How many of us actually remember our parents telling us to “Go outside and play”? I remember it clear as day, alongside the bell my parents would ring that was an indicator for us to return home from whatever adventure we were embarking on. The woods behind my house were a kingdom, a shelter, and so much more for our imaginative minds. Yet it seems that even those who have such an area to explore and enjoy are choosing not to. So the question is created, which group is better off, us or them?
I hadn’t thought much of this at all until a recent event. I have spent the last few years, since 2012, working at a summer camp as an instructor and the later the director at the Nature department. While all the classes had different materials to cover one thing remained consistent throughout all of them. Nature hikes were a good way to get the kids moving, alongside wasting some time when the material for that day was completed earlier than expected. This is often the highlight for many of the kids, as they get a chance to see what they’ve been learning, and often interact with it. I liked to take my classes down to a creek with a nice bridge stretching across it. Beech trees grew overhead, providing ample shade from the sun and since it was located in a gully it was generally a degree or two cooler than the rest of camp. The kids had time to move up and down the creek from the bridge, exploring the area while keeping a leave no trace mindset. It was the sort of thing where they would ask for more time when I told them it was time to hike back to the main camp. Not once had I ever had had an entire class ask to leave before we had to, that is, until last week.
It’s always hard to gauge the type of kids when you first see them, as I’ve found they often defy your expectations. So when I came upon my class of seven boys, I made my usual presumptions about them having the expectation that they’d change over the week. It seems the week was full of firsts, as what I had pegged them for in the beginning was exactly what they were in the end. I had a class, Nature and Mammal Study, full of seven boys who, as you may have guessed, were very unhappy with most things dealing with nature. My first hint at this was when we went into the Nature Lodge to discuss reptiles and amphibians and the boys fearfully scampered to the other side of the room when I brought out some of the reptiles and amphibians. Except turtles, they seemed to really like the turtles.
The next few days were a struggle, but finally, the day came for the hike. I was welcoming this hike; it was as much as an opportunity to play in the woods for me as it was the boys. Making sure everyone had water, we headed off into the woods, following a path known as Nature Trail. About three minutes in, the first cry is heard “How long is this hike going to be” asked one of the boys, already drenched in sweat. It turns out the sweat was water and the young child didn’t quite understand how sweating work since he dumped his entire bottle on himself to attempt to cool down (I would like to mention that all these boys were old enough to know better). Upon giving him one of my water bottles so he had something to drink, the grand trek continued and much to my displeasure so did the cries of complaint.
After taking the absolutely grueling ten-minute hike the boys all dramatically collapsed on the bridge, as if they were shipwrecked sailors who had finally found land. This was unfortunate for them, for I soon told them it was time to explore the woods. I had thought they would all slowly go into the woods, moving along cautiously until the spirit finally caught them and they would become the wild things that I hoped they had a lock inside them. Instead, they all stared at me blankly like I had just asked them to fly to mars. After some more urging they began to migrate off the bridge into the surrounding area, only to ask me if every single plant was poison ivy or poison oak even after I identified the plant as a tree or something completely harmless. Ten minutes later the boys begin accustomed by the fact that they were in nature and begin to walk around, glancing at everything with a worried look on their face, like a caveman who did not understand fire. Then the words crashed down upon me “Is it time to leave yet” asked another boy clearly fed up with being outside in the woods. After that remark it was all blur, seeing how I’ve tried to block out the sheer amount of disappointment I felt as they continued to ask the previous question or if every single thing green was poison ivy or oak.
More comment were made, and more actions happened that could continue this sad story, but I feel that the point is fairly made. All of the boys in the class came from families with land, and not just small amounts. Each had at least 20 acres of land and all of their family was active in the outdoors. So how could they have turned out so different? I hesitantly asked each of them and their responses were more or less the same. Their parents never made them go outside. Instead of spending countless afternoons and evenings out in the woods, they chose to sit inside and do whatever one does for an entire summer. Instead of me teaching them about nature, I was forced to learn how these kids lacked the character to even attempt to go outside and make of it what they could.
To give a definite answer to the question posed at the beginning of this article, I fully believe that those who were told to go outside and play are better than those who were not. All parents should attempt to get their kids outdoors and expose them to nature. There are so many lessons I learned while in the outdoors that I fear the coming generation will not have a chance to learn until much later in life when the stakes are much higher. So if you ever have the opportunity, go out in the woods and explore. It falls upon us to educate the next generation on the natural world, and we must not fail at this duty.
“What is a man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of the spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.” –Ted Perry
