Happy Weekend!

It's Saturday!  Here's hoping you get outside and enjoy some well deserved R&R.  Cheers!

The Vacant Lot (a.k.a. The Wonderful Urban Armpit)

Last weekend my son Kai and I had an hour to kill between a basketball game and band practice.  We weren’t really sure what to do with ourselves.  If we went home we’d have just enough time to turn around and leave again.  We’d already eaten lunch.  It was sunny outside, the air fresh after a couple days of rain…

“Hey, you want to go see a vernal pool?” I asked.

“A what?”

“It’s like a big puddle.”

He looked skeptical.

“There might be tiny shrimp in it.  And frogs,” I added.

“Sure.”  Kai loves frogs.

Large parts of our home town, San Diego, are built atop mesas.  And once upon a time those mesa tops were littered with countless seasonal wetlands called vernal pools.  Mud puddles really.  Super cool mud puddles… to those who stop and really look at them.

These pools form because rainwater perches atop a clay layer in the soil, unable to percolate.  And in years when we get enough rain, these pools come magically to life in the winter and spring—filled with plants you don’t find anywhere else, giving life to tiny fairy shrimp, hopping with frogs, providing habitat for birds.

Sadly, most of these pools, which once stretched across acres and acres of raw land that my great grandparents knew, have been plowed under, paved and converted to strip malls or corporate headquarters.  In fact the pool Kai and I went to see last weekend sits in the middle of a vacant lot adjacent to the office complex where I work, a weedy patch of land surrounded on all sides by offices, parking lots and industry.  But for those of us who’ve nurtured a childish curiosity (not to mention an unsuppressed habit of climbing fences and venturing where we’re not supposed to go) this vacant lot provides a glimpse into the complex web—the wet, green, crawling, rotting, flowering, reproducing, frenzy of biology that makes life—our lives—possible.

Kai and I parked at my office, pushed our way through a cluster of scratchy shrubs, climbed a rusty fence, dodged the stinging nettle and walked through the weeds, picking stickers out of our socks and watching for snakes.  Vernal pools don’t really look like much at first glance, some slightly stagnant water with weeds poking out, and when I announced our arrival Kai just kind of stood there and stared at first.  But then we crouched, scooted closer so that our shoes got muddy, and really looked.  And the more we looked, the more interesting this little patch of world became, the more curious and childish our minds grew, the more we smiled, the more discoveries we exclaimed out loud to each other—fairy shrimp, tadpoles, frogs, frog eggs… even two pairs of mallard ducks.

We spent thirty happy minutes exploring this mud puddle, this urban armpit of a vacant lot, fenced off from the rat race of a community we call home, a little patch of earth explored and known by very few.  And when we left, life felt even better than when we’d arrived (and we’d already been having a good day).  There was a spark in Kai’s eye, like he’d been let in on some sort of secret, like he now knew the funky handshake that would allow him to get past stupid fences and become a member of San Diego’s secret frog society.

I hope he always remembers that funky handshake.  I hope he never stops climbing fences and getting his shoes muddy.  I hope he never stops stopping, never stops looking, never stops wondering… never stops caring.

There are wonderful urban armpits in your community too.  I know it.  So please take your kids out there, climb the fences, sit in the mud, and watch the world happen.

To learn more about San Diego’s vernal pools check out the California Chaparral Institute’s website.

Cheers!

7 Cultural Concepts We Don't Have in the U.S.

I really enjoyed reading about the 7 cultural concepts shared in this article by Starre Vartan on the Mother Nature Network.  From Friluftsliv to Hygge, I would like to incorporate some of these ways of seeing the world into my own life, and I wanted to share them with you.  Enjoy the read HERE.

Monday Meditation

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants…  That, more or less, is the short answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy.”
– Michael Pollan

Family Fun at Wild Willow Farm

The weekend after Thanksgiving Pam and I took the kids to Family Fun Day at Wild Willow Farm and Education Center.  And it was cool!

Wild Willow Farm is located in the southwest corner of San Diego County, less than three miles from the Pacific Ocean and two-thirds mile from the Mexican Border.  The fields opened to the public in 2010, and the farm is now in its fourth year of development, growing food while educating locals about sustainable living.  It’s a cool place!

