Commentary News
Media & Culture
Anchorage Daily News – December 10, 2008
Our view: C’mon out and play—God didn’t make Alaska to celebrate the great indoors
Officials from local, state, and federal organizations gathered in Alaska recently for the Get Outdoors, Anchorage! summit to discuss nature-deficit disorder and its causes. The summit offered participants an opportunity to learn about successful efforts to reconnect children and nature and to identify opportunities in the region to engage children with nature. [+]
Health | Legislation/Policy
Wall Street Journal – August 13, 2008
WSJ: Why Safe Kids Are Becoming Fat Kids
By Philip K. Howard
The desire to insulate children from all forms of risk is having unintended consequences, writes attorney Philip Howard in the Wall Street Journal’s Commentary section. “The harmful effects of our national safety obsession ripple outward into society. One in six children in America is obese, and many of them will face a lifetime of chronic illness.”
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Health
Toronto Sun – July 13, 2008
Kids Should Be Free to Play, Author Says
By Marilyn Linton
The Toronto Sun talks with early-childhood expert Rae Pica about the importance of unstructured play in children’s lives. The author of A Running Start: How Play, Physical Activity and Free Time Create a Successful Child, Pica urges adults to let children find their own unique ways to entertain themselves, even if that means occasionally being bored. “Heaven forbid they get to adulthood,” she says, “and not know how to be alone with themselves and their thoughts.”
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Health
Miami Herald – May 31, 2008
Miami Herald: The Changing Nature of Play
By Ana Veciana-Suarez
A sobering article in the Miami Herald looks at the reasons why fewer children today enjoy the kind of free play that was common even a generation ago. As a single mother who fears letting her daughters play outdoors unsupervised remarks in the article, “I think they’re missing out on the freedom to be a child, to do just what they want.”
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Access
USA Today – June 27, 2008
Author Advocates Free Play in USA Today
By Nanci Hellmich
Susan Linn, author of the book The Case for Make Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World, discusses the importance of unstructured play in a recent interview with USA Today. Beyond simply advising parents to make sure their children have play time away from the television and electronic toys, she specifically recommends taking kids outdoors. “Children actually play more creatively in nature,” she says.
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Packet Online – June 11, 2008
Book Chronicles Dad Connecting Kids with Nature
By Adam Grybowski
Rick Van Noy, an English professor and father, has written a book that chronicles his efforts to turn his children’s attention from their television and computer screens to the outdoors. A Natural Sense of Wonder: Connecting Kids with Nature Through the Seasons focuses on Van Noy’s experience of bringing his children outdoors and allowing them to play without structure. In a series of essays organized mostly by season, he describes swimming, hiking, gardening, and fishing with his family.
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As part of our ongoing efforts to build the movement, the Children & Nature Network has published two new resources for leaders, organizers, and participants at the local, national, and international levels:
