As one scientist puts it, we can now assume that just as children need good nutrition and adequate sleep, they may very well need contact with nature. Richard Louv More Quotes by Richard Louv More Quotes From Richard Louv Progress does not have to be patented to be worthwhile. Progress can also be measured by our interactions with nature and its preservation. Can we teach children to look at a flower and see all the things it represents: beauty, the health of an ecosystem, and the potential for healing? Richard Louv natureflowerchildren Nature is one of the best antidotes to fear. Richard Louv antidotenature The pleasure of being alive is brought into sharper focus when you need to pay attention to staying alive. Richard Louv focusattentionneeds It takes time--loose, unstructured dreamtime-- to experience nature in a meaningful way. Unless parents are vigilant, such time becomes a scarce resource, not because we intend it to shrink, but because time is consumed by multiple, invisible forces; because our culture currently places so little value on natural play. Richard Louv parentplaymeaningful A natural environment is far more complex than any playing field. Richard Louv environmentnaturefields Quite simply, when we deny our children nature, we deny them beauty. Richard Louv denynaturechildren In medieval times, if someone displayed the symptoms we now identify as boredom, that person was thought to be committing something called acedia, a 'dangerous form of spiritual alienation' -- a devaluing of the world and its creator. Richard Louv boredomspiritualworld What if more and more parents, grandparents and kids around the country band together to create outdoor adventure clubs, family nature networks, family outdoor clubs, or green gyms? What if this approach becomes the norm in every community? Richard Louv adventurecountrykids We can conserve energy and tread more lightly on the Earth while we expand our culture's capacity for joy. Richard Louv natureenergyjoy The times I spent with my children in nature are among my most meaningful memories-and I hope theirs. Richard Louv naturemeaningfulchildren Most people are either awakened to or are strengthened in their spiritual journey by experiences in the natural world. Richard Louv naturejourneyspiritual The real cultural war is between the culture of narcissism and what might be called the culture of renewal. Richard Louv realsimplewar Numerous studies document the benefits to students from school grounds that are ecologically diverse and include free play areas, habitats for wildlife, walking trails, and gardens. Richard Louv gardennatureschool Here is the beginning of understanding: most parents are doing their best, and most children are doing their best, and they're doing pretty well, all things considered. Richard Louv understandingparentchildren American family life has never been particularly idyllic. In the nineteenth century, nearly a quarter of all children experienced the death of one of their parents.... Not until the sixties did the chief cause of separation of parents shift from death to divorce. Richard Louv divorcefamilychildren If we desire a kinder nation, seeing it through the eyes of children is an eminently sensible endeavor: A city that is pro-child,for example, is also a more humane place for adults. Richard Louv eyecitieschildren No other youth group like the Scouts has trained so many future leaders while at the same time being a nature organization with its outdoor focus. Richard Louv focusorganizationleader I do not mean to imply that the good old days were perfect. But the institutions and structure--the web--of society needed reform,not demolition. To have cut the institutional and community strands without replacing them with new ones proved to be a form of abuse to one generation and to the next. For so many Americans, the tragedy was not in dreaming that life could be better; the tragedy was that the dreaming ended. Richard Louv changedreammean In a famous Middletown study of Muncie, Indiana, in 1924, mothers were asked to rank the qualities they most desire in their children. At the top of the list were conformity and strict obedience. More than fifty years later, when the Middletown survey was replicated, mothers placed autonomy and independence first. The healthiest parenting probably promotes a balance of these qualities in children. Richard Louv motherchildrenyears Rather than accepting the drifting separation of the generations, we might begin to define a more complex and interesting set of life stages and parenting passages, each emphasizing the connections to the generations ahead and behind. As I grow older, for example, I might first see my role as a parent in need of older, mentoring parents, and then become a mentoring parent myself. When I become a grandparent, I might expect to seek out older mentoring grandparents, and then later become a mentoring grandparent. Richard Louv grandparentexampleinteresting
