Week 4: The Lost Child in the Woods

This past week in Colloquium, our class read a couple chapters from Richard Louv's The Last Child in the Woods and held our discussion outside under shady trees at Florida Gulf Coast University.  Louv extensively defined what he believes nature is and how he believes nature should be characterized. 

Louv makes some interesting statements when describing the forms in which nature comes in.  In particular, Louv explains nature as a creativity, a freedom, a separate peace, a fantasy, and a privacy. One of my favorite quotations that Louv makes include "nature offers healing and does not steal time."  This description of nature really made me think and reflect upon my own definitions of nature.   At one point, I thought nature was just limited to the outdoors, plants, animals and their surroundings.  Now after reflection, I have learned that it is much more.  I refer to nature as the umbrella term to everything that is on this Earth from natural habitats and environments to humans to even machines and technology.  The meaning of nature and the root word natura is birth, meaning that nature is the birth of new ideas and evolution of life. 

Louv further examines how children and nature interact today, and he discovers that children do not connect or spend as much time with nature than they did back then.  When he asked a child why they would rather spend the time indoors, the child responded "because that's where all the electrical outlets are."  Nature is not part of their everyday life anymore due to computers, lack of time, TVs, and even "lacked curiosity."

 

The readings made me reflect on my personal experiences as well as relationship with nature during my childhood. Growing up in Maryland with a large backyard, I had plenty of space to play and explore.  I vividly remember going on nature walks after school with my dad and sisters behind our house, playing make believe games outside with the neighborhood children until it got dark outside, and seeing deer prancing in the snow across our front yard.  My parents really wanted us to be well-rounded and experience all of the beauty that life has to offer especially experiencing each of the four seasons.  We spent the hot summers running through the sprinklers, raking the leaves then jumping in the big pile we created during the fall, planting flowers with Mom in April, sledding down the neighborhood hill, and feeling that magical moment when watching the gentle snowflakes hit the ground during the very first snow of the winter.  My parents encourage creativity, imagination and embracing the natural beauty of life.