Ontario Parks recently published a great article in their newsletter:

Do your kids suffer from Nature Deficit Disorder?

Here is a quick excerpt:

Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from Nature Deficit Disorder, rocked the parenting world with his notion that outdoor play is becoming extinct and we as parents are to blame.

His theory is that children nowadays are so overprotected and sedentary they have developed what he calls Nature Deficit Disorder, a condition that renders children devoid of outdoor play, disconnected from nature and completely unaware that their very future – and ours as a species – is at risk.

The answer, espouses Louv, is simple.

Get up off the couch, put away the video games, close down the computer and get outside.

It might seem like “tough love” toward parents, but the best interest of children is the focus.

“Imagine a world in which all children grow up with a deep understanding of the world around them,” writes Louv. “Where obesity is reduced through nature play. Where anti-depressants and pharmaceuticals are prescribed less and nature prescribed more. Where children experience the joy of being in nature before they learn of its loss. Where they can lie in the grass on a hillside for hours and watch clouds become the faces of the future. Where every child and every adult has the human right to a connection with the natural world and shares the responsibility to care for it.” – Richard Louv

If you are near Ingersoll a great place to go for a short hike through the woods is the Lawson Nature Reserve (up to 2 km of well maintained trails). Just 10 minutes South of the 401, it couldn’t be closer to home! Click here for an overview and map.