How to Teach Kids About Hope Through Nature
A number of recent surveys have found that a combination of social, economic, technological and ecological pressures are robbing our youth of optimism. It doesn’t help that research shows nearly 80% of parents think their children may end up with worse lives, which is up from around 40% who said the same thing two decades ago. Remember, kids pick up on your feelings and sentiment, even if you don’t speak it to them.
To intervene, limiting exposure to the media will help, as will being more mindful about how you express yourself around them about the future and how current matters of the world may impact it. Beyond this, thoughtful parents are wondering if there is more they can do to teach kids about hope, and how to enjoy exponentially more of it. There is, and the solution is right outside of your household’s door. Read ahead to learn more!
Four Ways Spending More Time in Nature Can Teach Kids to Have Hope in a Modern World
Nature is Enduring
Children are bombarded with news about how they are living through a climate crisis. And while it’s most certainly important to promote environmental sustainability to your kids, we also encourage you to communicate to them, that no matter what industrialization and technology throws at her, Mother Nature endures. It’s humanity that ultimately has to adapt to her reactions.
Since its creation, the Earth has demonstrated long-term stability and resilience. This offers hope to children by revealing the power of recovery and adaptation. Despite experiencing mass extinctions, natural disasters, and human degradation, the Earth system persists and, over time, recovers. This long-term perspective can help children move beyond media-fueled feelings of despair and act with purpose to build a more sustainable future, together.
Nature Teaches Patience
A child’s innate lack of, or limited, patience negatively affects hope by triggering frustration and despair when outcomes are delayed or do not meet expectations. Instead of nurturing hope in the journey, impatience focuses on the immediate goal, which can lead to negative feelings and a sense of hopelessness if progress and positive outcomes do not arrive fast enough to meet expectations and desires for quick gratification.
Spending more time in nature can nip this in the bud.
How? For one, when children are immersed in nature, they witness first-hand that it takes time (weeks, months, seasons, or even years) for beautiful and fruitful flora to grow. In addition, they will observe how wildlife solves problems and overcomes challenges without letting negative emotions stop them from their pursuits. Furthermore, they will recognize that anticipated and unanticipated weather events can disrupt plans and progress at the drop of a hat. All of this is analogous to much of what they, their family household, school, community, and society as a whole may go through. From this they will learn that positive change will not come overnight, and that by remaining patient they can approach challenges in a calculated manner and with a level head to move gradually towards the goal of a better life not just for their own circle, but for their community. This leads to the next point.
Nature Teaches a Sense of Community
It may not always seem like it, especially when watching a seagull and pigeon wrestle over a discarded french fry at a local park, but in reality, all of nature’s beings enjoy a symbiotic relationship. Point your kids towards observing the concept of mutualism, which is a type of symbiotic relationship where all species involved benefit from their interactions. Mutualism can be roughly broken down into two types of relationships. Obligate mutualism is where the species are entirely dependent on each other, while faculative mutualism is where species derive benefits from their relationship but could survive without each other. One example that your kids can observe in the forest (or zoo) is when birds perch upon the body of a large mammal (deer, elk, etc.) to rid the mammal of ticks and blood-sucking flies. This helps keep the mammal’s parasite load under control, while birds get an easy meal. Of course, one mutualistic relationship that we discuss often here at the Plant a Seed & See What Grows Foundation is between bees and flowers. They enjoy a mutually beneficial exchange in that flowers provide nectar and pollen as food for bees, while bees facilitate the reproduction of flowers by transferring pollen between blooms (pollination).
Drawing from the biological construct, mutualism suggests that cooperation for mutual benefit is essential for the stability and function not just in nature, but for communities that our children live within. It demonstrates how interconnectedness and shared fate, rather than pure self-interest, can foster a sense of community by encouraging interdependence and collaboration. So while there may be disagreements and irritations from time to time (a deer doesn’t always want a bird to sit on its back) recognizing that we depend upon one another just as the flora and fauna of nature does, we may find hope for a better future.
Nature is FUN!
Do you know what promotes feelings of hope better than anything? Having fun! Studies show that having fun can positively affect hope by acting as a source of strength, resilience, and renewed purpose, especially during challenging times. Fun can improve mood, boost self-esteem, and foster a positive outlook, helping to combat stress and burnout related to childhood academic, social, and family pressures. Frequent fun also inspires adolescents to pursue long-term goals and engage more deeply with others and their communities.
While there are many conduits to fun in modern times, children must be guided (by parents) to strike a balance between digital experiences and time in nature. The latter (nature) is the original entertainment platform. Spending time outdoors is fun because it provides diverse stimulation for the senses, reduces stress, and boosts mood, leading to feelings of joy, creativity, and calmness. Immersion in the natural world also encourages physical activity and social interaction, making it a holistic experience that can be enjoyed through various activities like taking a hike along a forest path, riding a bike through a trail that embraces an eco-reserve, or even observing nature from outside on the patio when back home at day’s end. All of this works collectively to promote feelings of hope.
We hope everything above was helpful. Meanwhile, please note that the Plant a Seed & See What Grows Foundation inspires and promotes healthy living and learning for kids across Canada. You can help us help the next generation by pledging your support too! View more on how you can get involved.