County takes lead in getting kids outdoors

Oakland Tribune, Jul 25, 2007 by Suzanne Bohan

ON THE first day of summer, a few of 12-year-old Ben Sampson's friends headed out to buy the newest video game console.

Now they're spending countless hours inside, jabbing at remote controls and mastering the new game, Ben said. "They play games all summer," he said.

Not he. Instead, on Thursday, Ben headed out to a creek in La Honda, where he scrambled up steep hillsides overlooking the creek, walked on all fours across a fallen log that served as a bridge and slid down a rocky chute into a small swimming hole.

"Kids and creeks, a perfect match," said Wendolyn Bird, owner of Tender Tracks Tales and Trails in Mountain View. Bird led Ben and nineother youth ages 9 to 12 to the creek as part of a weeklong nature summer camp that she runs.

"It's fun to play video games, but I don't want to do it all summer," said Ben. He's been raised to enjoy the outdoors, he said, and is comfortable with the dirt, scampering over rocks and trees, the bugs and reptiles, the occasional scrapes -- including a new one he got Thursday -- and stunning natural vistas.

"It's really a part of me," Ben said.

But Ben is one of a shrinking number of kids who regularly play in outdoor settings where they're exposed to nature in varying degrees -- whether in a city park, a tree fort or in the wilderness. More than four-fifths of mothers with children between the ages of 3 and 12 don't let their children play outside without close supervision, according to a 2004 study, citing concerns about crime and safety. And with time scarce, many parents don't provide that supervision and simply keep their children indoors.

His generation may be the first in humanity's history with such a pronounced disconnection to nature, said Richard Louv, author of the seminal book, "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder."

His book crystallized a movement that had long been forming, called Leave No Child Inside. Last fall, a Bay Area chapter formed, called Peninsula/South Bay Leave No Child Inside.

And Tuesday, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors became the first county in California to adopt a state resolution called the Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the resolution July 6, and on Monday, the East Bay Regional Park District announced it will formally endorse the state's outdoor bill of rights Aug. 21.

The resolution addresses the growing detachment of youth from nature. It encourages parents, educators and others to provide kids with the opportunity to engage in activities like swimming in a natural body of water, camping under the stars and catching a fish.

This newest back-to-nature movement is based on more than simply the wish to provide youth with wholesome activities. It's gaining momentum based on mounting evidence that a disconnection from nature carries with it profound psychological and health effects.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children, for example, is significantly eased by exposure to natural settings, a 2005 study by the University of Illinois reported. Numerous other studies have arrived at similar conclusions.

The University of Illinois authors also found that exposure to nature, even just a scenic view from a window, enhances self- discipline in inner-city youth. And a 2005 study of California youth reported that students in outdoor science programs improved their scores by 27 percent, compared to indoor science programs.

Other studies have recorded drops in blood pressure in those immersed in nature. Exposure to nature also led to faster physiological recovery from stressful incidents.

"It's absolutely essential for children's complete, all-around development," said Diane Gordon, director of the children and nature programs for Hooked on Nature, based in San Jose.

The alarming increases in rates of diabetes and excess weight among the nation's youngest citizens are also associated in part with children staying indoors far more than any previous generation. Inactivity, coupled with poor nutrition, largely explains the nearly 20 percent obesity rate in children that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2006, compared with 4 percent in the 1960s.

But video games aren't the only facet of modern life keeping kids indoors. Fear is confining them under virtual house detention as well. Safety, said 94 percent of parents polled in one 2006 survey, is their biggest concern in deciding whether to allow their children to play outdoors. Crime is a frequently cited safety worry.

While Louv, Louv said.

"People feel so overwhelmed by issues they feel are too big for them," Louv said. "But people feel they can do something about this one."