Book Review: Last Child in the Woods

(Side note: Hooray! My camera was fixed for a whopping $3.43 and now I'm back in business.)

I am always in the market for a good read, so I thought I'd begin occasionally posting book reviews of books I'd recommend.

I recently finished Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.


I remember as a child playing in the drained pond behind our neighborhood and bringing cattails home. I recall walking to the waterfalls in the woods with my brother(s?) and neighborhood friends, getting lost, and hitching a ride with a stranger to get back home (yikes). I don't recall my mom knowing where I was all the time, which I think was the case for many of us as children.

Would you let your child do that today? Not me.

This non-fiction book was a fascinating look into how we as a society and as individuals no longer let our children "go play" outside. We have playgrounds and blacktops (which lend themselves to place those children with physical giftedness at the top of the totem pole) instead of natural green places which encourage more creative and longitudinal play--a creek, a pond, trees to climb, hills to run on, etc.


One of the ironies Louv discusses is how our children (and adults) today are taught to "protect the environment" instead of experiencing the environment. Kids today know more about the rainforests of South America and the savannas of Africa than they do about the flora and fauna of their own backyards.


He also addresses obstacles to our preventing our children from playing outside:

1. Time: This is a biggie. Since many of us (myself included) feel uncomfortable sending our children outside to play alone, we have to be willing to take the time to be outside with them, and not only at a park (which is better than nothing), but somewhere where they can explore and imagine and pretend.

(Michael and Clara doing the bicycle after a delicious riverside picnic this week.)

2. Fear of strangers: We do need to be careful, but the chances of stranger abduction are very low (he sites stats, etc.). We shouldn't prevent our children from going outside because of this fear, but I think the trickiest thing is to find a balance between giving them independence to explore and yet being close by as well.

3. Fear of animals, insects, sunburn, etc.: The dangers of the outdoors are real, but so are the dangers of the indoors. West Nile mosquitoes can come inside your house, brown recluse spiders prefer your house, and our houses can have many/more allergens than outside. A solution I thought of would be to teach our children (and learn ourselves) about dangerous bugs, snakes, etc. so the whole family will feel empowered and safe.

Richard Louv argues that outside playtime should be as essential to our children's well-being as their piano lessons and sporting activities. Ironically, the rise in childhood obesity has increased at the same time as a rise in organized sports participation. How could this be? He speculates its cause is because our children go from the computer to soccer practice and home again to sit and do homework or watch an episode on tv. The naturally high activity levels that kids used to have no longer seem to exist.


If you don't think that this book has a case, check out this advertisement I received in the mail for the Imagine It! Children's Museum in Atlanta:

Come and play in the shade this summer at the Exploring Trees Inside and Out exhibit at Imagine It! The Children's Museum of Atlanta. Experience the sights, sounds and scenes, and even climb inside a giant tree at this fascinating exhibit, open now through September 13, 2009.


Hmmm . . . how about just taking your kids to the woods? What a novel concept.