A PART OF LIFE OUR KIDS MISS

Father and Son on trail

Seriously, our kids do not match our childhood. And I speak for every parent out there who would agree to this. Our children are overloaded by school, completely consumed by digital media and out of shape. All because there is something critical that’s missing in their health and social development. It is none but their connection to the natural world that’s missing in their life.
The growing popularity of video games and engaging content will never help us out here. I’m sure every parent like myself is concerned here. Hypersensitivity, sleeplessness and appetite loss are just a few of the complaints we have about our kids.
Our children need real life engagements. They need to know the beautiful world out there. We as parents, need to bring that balance between real life engagment and digital media. The value of wilderness has increasingly becoming unknown to our children. Physical activity and visual stimuli can teach lessons that many books won’t. Let’s dive into that and see what benefits our kids can get from outdoors:

Add Venture

Going out and exploring instigates a sense of adventure in kids and help them build their imagination. You know how kids are drawn to the dirty side of the world, for instance, leave them around hemp of sand or soil and see after a while what they are capable of.
Wilderness inspires the bravery to try out. They will naturally observe who shares the wilderness with them, the weather, birds, or animals. They will even tell the story of a bug or an ant while they played in the soil. Giving kids the sense of adventure at an early age means a decrease in rates of obesity and even depression that’s common around these days in youngsters.

Respect and Empathy

Respect is hard to learn. But tell you what children who have the opportunity to spend time in the wilderness learn it naturally. Though we as parents need to aid them while they learn it. Similarly, they also learn empathy if they get a chance to see baby animals or bird’s nests, or wildlife in general. Let your kids know how animals live and survive in the wilderness. Give them an idea of the food chain involved. It is a proven fact that children who are empathetic toward animals are equally the same toward humans.

Leave no Trace

Kids who go out and hike, camp, or explore the wilderness will learn the responsibility of leaving no trace. Simple things like putting campfires out after activity can stop wildfires while respecting wildlife teaches them morals and empathy. This very concept let the children learn to leave the wild, wild. A simple activity to instill this trait is to pick up trash while on a hike with your kids. As they do it, point out to them how it has affected the ecosystem. This way they will know that trash doesn’t disappear on its own, you need to clean after yourself.

Unplug together

And finally, as much as our kids are consumed by digital media, we are too. So it’s a good reason to unplug together and head straight to the wilderness. Take a break and feel the natural world together. Establish that parent-child bond the way it needs to be. The digital world is not going to do that for you.