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Addressing the Silent Emergency
April 25, 2017
"The way other people see me doesn't make me or break me. I will continue to be who I am and what I am."
-Joyce Jackson, in Stories of Resistance
-Joyce Jackson, in Stories of Resistance
"The changes we have wrought in childhood in order to protect children from danger constitute a silent emergency," writes Eric Nelson in his book, Cultivating Outdoor Classrooms. "I call it emergency because of the rapidly escalating negative effects it is having on children and society at large. I call it silent because the combined impact of several unintended consequences make it so damaging, yet the collective impact of these consequences is rarely discussed."
The author outlines seven critical issues children are facing today:
- "Lack of exercise
- Preoccupation with electronic media
- Perception of outdoors as an unsafe place to play
- Isolation from and fear of nature
- Lack of engagement in and connection to the world, including nature
- Reductive approaches to ECE
- Epidemic use of behavior-modifying drugs on young children."
Nelson believes that "the Outdoor Classroom can help early childhood educators address this emergency."
Cultivating Outdoor Classrooms |
 Transform outdoor spaces into learning environments where children can enjoy a full range of activities as they spend quality time in nature. This book is filled with guidance to help you plan, design, and create an outdoor learning program that is a rich, thoughtfully equipped, natural extension of your indoor curriculum. |
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Comments (1)
Displaying 1 CommentJacksonville, FL, United States
I agree completely with this article. We are not alone in thinking this way. Many outdoor schools and classes have been going on in Europe for a while now, with positive results. Why can't we include outdoor experiences, beyond recess in playground, in our schools?
I think that to some degree, the regulations for health and safety have imposed limitations on early childhood programs, such as use of sandbox for children under two, for example. I agree that we need to consider children's safety, but that cannot mean "not letting them explore the outdoors to the fullest extent", right? Look at what children are doing in outdoor spaces, learning from the feedback they get from nature, even on their own, in places where they play with peers instead of going to preschool. I recall a EED video from a few years ago, titled "Children of the World" as an example for this point.
What do you think?
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