GRAND Magazine - September/October 2019 - 21

nature

Connect your grandkids to nature
BY RICHARD LOUVE

randparents can play a special role in connecting kids to nature. We now know,
through burgeoning research, that nature
experiences offer special benefits to children.
Among them, reduced symptoms of attention deficit hyperactive disorder, better cognitive functioning
and creativity, more robust physical health, stress
reduction and mental health - less loneliness and
more joy.
The good news for grandparents, or any adults
who introduce children to nature, is that they receive
all of the same benefits that their grandchildren or
children receive from nature experiences. Not only children have what
I've called nature-deficit disorder.
Adults do, too. I believe that people
of grandparenting age have a special responsibility to the next generation. Grandparents tend to have more
practical experience in connecting to
nature than their own children do. Baby
Boomers, for example, are more likely
to have pitched a tent, built a treehouse,
or even gone fishing. This history of
direct experience in nature isn't true of
all grandparents, of course. But so often,
those of us of grandparenting age do
have the time, money, and memories
that parents may not.

21 GRAND

SEPT-OCT 2019

"A growing body of scientific evidence links healthy aging
to outdoor experiences..."

Most of us can recall a time when it was considered normal and expected for children to go out in
the woods or a field and watch the clouds move,
listen to the wind, and to feel a part of the larger
family of animals. Because we can remember that
time, it's doubly important that we act - that we not
take that experience and those memories with us
when we leave this Earth."

Grandparents and grandfriends (that's what children and nature advocate, Avery Cleary, calls older
people who act as surrogate grandparents) can play
an important role in connecting children to nature.
They often have more free time, or at least more flexibility, than parents do. Also, many grandparents (one
in ten in the United States) are raising a grandchild,
according to a Pew Research analysis.
Grandparents and grandfriends seem
younger these days. Many are, certainly in
spirit. But sometimes the new sixty-five is, well,
the new sixty-four.
So health is on the mind. Here's some good
news: a growing body of scientific evidence links
healthy aging to outdoor experiences, which
add value to exercise, improving sleeping patterns, speeding recovery from injuries, reducing
pain, and helping maintain brain function and
memory. Residential developers already know
that retiring baby boomers appear to prefer
hiking trails to golf courses. Later, when choosing a long-term care facility, picking one with
more nature in and around it helps (and some
are taking biophilic design seriously).
Continued on next page

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GRAND Magazine - September/October 2019

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