Why is time in nature beneficial? Really?
Simply unplugging your children has tremendous benefits. If you get them away from cell phones, computers, video games and television, they move from a flat world to a layered world. Nature, whether it is the observation of an animal, a forest, or the constellations, has layers. If one layer becomes too overwhelming, you can escape into another. You can move closer or further away. At the same time, there is so much out there, nature can take a child out of himself. Both sides of this have untold benefits for children with learning disabilities, autism or behavioral disabilities, who tend to be wrapped up inside themselves and have a difficult time getting a wider perspective. Technology exacerbates that focus. Nature diffuses it.
A young boy at the turn of the 20th century was so hyperactive he was permanently expelled from school – at the age of 7! His parents discovered he calmed down when he spent time in nature, so they got him out as often as possible. He grew up to become a nature photographer. His name was Ansel Adams, the most famous art photographer of the 20th century.1
1 Louv, Richard; Last Child in the Woods; pp. 102-103.