We made crafts, enjoyed fresh guavas, fed goats, prepared planting soil, sowed seeds and more.  They even fed us a fantastic lunch, including fresh sourdough bread baked in a wood-fired oven.

Making wreaths with native plants and local shells

Goats!

Relay race through the passion fruit tunnel

Preparing potting soil

Yum!  Thanks!

There is a growing movement of urban farming and community supported agriculture.  Getting involved is a great opportunity to eat healthy, get outside and help your family connect to nature.  To be honest, I’m kind of new to all of this, but I’m finding there are lots of neat ways to be a part of some wonderful local farms.  I’ll share more with Mud on Your Feet readers as I explore and learn.  In the meantime, here are a few links that can help you get started.

• Community Supported Agriculture search tool by LocalHarvest
• Eat Well search tool by GRACE Communications Foundation
• Garden Locations map by Urban Farming

J.S. Kapchinske is the author of Coyote Summer.

The Overprotected Kid

Even if you don’t do anything else today, READ THIS FANTASTIC ARTICLE BY HANNA ROSIN!

“A preoccupation with safety has stripped childhood of independence, risk taking, and discovery—without making it safer. A new kind of playground points to a better solution.”

Read the entire article HERE.

Trees Improve Student Performance

Living close to trees boosts student academic performance.  That sounds like some tree-hugger's fanciful notion, but it’s actually true.  A new study demonstrates that third graders who live in close proximity to vegetated green spaces score higher on standardized tests than students without green spaces nearby—even after controlling for other factors such as socioeconomic position.  Several past studies have found similar results. 

So take your kids outside.  Grab a shovel.  Plant a tree… or several.  And read more about the study HERE.

Bring Down the Barriers!

Richard Louv nails it again.  I couldn’t agree more!

“In the 21st Century, our Great Work – as Thomas Berry put it – must be the creation of a new, restorative relationship with the rest of the natural world. It’s time to envision that future. It’s time to bring down the barriers, including these — which are not only between people and nature, but also between people.”

Read Richard Louv’s discussion of 5 barriers contributing to Nature Deficit Disorder HERE.

Unhassled, Unhurried, Unscheduled—Kids Need Opportunities to Know Nature

There was a time, not all that long ago really, when most children grew up close to nature.  In 1900, 40% of the U.S. population lived on farms, and even city dwellers had relatively easy access to undeveloped open spaces.  By 1990, less than 2% of the US population lived on farms, and too often modern city dwellers must fight traffic for an hour or more to reach remaining patches of wildlife habitat.  That’s a big change in a relatively short period of time.  Our connections to rural places are dwindling, and I often find myself wondering what effects these changes have on our kids.

Richard Louv posed the question well in his book Last Child in the Woods.  “Nature is imperfectly perfect, filled with loose parts and possibilities, with mud and dust, nettles and sky, transcendent hands-on moments and skinned knees.  What happens when all the parts of childhood are soldered down, when the young no longer have the time or space to play in their family’s garden, cycle home in the dark with the stars and moon illuminating their route, walk down through the woods to the river, lie on their backs on hot July days in the long grass, or watch cockleburs, lit by morning sun, like bumblebees quivering on harp wires?  What then?”

Too many of our remaining open spaces are shrinking, often disappearing entirely as the human population keeps growing, requiring more resources, more housing tracts, more strip malls.  The result is often increased pressure and overuse of the few open spaces that do remain, and this increased pressure often leads to new rules aimed at protecting these resources.  Today more than 57 million Americans live in homes ruled by some type of condominium or homeowner’s association, and many of these groups have strict covenants that ban or discourage kids from playing in landscaped or natural areas.  City ordinances also often restrict children’s access to open spaces or limit the activities they can engage in while playing outside.

The intent of these rules is generally good—protection of a shrinking resource.  But discouragement of natural play has been a sad and unintended consequence.  Many remaining pockets of urban open space are now strictly set aside to be seen—not touched.  Too often, there is no room left for free, unorganized, outdoor play.  And this creates unfortunate consequences for kids.  In too many communities there is nowhere left for them to wander off the sidewalk, build forts of fallen branches, construct rock pools along streams, catch snakes, find out what wild onion tastes like, or lay on the earth in the dappled shade of an oak tree, unhassled, unhurried, unscheduled, simply reflecting and dreaming.  As these quintessential outdoor childhood moments fade, I can’t help but worry that there is some important aspect of being human that fades along with them.

