Omaha Conference Looks at Increasing Kids’ Sense of Wonder

WHNS – March 26, 2009
By Julie Anderson

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• [>] Radical Amazement: The Spirituality of Childhood

A number of authors and experts in recent years have advocated that contact with nature and time for unstructured play benefit children's physical and emotional health.

An Omaha conference next month will feature two of those experts, author Richard Louv and psychologist and author Susan Linn, addressing another side of the equation -- children's spiritual development and well-being.

"Radical Amazement: The Spirituality of Childhood'' isn't about spirituality in the sense of being religious, however.

"It's that part of you that reacts to the world with wonder and awe, and reverence and gratitude,'' said Cyndi Kugler, director of the Center for Faith Studies at Countryside Community Church.

The April 2 and 3 conference, part of the center's community lecture series, is appropriate for people of all faiths, she said. Organizers aim to help teachers and parents, grandparents and others encourage that sense of awe and wonder that children have.

The other hope, Kugler said, is that as children develop a connection with the Earth, they will become caretakers of it.

Louv's book "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder'' details how exposure to nature is essential for healthy development of both children and adults. His message has helped to inspire a movement to get kids back outdoors and reconnected with nature.

One chapter of his book focuses on the spiritual necessity of nature. Louv will give a 7 p.m. keynote address on April 2.

Linn, who will deliver a second keynote speech April 3 at 9:15 a.m., focuses on the importance of child's play. In her book "The Case for Make Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World'' she describes what parents and educators can do to preserve it.

A psychologist at Harvard Medical School, Linn also is director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.

Conference participants also can choose from nine breakout sessions April 3 on topics such as kid-scaping a backyard for nature play, fostering meaningful play and playful work and using children's literature to enhance nature play.

Other sponsors are Children's Hospital & Medical Center, the Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Metro Omaha Resources for Exploring (MORE) Nature and the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District.

Costs are $15 for Louv's address; $25 for Linn's talk, breakout sessions and lunch on April 3; or $35 for all events on both days. To register, visit www.radicalamazementomaha.org for a registration form or call the church at 391-0350, ext. 121.

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