Upcoming talk aims to connect kids with nature

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 10, 2014
By Laura Finney

Are your children spending enough time outside?

With busy lifestyles and distracting gadgets, children and families may not be getting outdoors as much as they used to.

But Andrew McMartin hopes to fix that.

He is the founder of the PINE Project, a non-profit organization aimed at connecting children and communities with nature.

“I think its one of the most important things that we can do for the good of our community and the good of the next generation,” he said.

McMartin will be giving a seminar - Connecting Kids to Nature - Fostering a Culture of Nature Connection - at the Whitchurch-Stouffville Leisure Centre Saturday.

“It seems to me that it just makes so much sense to have kids fall in love with things that create clean air, clean water, clean food,” he said. “The more we connect deeply with these things, the more we take care of them, the healthier we are.”

During the seminar, he will discuss how to get children and families connected to nature, the benefits of connecting with nature and the differences between childhood now and childhood years ago.

“Three generations ago, young kids were travelling 11 kilometres with a fishing pole to a pond in the woods and they could be gone the entire day, “ he said. “Skip three generations forward and kids are walking around on leashes.”

And there are consequences to this behaviour later in life, he said, like a lack of independence and problem-solving skills.

By connecting with nature, children gain skills and characteristics, he said.

A common argument parents and caregivers make are concerns over safety, but McMartin questioned the idea of making fear-based decisions.

“What kind of choices do you make when they are based on fear and how do they usually work out for you,” he said.

The seminar is being put on by York Region Environmental Services and is part of their Greener Home and Garden series.

Brooke Erickson, public and youth education co-ordinator with the region, said they approached McMartin after receiving feedback from local parents.

They were concerned about too much screen time and nature deficit disorder, a term coined in a book by Richard Louv about kids not spending enough time outside.

Technology and screen time are huge parts of this conversation, McMartin said.

Erickson said she hopes the seminar will inspire those in York Region to get outside and become more involved in nature.

“I think that nature connection is important if you are expecting people to make the environment a priority,” she said. “It’s difficult to prioritize the protection of the environment if you don’t have a connection with nature.”

She also said she hopes people will get out and explore the York Region Forest tracts.

York Region forestry representative will be at the seminar with information about the local area, features and the forest tracts.

The seminar is Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon at the Whitchurch-Stouffville Leisure Centre.