Andy Hinds | Parenting

My best childhood memories were created outdoors. Like a lot of people my age, I don’t recall spending many daylight hours in the house. We didn’t have a lot of structured activities or clubs to attend; we just got shooed out the back door and were told to return by supper.

Likewise, most of the adventures my whole family did together involved hiking and camping. It was fun, wholesome and cheap.

These days though, according to child advocacy expert and author Richard Louv, many children suffer from what he calls “nature deficit disorder,” a range of behavioral problems that could be mitigated by allowing children to develop their instinctive connection with nature. Louv said he believes that our society’s fear, litigiousness and infatuation with electronic screens has gotten between humans and the natural world, much to our detriment.

My twin girls are now almost 4 years old and, although we limit screen time and try to make sure they get plenty of exercise and fresh air, I have to admit that they are a little pampered. They are far too infrequently covered in mud. Whenever we go to REI, they love to play in the tents that are on display, but when I ask if they would like to go night-night in one out in the woods, they look at me like I’ve lost my mind.

But it’s not too late for my kids to forge the connection with nature that Louv and others posit as an inoculation against the childhood maladies of modernity. In fact, according to my good friends Janice and Ron Swaisgood, my wife and I are on the right track toward getting our kids into the woods, even if we don’t go on big hikes regularly and have not yet taken them camping.

Janice and Ron are lifelong outdoor enthusiasts who have not only made a point of raising their two boys with a respect and passion for nature, but have dedicated much of their time and expertise to getting other families outside as well. In 2009, inspired in part by reading Louv, they started a group in San Diego called Family Adventures in Nature to help educate and motivate parents to expose their kids to the great outdoors. About 20 people participated in their first group hike; now there are over 800 members in San Diego County, who go on hikes, campouts and activities at local parks.

Although I sometimes feel negligent when I think of how much nature time a lot of these FAN kids have gotten, Janice and Ron assure me that you don’t need to trek out to the National Forest to provide youngsters with meaningful interactions with nature. In fact, it turns out that the typical unstructured activities – aka “playing” – that my kids and I do are just the kind of stepping stones to the bigger adventures that create lifelong relationships between kids and nature.

One of the concepts that FAN promotes is “nearby nature.” Any park, outdoor space, or even back yard offers opportunities to explore the natural environment. In fact, FAN sponsors events called “Think out of the Park,” in which families start out in playgrounds and gradually move out of the controlled, manicured areas and into the patches of wilderness that we have even the most urbanized parts of the city.

It may sound silly to some parents that there’s a need for an organization to encourage kids to look under logs and jump in mud puddles, but look around next time you’re at the playground: chances are you’ll see grownups dragging kids back to the play structure the minute they start chasing a lizard into the shrubs.

Despite the urban nature of our Uptown neighborhoods, there are plenty of great areas for outdoor exploration, including nature trails in Balboa Park and many of the local canyons. But you don’t even need to go that far to get started.

My kids are at the age when they ask questions about everything. Constantly. On the walk from our house to Morley Field, they might ask me 27 questions about the rocks, plants, trees and bugs we encounter. I answer maybe five or six accurately, make something up for another 10, and table the rest of the questions for further research. Now that they’re starting to suspect that Daddy doesn’t know everything about the natural world, I’m planning on taking them on more outings.

For more information about Family Adventures in Nature, visit familyadventuresinnature.org, look for them on Facebook, join their Meetup group at meetup.com/familyadventuresinnature or email Janice@FamilyAdventuresinNature.com.

—Andy Hinds is a stay-at-home dad, blogger, freelance writer, carpenter and sometimes-adjunct writing professor. He is known on the internet as Beta Dad, but you might know him as that guy in North Park whose kids ride in a dog-drawn wagon. Read his personal blog at butterbeanandcobra.blogspot.com. Reach him at betadad@gmail.com or @betadad on Twitter.