Motivation: Why Your Child Should Discover Nature

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Families that spend more time in nature may see surprising benefits. For starters, when the family and kids are outdoors, they are not “soiling the nest” or underfoot making housekeeping more challenging.

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Make sure your home has plenty of entrance matting to help wipe shoes clean and dry when outdoor enthusiasts come in. Also, provide a seat near the front door and a storage spot for shoes, gloves, coats and umbrellas, so soil and moisture from outdoors can be prevented from entering your home.

There are other major family benefits to enjoying the outdoors.

Research has shown that children who play outside in nature have lower stress levels and more active imaginations, become fitter and leaner, develop stronger immune systems and have greater respect for themselves and for others.

Sadly, studies show that many children don’t spend much time outdoors, even those among the more than 245 million Americans who live within 100 miles of a national forest or grassland. If children do spend time outdoors, it is often spent participating in activities such as biking, walking, listening to music or using electronic devices. Nature-based activities, such as bird-watching, hiking, camping and fishing, are not as common. As a result, many children are not developing a relationship with or appreciation for nature.

To help, the U.S. Forest Service, along with the Ad Council – a nonprofit organization that marshals resources from the advertising and communications fields, the media, and business and nonprofit communities to produce and promote public service campaigns – recently launched a public service advertising (PSA) campaign, “Discover The Forest,” to encourage families to reconnect with nature. Originally launched in 2009, the campaign has been updated for 2013.

The best news? Most Americans live within 90 minutes of a forest or park, and it is worth the trip. The forest is a unique environment where children can flex imagination muscles through exploration and discovery, and as parents know, there are few things more rewarding than seeing their children’s eyes light up when they discover something new.

According to U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell: “The physical, mental and spiritual benefits our great outdoors provide are more important now than ever.”

The website, , features interactive games, a list of activity ideas and a convenient forest locator, all to encourage families to spend active time outdoors.

By encouraging your children to spend time outside the confines of your house, and joining them on “nature” excursions, both you, and they, will benefit.

Connecting or reconnecting with the outdoor, natural world, means spending less time confined indoors adding to housekeeping. More time interacting with the outdoor environment means less time sullying the indoor one.

So, what are you waiting for? You, your family, and your simplified housekeeping plan have much to gain and nothing to lose by taking your act outdoors.

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Why Your Child Should Discover Nature – and How This Helps Your Housekeeping: Created on October 14th, 2013. Last Modified on January 21st, 2014