In the not too distant past, a basic familiarity with and understanding of the natural world was seen as an important character trait.  As Robert Michael Pyle explains, “George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were both excellent naturalists.  A lively, experimental curiosity in plants and animals was nothing unusual, it was simply one component of the engaged citizen’s life.”  In their day, and for more than a century afterwards, natural history was emphasized in schools and universities as an important area of study.  And before that—for millennia—understanding the life we shared this planet with was essential knowledge.  Bill McKibben states it perfectly.  “You pass a hundred different plants along the trail—I know maybe twenty of them.  One could spend a lifetime learning a small range of mountains, and once upon a time people did.”

Now, however, fewer students are being trained to identify plants and animals, to understand their life cycles, their unique ecological positions and interactions.  As a result, even while our population is skyrocketing, there is now a far smaller proportion of human beings with the ability to recognize, let alone understand, a significant number of the living things we share this planet with.  At a time when conservation of biodiversity is most urgent, we are losing much of our capacity to train and employ people with the right knowledge to sustain Earth’s ecosystems.

Why does it matter?  If we know something, if we’ve grown up with it, engaged with it, we’re more likely to care about it.  But if we’re not familiar with the plants and animals around us, then we won’t recognize when they disappear.  We won’t make the changes needed to sustain them.  Ignorance breeds indifference.  The less we know, the less we notice, the less we care, and it’s a downward cycle.  We’re already losing our natural neighbors, eroding the ecological processes that sustain life on this planet, and in the end it will come back to bite us.

However, each of us, you and I, can start turning the cogs in reverse.  We can get to know the living things in our own communities, and if we share these things with children, we’ll all benefit.  Playing in nature, whether young or old, stimulates a sense of wonder, creativity, imagination—and it helps us develop and nurture a sense of place.  Taking the time to notice and experience nature, even urban remnants, even the tiniest patches of garden, helps us realize (and remember) that we’re part of everything, made of the same elements as earth, water, air and all living things.  We’re all just pieces of the greatest puzzle, and we need to pay attention to how the pieces fit.

For children, pockets of nature render a canvas for countless types of creative play—opportunities for control and mastery, construction of special spaces, manipulating loose parts, moving in a wide variety of ways, taking risks, solving problems, and finding stillness.  In the words of Stephen Kellert, Ph.D., “Play in nature, particularly during the critical period of middle childhood, appears to be an especially important time for developing the capacities for creativity, problem-solving, and emotional and intellectual development.”

In this, it seems the Scandinavians have gotten it right.  The Norwegians have a word, Friluftsliv, which translates to “free air life”—a concept that promotes direct experience in nature.  In Norwegian culture it is viewed as a prerequisite for learning.  The link between nature and learning is also emphasized in Finland’s education system.  And it’s an informed approach.  A growing body of research has shown that multisensory experiences in nature help build the cognitive constructs necessary for sustained intellectual development.  Finland consistently ranks in the top three countries worldwide for academic performance (the United States ranks far below at 20 according to recent United Nations Study).  Finland pays higher teacher wages, allows more independence for teachers, has shorter school hours and emphasizes the value of unstructured outdoor play time.

We also know that spending time in nature enhances well-being and provides positive mental health benefits.  Time and again, research has shown that nature-based experiences reduce anxiety and stress, improve self-esteem, mitigate depression, alleviate attention disorders, and even lead to positive behavior changes.

How can spending time in nature help with all these things?  In nature we tend to engage in the types of activities and thought processes that enlist and strengthen the brain’s right hemisphere, and this has been shown to restore harmony to overall brain function.  It helps to think of the brain as being capable of two types of attention—directed attention and involuntary attention.  Our culture has become more and more focused on directed attention, leaving less time for involuntary attention.

Why does this matter?  Directed attention is what our kids use for hours at school or while doing homework.  It’s important, but it causes fatigue, and too much directed attention leads to agitation, impulsiveness, irritability and difficulty concentrating.  Involuntary attention, on the other hand, is more automatic and can be thought of as fascination.  Involuntary attention is what we often experience in the outdoors, and it gives our brains a much-needed break from the rigors of directed attention and helps restore brain performance.  In fact memory and attention span have been shown to improve by an average of 20% after just one hour of interacting with nature.

