The Importance of Outdoor Playtime Area Professionals Prescribe a Daily Dose of ‘Vitamin N’
by Linda Sechrist E
ven before his introduction in Last Child in the Woods, author Richard Louv sets the tone for his book’s content with a quote from a fourth-grade boy in the San Diego County school district. Where the sun shines some 359 days a year and only 10 inches of rain fall annually, Louv’s young interviewee notes his prefer- ence for playing indoors: “I like to play indoors, ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are.”
In Southwest Florida, another land of sunshine, several proponents agree with Louv about the benefits of outdoor playtime for children and adults. Lea Leonard, a Naples licensed clinical social worker and owner of Wings of Change, supports her enthusiasm for time spent in nature with the results of a recent study at the University of Il- linois at Urbana-Champaign. “Although it primarily focuses on children with at- tention deficit disorder (ADD), Coping with ADD: The Surprising Connection to Green Play Settings examines the relationship between children’s nature exposure through leisure activities and their attentional functioning,” says Leonard.
In the study, parents were surveyed regarding their child’s attentional func- tioning after activities in several set- tings, and results indicated that children fared better after activities in green set- tings. The “greener” a child’s play area, the less severe were his or her attention deficit symptoms.
The Natural World is Restorative
“Contact with nature may support at- tentional functioning in a population of more than 2 million children in the United States who desperately need attentional support,” enthuses Leonard, who works with children, adolescents, young adults and families. Alarmed at the number of her clients that spend their free time in front of a computer playing video games, Leonard points out five difficulties exhibited by these
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children: social difficulties due to isolation; trouble making friends and keeping them; challenges in problem solving; difficulty with group activities; and behavioral issues within the family system.
“Some of these children are so focused on playing the game, getting time for the game and thinking about the game, that they react with frustra- tion and irritation when told they must do something else,” notes Leonard,
The “greener” a child’s play area, the less severe were his or her attention deficit symptoms.
who recommends that families strike a healthy balance by limiting their children’s time spent on video and computer pastimes. “Insist that your children play outside or join other chil- dren in outdoor activities,” she advises, pointing to the area’s many choices for nature activities. Lindsay Smith, a member of the Naples Community Garden Project, is the mother of 5-year-old Cooper, 3-year-old Cameron and 1-year-old Annie. “Even when Annie is fussy and hasn’t slept much, I can take her
outside and it’s like hitting her reset button and she’s good to go,” jokes Smith. Outdoor playtime is essential to the Smith children, who never tire of searching for bugs, lizards and snails. Smith, who joins her children in a friendly game of catch-and-release, says, “I never thought I’d be my chil- dren’s accomplice in studying, but their everyday delight and sense of wonder- ment is priceless.”
Regular visits to the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens, Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Naples Botanical Garden and Cork- screw Swamp Sanctuary are among the family’s favorite nature outings. “My husband’s favorite destination for observing nature with the children is Corkscrew, where we all take part in noting our animal and bug sightings on a tally board,” advises Smith.
Social Skills and Creativity Flourish
“Interacting with nature provides op- portunities for children to build reason- ing skills and enhance their awareness of their surroundings, thereby improving
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