Why is reconnecting children with nature important?
• Kids have a basic right to a healthy, whole childhood. In fact, with major advances in medicine, education and other fields, kids today should enjoy a higher quality of life than ever before. But chronic health conditions–such as obesity, diabetes and depression–have reached alarming rates, affecting a growing number of kids. • More than a third of American children and adolescents—17 million–are obese or at risk for obesity. • The number of kids living with a chronic disease has more than quadrupled since 1960, from 1.8% to nearly 8%. • American children are being prescribed antidepressants at skyrocketing rates—according to one published survey, the number of kids being treated for depression recently doubled in a five-year period. • Kids are becoming increasingly disconnected from the great outdoors. Heavily-scheduled kids travel from school to organized activity and then home. Along the way, the outdoors has become a place many kids merely visit. • In 1969, 50% of U.S. childre
