Myomancy ADHD, Dyslexia and Autism

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder

Richard Louv

$5.99 via Amazon

In this influential work about the staggering divide between children and the outdoors, child advocacy expert Richard Louv directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today’s wired generation—he calls it nature-deficit—to some of the most disturbing childhood trends, such as the rises in obesity, attention disorders, and depression.

Last Child in the Woods is the first book to bring together a new and growing body of research indicating that direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy childhood development and for the physical and emotional health of children and adults. More than just raising an alarm, Louv offers practical solutions and simple ways to heal the broken bond—and they are right in our own backyard.

People who have brought this book wrote:

I'm young enough that I still get called "kid" by my friends' parents, and when I saw the cover of this book in the store, with the kid holding a frog, I instantly felt like this book was about someone just like me. When I started reading, I felt so even more.

I've lived in forests and next to creeks all my life, but today, I look around at my friends and I see that most of my generation wasn't as lucky as me. They're all scared of bugs, (even moths!) they adamantly refuse to swim in the lake, (won't even touch salt water) they pick their way slowly and clumsily through the bushes trying not to touch anything... one friend brings an entire fold-out kitchen with her whenever we go camping. (At least she actually goes.) They call me "extreme", when all I did to become this way was catch some frogs, build some stick forts and flip over a few rocks to see what lived underneath.

It took the contrast of moving to the city to show me that there was a problem. I'm not a parental person, but looking around at my friends and peers and seeing them nature-handicapped.. it sucks. I don't want more people to have this problem. And though I haven't finished the book, every sentence has really resonated with me. This is extremely valuable information.
Kids have to know what frogs smell like, where to find snails and snakes, how to hop down a wet trail without getting muddy, or climb up a steep slope in the forest; they have to feed squirrels in the park and learn to fall down and not notice they've scraped their elbow. They should be learning to build things out of branches and leaves and rocks. They should be watching the animals. They need a secret place.

The memories I have of playing on the wilderness are some of the best I have. If they don't learn how now, they'll be too afraid to try later! And then Wall-E happens.

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