I think most of us in the modern world could use an extra dose of involuntary attention in our daily lives—and we can find it by walking in the woods, growing a garden, watching the sunset… getting mud on our feet.  Even though 98% of us now live in cities, we can find, create and cultivate the pockets of nature around us.  We can share these places with the kids we care about—and if we do they will benefit!  So will we.

Are you looking for natural spaces near your home?  Check out this Where to Go site from Discover the Forest or this Nature Findsite from the National Wildlife Federation.

J.S. Kapchinske is the author of Coyote Summer.

A Parent’s Guide to Nature Play

I recently stumbled across this great resource for parents… or grandparents… or cool aunts and uncles… or anyone else with a child in their life.  I wish I would have found this booklet earlier so that I could have done some of these activities with my kids when they were even younger!  And I want to share it with all of you, so that you can put some of these great ideas into action!

This booklet “A Parent’s Guide to Nature Play: How to Give Your Children More Outdoor Play… and Why You Should” is written by Ken Finch of the Green Hearts Institute for Nature in Childhood.  Check it out!  Have fun with the kids you love!  Get mud on their feet!

The Security of Nature

I enjoyed this essay by Sarah Walker, a member of the Board of Directors for the Child and Nature Alliance of Canada.  She makes a great point.  In many ways we are teaching children to be afraid of the world.  We need to counterbalance those messages by helping them find places in the natural world where they feel connected, secure and confident.  We need to help them understand life is good.  Here is a snippet from Sarah’s essay:

“Today’s kids live in world where society largely believes that leaving the backyard to play is too dangerous, walking to school is too risky and exploring the small river in the park is a health hazard. The only place to be absolutely safe is inside…  

However, there is something that we can do to make sure this generation of children reaches adulthood feeling secure and safe in their individuality and surroundings. Take your child outside; let them discover at what height they can jump from before it hurts, or how fast they can run down a grassy hill before they fall. Let them explore the fascinating world that is nature, let them watch a caterpillar turn into a butterfly and understand that their potential has no bounds.”

Read Sarah’s full article HERE.  Then take your kids outside and help them fall in love with the world they live in!

Risky play and skinned knees are key to healthy child development

I enjoyed this article by Andrea Gordon in the Toronto Star.  Safety for our children is, of course, very important—but there are also risks in taking safety too far.  Here is a snippet from the article:

“Here’s what kids at play have always liked to do: Race, climb, wrestle, hang, throw, balance, fence with sticks, jump from heights and gravitate toward sharp objects. Ideally, while escaping the watchful eye of grown-ups.

Here’s what today’s kids hear when they’re even flirting with such pursuits: Slow down, get down, put that down. No throwing, no sticks allowed, don’t jump from there. Don’t touch, that’s too dangerous, be careful. And for goodness sake, don’t go anywhere without an adult.

In the last generation, adults have been consumed with protecting kids against all odds. But now, some child injury prevention experts are warning too much bubble wrap may be thwarting healthy development.”

Read the full article HERE.  And let us know what you think!

Natural-terrain schoolyards reduce children’s stress

According to a new study from my old alma mater (the University of Colorado, Boulder… Go Buffs!) schoolyards that feature natural habitats and trees, not just asphalt and recreation equipment, reduce children’s stress and can help alleviate attention problems.  Playing in these more natural areas at recess, working on class assignments under the trees and helping in a school gardens have all been shown to provide stress-reducing benefits for kids.

Time and again, research has shown that spending time in nature enhances children’s wellbeing—from mental health to physical fitness.  Kids spend a large percentage of their waking hours at school, so schools are great places for communities to create pockets of nature for kids to experience.

The researchers in the University of Colorado study found that schoolyards with natural terrain—such as dirt, trees, native shrubs and water features—foster feelings of competence and supportive relationships between kids.

Perhaps there are sections of asphalt at your community school that could be converted to native trees or a school garden.  For more ideas, Check out the National Wildlife Federation’s Schoolyard Habitats Program.

More Doctors Order Kids to Get Outside

A growing number of pediatricians are giving children a new type of prescription—GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY!

