Blog #7 Louv Readings

      
       Richard Louv explains how children have a disorder, which is why they don't like nature. He calls it nature-deficit. He does make a lot of good points about why children are not liking the outdoors anymore, but to give it a name is a little much for me. If we start giving something like this a name and blaming it for other disorders, then scientists are probably going to try and make medicine for it, and that is not what they need.
       My solution is to slow the pace down with the new technology for children so they get bored of the indoors, and the paents can then let them loose at a playground or a campsite, baseball for goodness sake! I'm sorry but the Nintendo Wii is not going to cure obesity, and keep your child fit. All the Wii will do for your kid is eliminate the need to go outside, rot their brain, give them carpal tunnel syndrom, turn them into brats, and break your $1000 television.

       See I think Louv is trying to say nature-deficit is causing attention disorders and depression, but I don't agree. I do believe that children being deprived of the outdoors can make these conditions worse. If someone is depressed, and is looking at horrible news or something on the television or computer, or a video game with killing in it, then that will make them more depressed and maybe do something that will hurt themselves. If that same depressed person took a walk at a park and maybe they could see some cute animals to make them happy, or accomplish something like climbing something, or even just be calmed down by a gentle breeze. The best thing to do is get your child to enjoy a hobby that involves something outside.
       Besides those 2 things i disagreed with, the solutions by Louv are definitely something I agree with. He wants what I want, for kids to go outside and play, and for parents to stop babying their children with every new video game console that comes out. When I was young my mom would kick us out of the house when we were sitting around too long, and we were happy when she did that because we would just ride our bikes down to the baseball field and play ball for hours. Most of the time she didn't have to kick us out because it was what we loved to do. Parents need to try every outdoor activity with their kids until they have a passion for something. My parents were lucky though because I loved sports as soon as I could walk. I also recommend keeping your baby away from the television, that might have something to do with it too.