In this clip from Mother Nature’s Child, journalist and author Richard Louv discusses the negative effects of modern education and its impact on both students and teachers. Referencing the numerous recent studies on children and exposure to nature, Louv jokes that “if you want your kids to get into Harvard, tell them to go outside.” He also asserts that “when we take nature away from people, we take away their ability to be full human beings.”

Today’s lesson, no matter your age: Go outside and play!

In this article, psychology researchers from Notre Dame point out, “The right brain, which governs much of our self-regulation, creativity and empathy grows through full-body experience.” This is the part of our brain that helps us manage our emotions and delay gratification. Check out how time in an outdoor environment, as well as unstructured time can not only help develop creativity and imagination, but also compassion, ability to navigate emotions and personal resilience. What a difference these skills make for youth as they face the demands of the 21st Century.

A short but well encapsulated article highlighting the leadership traits that enable one to affect real change and transformation in one’s surroundings. As you read this, consider where you see these qualities show up in your own person, even in your day to day life. A significant part of growing as a leader is in identifying where these qualities already reside in you. This set you up in a position of seeing yourself as having ability. The next step is then learning how to do those things in an “on purpose” way.

Check it out:  Top 10 Characteristics of Transformational Leaders

This video has been circulating on the web for a little while now, but it is so very relevant to the experience we are creating with our “You Belong” program. It is the many feelings, struggles, hopes and doubts that can feel so isolating when exploring one’s identity. Yet, these very ingredients also create the recipe for belonging. The reason they can make us feel so alone is because we assume that no one else could ever feel this way. I must be the only one. And, so we try to keep them hidden, buried just below the surface of what we allow to be seen.

The problem is, if everyone does this, then we end up operating in a world where it seems like those fears, hopes and feelings don’t exist except within ourselves. This is the power and inspiration of vulnerability and compassion. Together, they help us construct a window where people can see into the real us. It is is there that we can realize we are not alone, we are not the only ones – that we can belong! So, how do we live lives where we can create that window? By doing exactly what Shane is doing here – stepping out with courage and sharing what is real!

Below is a great article on the potential misses in the conversation between teens and adults around bullying, compassion and empathy! It is so important when we are working with our youth that we meet them at a place that they identify with. There is no meaning, interest or investment when we are not able to see ourselves in what is being presented. This is the key to compassion and empathy, the very things we hope to teach our youth when we confront bullying behaviors. Let’s be sure to practice the same empathy in our conversations with teenagers and see into their true experiences, rather than our own interpretation.

“Bullying” Has Little Resonance with Teenagers

A fellow educator out in Washington talks about his experience in the field of outdoor education.

Check it out his article here

As the weather gets warmer it is important to watch out for these diminutive arachnids. Ticks carry a whole host of life changing diseases, including the Connecticut Valley originating Lymes disease, that can be easily prevented. Below is a link to the CDC’s website on ticks and Lymes disease where you learn some useful information about protecting yourself during your outdoor adventures this summer.

http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/

There is a growing body of research indicating a connection between time spent in nature and the management or mitigation of ADD and ADHD symptoms.

We happened to run across an abstract on Pub Med of a paper that indicates just this. Although this is not the full paper it does, in brief, outline the conclusions of the study in question.

Check it out: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18725656

As an outdoor professional, I see the effects first hand of time outside in the children I work with. Almost universally the children that come to my programs with attention deficit labels demonstrate an incredible capacity to engage with and learn about the natural world. Being outside seems to calm and focus children who have trouble staying put in the classroom and give them the opportunity to receive the high volume and variety of environmental input that they are predisposed to processing well. For these reasons, I perceive these “disorders” as strengths out of context.

If you are interested in reading more about the relationship between our children’s development and contact with the natural world, check out Richard Louv’s book: Last Child in the Woods http://richardlouv.com/books/last-child/

An article in the New York Times explores this question in their article about the health benefits of choosing- you guessed it – an increased amount of time in the great outdoors. Enjoy!

“The Benefits of Exercising Outdoors” By Gretchen Reynolds

Richard Louv, well known author of “Last child in the Woods” and co-founder of the Children in Nature Network talks about the health benefits and the lasting and beneficial impact on health and brain development in children and adults who spend time out in the natural world in his blog.

“A growing body of primarily correlative evidence suggests that, even in the densest urban neighborhoods, negative stress, obesity and other health problems are reduced and psychological and physical health improved when children and adults experience more nature in their everyday lives.” – Richard Louv

Check out the full article on the Children in Nature Network website: Here