I have to admit that it makes me sad to be living in a time when doctors have to order kids to get outside and play.  But at least these doctors are taking action.  They see the problem, they understand it, and in some cases their prescriptions are having positive effects.

The Boston Globe highlighted the use of such prescriptions in one Massachusetts community.  “Many kids today don’t get outside enough, especially those without generous backyards or parents eager to lead them on nature walks.  So area pediatricians are increasingly writing prescriptions to encourage kids and teens to spend time outside, particularly during the summer months, when the weather is good and the lack of structured activity can lead to weight gain.”  Read the full article HERE.

Do what the doctor ordered.  Get outside.  Take your kids.  Get mud on your feet!

Let ’Em Eat Dirt

Here's another great article.  This one from the New York Times.

"Somehow, we’ve arrived at a moment when a kid playing by himself, Internet-free and helicopter-parentless, is a surprising thing. Huck Finn may be deep in the American DNA, but he’s disappeared from the summer landscape, replaced by the boy in the bubble. No dirt, no unplanned moments, and no time for discovery."  Read the full story by Timothy Egan HERE.

Let's bring Huck Finn back.  Now there's a kid who knew how to get mud on his feet!

Why so many kids can’t sit still in school today

This is a great article from the Washington Post.

"The problem: children are constantly in an upright position these days. It is rare to find children rolling down hills, climbing trees, and spinning in circles just for fun. Merry-go-rounds and teeter-totters are a thing of the past. Recess times have shortened due to increasing educational demands, and children rarely play outdoors due to parental fears, liability issues, and the hectic schedules of modern-day society. Lets face it: Children are not nearly moving enough, and it is really starting to become a problem."  Read the full article by Angela Hanscom HERE.

Let's take a page from our own long-ago childhoods, when we were given the time and space to roam a little, to play freely, to create our own games, our own rules, to enter the magical worlds of our imaginations.  Remember how fun and liberating those times were?  Let's give that our kids.  Let's help them get mud on their feet!

When we stop children taking risks, do we stunt their emotional growth?

I loved this article in The Independent, and I couldn't agree more!  Let's loosen the reins a little.  Let's let our kids have their very own microadventures and take some age-appropriate risks.

"'The dominant parental norm is that being a good parent is being a controlling parent,' says Tim Gill, author of No Fear, which critiques our risk-averse society. But at what cost? And what's the alternative? And most importantly, when are we letting them play?"  Read the full article by Susie Mesure HERE.

Let your kids run free now and then.  Let them take some risks, skin their knees and get mud on their feet!

More Than S'mores!

A new study by the Girl Scout Research Institute demonstrates that girls who spend time outdoors regularly surpass their peers who spend less time outdoors in critical leadership skills.  They are also more likely to be environmental stewards. 

Read the full report HERE, and take the girls you love outside.  Get mud on their feet!

School Ditches Rules and Loses Bullies

I wanted to share a short excerpt from a great article from ONE News in New Zealand.

“Ripping up the playground rulebook is having incredible effects on children at an Auckland school.

Chaos may reign at Swanson Primary School with children climbing trees, riding skateboards and playing bullrush during playtime, but surprisingly the students don't cause bedlam, the principal says.

The school is actually seeing a drop in bullying, serious injuries and vandalism, while concentration levels in class are increasing.”

To learn more about how letting kids run free at recess has reduced bullying and increased classroom engagement read the full article HERE.  And go outside.  Get mud on your feet!

Does Nature Make Us Happy?

I wanted to share a short excerpt from a great article in Psychology Today by MarilynPrice-Mitchell, Ph.D.

“In today’s age of high technology, research shows that our hunger for the natural world still endures.  In fact, our connections with nature could just be the best medicine for people of all ages—improving our health, happiness, and well-being.  Those same connections could also heal the planet.

Few would disagree that our natural and cognitive worlds have grown disconnected.  Most of us, particularly children, spend far less time in nature today than in recent decades.  There are no required classes in nature connectedness in our schools, nor is nature a well-utilized tool for teaching kids to critically think about the world around them.  New research, however, suggests our relationship with nature may be deeply linked to our happiness.”

To learn more about how our relationship with nature is linked to our happiness read the full article HERE.  And go outside.  Get mud on your feet!