If you ask popular parenting educator Maggie Dent the secret to raising strong, happy, successful children – her answer is surprisingly simple and accessible; dirt, and lots of it.
A former teacher and now leading consultant and speaker on the topic of building resiliance in children, Maggie recently inspired many locals at her talks held at Gingin on the 27th February, where she couldn’t stress enough the importance of free play and time spent outdoors for our growing children.
The founders of Perth based Natureplay WA agree – they set up the not-for-profit association specifically to increase the time Western Australian children spend in unstructured play outdoors and in nature. They run camps and activities to help connect children with the natural environment as well as providing resources for parents and educators via their website www.natureplaywa.org.au/and their facebook page natureplaywa.
In his book ‘Last Child in the Woods’, American author Richard Louv, who coined the term ‘nature deficit disorder’, expressed his concern that due to increased parental fears, restricted access to natural areas, and the lure of the screen, children were spending less time outdoors, resulting in a wide range of behavioral problems.
“Research suggests that exposure to the natural world helps improve human health, well-being and intellectual capacity in ways that science is only recently beginning to understand,” Louv writes. “People need nature for healthy development.”
It’s good news for those of us who live in the country – most of us are lucky enough to be able to call our kids free-range and baulk at the sterile soft-fall lined steel jungles our city friends call playgrounds. Our kids have streams to splash in, trees to climb, plenty of mud when it rains and heaps of dust when it doesn’t. They can play outside all day! That is, of course, if they’re not glued to the Xbox or the iPad.
These days our rural kids are no longer country bumpkins when it comes to technology and have access to the same games and devices as anyone. In fact Nature play’s CEO Griffin Longley pointed out that many kids from rural areas are at risk of disconnection from the natural environment because of isolation and also the very real dangers of farm life. There are also plenty of kids who live in country towns not on acerage – the ones who miss out on both the opportunites of city life and the benefits of the country.
Our challenge this Easter holidays? Less screen time and more time enjoying the outdoors. We’ve gathered together some great ideas for families to get out and about on the following pages. Galaxy Girl Carol Redford has written a great guide to star-gazing from our perspective in the Northern Valleys and we also have an exerpt from “Every walk has a story” produced by the wonderful Wendy Gellard of Peace-be-Still who is featured on our cover this month.
This booklet is a must-have for bushwalkers and local families and includes maps of several walks of varying lengths which start at Wendy’s picturesque property in the Chittering Valley and extend into the National Park through the three Shires of Chittering, Swan and Toodyay. Wendy welcomes campers and well as guests in need of relaxation at her retreat.
We also hope you’ll cut out this great list of “51 things to do before you’re 12”, prepared by NatureplayWA, and stick it on your fridge. See how many you can tick off this holidays!
