Nature’s
Child
“To
raise a nature-bonded child is to raise a rebel, a dreamer, an innovator…someone
who will walk their own verdant, winding path.”
Nicolette
Sowder
I awoke
from a dream this morning in which I was given two words to ponder: human and
humane. Upon looking them up, I found that the root word is hum and means earth
or ground—human equals earth man. The Latin word for earth is humus, and hum is
also the root word for humble, meaning lowly, and humane, meaning kind or
compassionate. In Hebrew the words for human beings are ben Adam, or son of
Adam, which usually translates in the Bible to son of man. And, according to
Genesis, Adam, the first human created by God, was made from earth. Putting them
together, I came up with “Adam, son of earth, lowly and kind.” Perhaps that is
how humans are supposed to be.
When I
was growing up a long time ago, children lived a little like Mowgli in The
Jungle Book. We roamed free, climbed trees, played in creeks, and swung on
vines. We caught lightening bugs and June-bugs; turned over rocks in the creek
and caught lizards and salamanders. We collected butterflies and brought home
garden snakes. We had a relationship to the earth and its creatures. I tried to
provide that for my sons, too, even though living in a city meant they weren’t
as free as I had been. But they went to scouts and to camps and learned to swim
and boat and to feel comfortable and familiar with woods and lakes.
I know that is a
privileged lifestyle not all children have access to, but I think it’s
important to make the effort for a couple of reasons—for the child to gain
confidence in negotiating the world physically and mentally by problem solving,
inventing ways to adapt when everything is not provided, and learning to make things from what is around you. Also, because if we never touch the earth, we
cannot be expected to have a relationship with it. I fear we have strayed too
far from our “lowly son of earth” origins. And, in the end, that will not serve
humanity.
David Sobel, author, scientist,
and developer of place-based education says this: “Children more than ever,
need opportunities to be in their bodies in the world—jumping rope, bicycling,
stream hopping and fort building. It’s this encouragement between the limbs of
the body and the bones of the earth where true balance and centeredness emerge.”
Technology will not do this for our children. Being in the body outside in nature will. And not
just for children, but for grown-ups too.
I want to see us allow kids to get dirty, to work at play, to rest in the branches of trees, and
to be as familiar with grasshoppers as with schoolbooks and video games. Children have a
natural affinity for nature if we allow them access. If we want them to love Mother
Nature as much as they love World of Warcraft, we must push them out the door.
Playing outside does more than occupy them; it helps to build confident,
capable, balanced human beings—humane and humble earth children. And, they are
the very best kind.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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