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Posted by f_klock on February 6, 2008 at 10:40:32 am EST
In reply to People prefer videogames to the outdoors posted by Bill S on February 5, 2008 at 7:48:13 pm EST

This is an article I wrote for our newsletter: www.carboneec.org
I thought it had some pertinence here.

Boys will be boys – or will they?

This year one of our summer workers gave me a gift. A book entitled “The Dangerous Book for Boys” by Conn and Hal Iggulden, a couple of brothers from Great Britain. The book brought me back to my childhood, back to the days of climbing trees, making slingshots, climbing “Mountains”, building huts, and playing OUTSIDE.

Not until after I heard an interview with Conn on public radio, did I realize that the inspiration for the book was not reminiscence, but rather the observation that boys as we know them today are not the boys of yesterday. Nor will they grow up to be men, as we know them today.

The book talks of great adventures, both real life ones in our own “Kingdoms” and fictitious ones read about only in books. There are suggestions that we, the men of today, are the way we are because we were allowed by our parents to participate in certain medium to high risk rights-of-passage that all boys should have the opportunity to take part in.

One such right of passage is the simplest of things, tree climbing. Today, in the overprotective world we live in, tree climbing is taboo. For crying out loud, playgrounds are now made with protective rubber matting –just in case. “He could get hurt!” and, “Who’ll pay the bill?” are some of the cries one might hear. To this I respond, who paid our bills?

A boy can learn a lot of things from climbing a tree: What its texture is like, what animals live in it, what is smells like, and why tree species are shaped differently. Some other things a boy can learn from tree climbing are fear and accomplishment. Fear is a big one. Fear is necessary. In order to overcome fear, one must experience it first hand. Accomplishment is big on a boy’s list too. For a boy to look up at that big Oak and wonder if it can be climbed is one thing. The feeling of accomplishment a boy gets when he is reunited with terra firma, knowing that oak CAN be climbed and HE did it is quite another, and it’s huge.

If the boy fails, this too is a valuable lesson. “Suppose he falls and breaks an arm?” To this I say “So what!” Then the list of lessons gets longer. He learns that it sometimes hurts to fail, and that eventually, the pain goes away. Then it’s time to try again. But this time, do it better. Do it right. Fear breeds success.

Technology is another hurdle that boys have to clear. I am not opposed to technology. It has merit. I say this as I type on my personal computer. I am opposed, however, to technology taking away childhood, making the boys of today soft. When I was a boy, Mom would often be heard to say “Turn off the television and go out and play!” In those days TV was the only technological enemy. Today, the enemy alliance has grown, TV, X-Box, Playstation, Mp3/video players, the internet, and numerous other things that keep boys from active play. Are the boys smarter today? Of that I’m not so sure. They can do a lot of things that I couldn’t do at that age, but now they can’t do a lot of the things that I could.

At the risk of sounding old, allow me to share these observations with you:
When I was a boy, we played games like manhunt, war (with actual sticks for guns), kick the can, and tag, IN THE WOODS! We got hurt (often) and it was OK. We lived through it. We played kid-organized (Read: No adults to get involved in fist fights) sports for the championship of the world. We got dirty; really dirty (and bloody sometimes too) conquering the coal banks that were our “Mountains”. We pioneered “green” gravity sports like skateboarding (now a crime in many towns, Mountain biking (not allowed on many state owned lands), and snowboarding (Now you need a lift ticket).

There is a movement now to reintroduce the outdoors to children. “No child left inside” is a program designed to get kids outdoors to experience the wonders of the natural world. Not the Costa Rican rain forests, but their own back yards. Studies have shown that time spent outdoors reduces loneliness, depression, and attention disorders. Apparently, boys today need the outdoors more than ever since 82 percent of the worlds juvenile behavior medication is prescribed in the United States.

Here at CCEEC we have seen many examples of “Nature deficit disorder” as Richard Louv puts it in his book, Last Child In The Woods. One such instance involves a young boy that, while hiking here with his school, discovered a pile of Black Bear scat on the ground. As I discussed the find with the boy and his buddies I became aware that one of the girls in the group was in tears and near panic, because there were bears around. I tried to explain that the scat was old and the bear could be 50 miles away, but she had to be taken (nearly carried) back to the center, by one of the outdoor savvy boys, to be consoled by her teacher. Can you imagine? Bears in the woods! Who would have thought? When I was a boy, bears lived in the woods, not just on the Animal Planet channel.

So the next time you see a boy doing a dangerous activity like climbing a tree or skipping a stone across a pond, remind yourself that they are outside, learning life’s most valuable lessons. Lessons that cannot be taught except by the student themselves.

Boys will be boys, if we let them.

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