Nature Deficit Disorder

With the course of time our world becomes more and more sophisticated: new discoveries, new researches, new technologies. With the development of modern technical devices we get a chance to do more in a shorter period of time, furthermore, we make our life and life of our children more comfortable.
However, the entertainment our kids get wholly playing Nintendo games, watching TV or surfing the Internet doesn’t bear fruit for their well-being. Taking into account all the problems which may occur due to the excessive use of technologic advance’s products, the up-to-date one is so-called Nature Deficit Disorder. 
Nature Deficit Disorder is a term presented by Richard Louv, an American nonfiction author and journalist, in his book dedicated to the relationship between children and nature “Last Child in the Woods” published in 2005.  
R. Louv confirms that since the end of 20th century children have become better on in creative technologies to the detriment of connecting with the nature. The author claims that the outcomes may be regarded not only concerning decline in physical activity, but also in long-term mental and spiritual health reflected in stress, depression, abstraction, etc.
As children nowadays prefer indoor activities, parents in their turn want to see them playing or outside. The question is HOW? Families living in cities don’t usually have enough natural places to prescind from urban rush, some have to drive to green parks – this needs load of free time and, unfortunately, not everyone has plenty of it.

Take the Advantages

If your kid finds it much more interesting to spend free minutes “on-line” typing messages to his/her friends and watching TV at the same time, it’s an alarm for your actions. Generally, all you need is the creative approach to the situation. No park nearby? Not a problem! Even a simple backyard may serve you a place for family entertainment, be it a camping night or a base-ball game. Moreover, you can organize the construction of bird feeders or even a tree house.
Another idea for plugged-in kids is geocaching. This modern kind of activity is concerned to be perfect if performed in parking areas. Suggest your child to search for some treasure using GPS coordinates. Besides, a lot of websites offer nowadays this kind of adventures. So intrigue your kid with choosing some treasure and go find it altogether!
One more way out is the help of organizations suggesting different activities directed to the attracting kids to the natural world (e.g. The National Wildlife Federation). They usually present fascinating excursions during which your child identifies species of birds he/she notices, etc. Such organizations may also give you a huge number of ideas concerning outdoor games.
Remember, every child is exceptional, that’s why all you need is switch your imagination on and find together some outdoor activity he/she would love to try instead of wasting time on-line.