Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder | 
 enlarge | Author: Richard Louv
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Category: Book
Buy New: $39.86
New (4) Used (9) from $7.72
Rating:  89 reviews
Sales Rank: 130998
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 1565123913
Dewey Decimal Number: 155.418
EAN: 9781565123915
ASIN: 1565123913
Publication Date: April 15, 2005
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Product Description
"I like to play indoors better 'cause that's where all the electrical outlets are," reports a fourth-grader. Never before in history have children been so plugged in—and so out of touch with the natural world. In this groundbreaking new work, child advocacy expert Richard Louv directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today's wired generation—he calls it nature deficit—to some of the most disturbing childhood trends, such as rises in obesity, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), and depression.
Some startling facts: By the 1990s the radius around the home where children were allowed to roam on their own had shrunk to a ninth of what it had been in 1970. Today, aerage eight-year-olds are better able to identify cartoon characters than native species, such as beetles and oak trees, in their own community. The rate at which doctors prescribe antidepressants to children has doubled in the last five years, and recent studies show that too much computer use spells trouble for the developing mind.
Nature-deficit disorder is not a medical condition; it is a description of the human costs of alienation from nature. This alienation damages children and shapes adults, families, and communities. There are solutions, though, and they're right in our own backyards. Last child in the Woods is the first book to bring together cutting-edge research showing that direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy childhood development—physical, emotional, and spiritual. What's more, nature is a potent therapy for depression, obesity, and ADD. Environment-based education dramatically improves standarized test scores and grade point averages and develops skills in problem solving, critical thinking, and decision making. Even creativity is stimulated by childhood experiences in nature.
Yet sending kids outside to play is increasingly difficult. Computers, television, and video games compete for their time, of course, but it's also our fears of traffic, strangers, even virus-carrying mosquitos—fears the media exploit—that keep children indoors. Meanwhile, schools assign more and more homework, and there is less and less access to natural areas.
Parents have the power to ensure that their daughter or son will not be the "last child in the woods," and this book is the first step toward that nature-child reunion.
Book Description
“I like to play indoors better ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are,” reports a fourth grader. But it’s not only computers, television, and video games that are keeping kids inside. It’s also their parents’ fears of traffic, strangers, Lyme disease, and West Nile virus; their schools’ emphasis on more and more homework; their structured schedules; and their lack of access to natural areas. Local governments, neighborhood associations, and even organizations devoted to the outdoors are placing legal and regulatory constraints on many wild spaces, sometimes making natural play a crime.
As children’s connections to nature diminish and the social, psychological, and spiritual implications become apparent, new research shows that nature can offer powerful therapy for such maladies as depression, obesity, and attentiondeficit disorder. Environment-based education dramatically improves standardized test scores and grade-point averages and develops skills in problem solving, critical thinking, and decision making. Anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that childhood experiences in nature stimulate creativity.
In Last Child in the Woods, Louv talks with parents, children, teachers, scientists, religious leaders, child-development researchers, and environmentalists who recognize the threat and offer solutions. Louv shows us an alternative future, one in which parents help their kids experience the natural world more deeply—and find the joy of family connectedness in the process.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 84 more reviews...
 Excelent Book January 6, 2009
Anyone who has kids, works with kids or ever was a kid (yes I mean everyone) should read this book!
Excellent book for an environmentalist! January 6, 2009
The book was in mint condition and arrived just in time to be given as a Christmas gift!
I'm a true believer December 28, 2008
Since I live in the woods and my grown children, with my grandchildren all live in the city, I purchased multiple copies of this book as gifts. Hoping to see them all more.
Inspiring December 12, 2008
I think every single parent should read this book and think deeply about the education we are providing our children.
Required reading for parents December 7, 2008
Every parent who grew up in the outdoors should read this and remember what it meant to be a child. Generations are loosing their connection to the land and the land is what made America great. Read it and get back out there with your children, or simply get back out there yourself.
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