, movies or visits to friends. We have even equipped cars with DVD players so that rather than looking out the window at the scenery and daydreaming, kids are being passively “entertained”. Children are losing the skills of resourcefulness and imagination. In our desire to help them, we have taken away some of the simple joys of childhood.

Perhaps a loss of empathy is even more worrisome. Studies show that children develop the basic components of their character by age five. If, during that time, children have little or no contact with animals or nature, they are unlikely to fully develop an innate empathy for living things. This can have any number of negative consequences ranging from difficulty with relationships, disregard for others, egocentrism, and apathy for social or environmental issues.

So what can we do in this fast-paced, over-scheduled world to help our children? Fortunately, there are many solutions. If you have a yard, even a small one, send your children out to search for as many living things as they can find. Include insects and plants. Make it a scavenger hunt and award prizes to the winners. Put up a bird feeder and provide a simple identification guide. See how many different birds you can find in a specific time period.

Play old-fashioned driving games like the license plate game. The person who sees the biggest variety of states wins. Visit a park and discuss the scenery. Take five minutes to be absolutely silent and listen for as many different sounds as you can identify.

Children learn by observing. If you have a companion animal, make sure that you point out when you are feeding, walking, playing, or otherwise providing care for the animal. Talk about responsibility and compare it to the care you provide for the child. Allow the child to help in appropriate ways.

If you don’t have an animal, visit your local shelter and bring donations of toys, towels, or blankets. Many shelters offer fostering services that allow you to keep an animal in your home for a limited time to provide socialization. If you know a family with an animal, offer to “babysit” for an afternoon. Anything that allows your child a chance to connect with nature and living things will pay off in untold dividends in the future.

So the next time your child begs for “something fun to do”, resist the temptation to schedule something. Let him or her use their imagination to fill the unstructured time. And allow them time to make the all-important connection with nature and their environment. The result will be an empathetic, imaginative, resourceful child who can change the future!

Gail Ellis is the Education Coordinator at the Marin Humane Society.

Back to Animal Chronicles