The things they lost, the things nature can return

“I think, we have to recognize the joy that the world didn’t give us and that the world can’t take away, in the midst of the world taking away what it can.” — Drew Lanham

This is a quote from the Black ornithologist and Clemson University professor Drew Lanham, that I think gets at the heart of our collective experience during these pandemic times. The joy he refers to that the world didn’t give and can’t take away is to be found in the experiences we can have in nature. Lanham knows that we are changed by those experiences deeply and for the better. 

Assessing the impacts of a storm while you are still in the midst of that storm is a difficult task. But when those impacts are profound, the endeavour to name and understand becomes necessary. The pandemic has put us all in this position, and our children need us to be honest and unflinching here and now.

And for our children, who have faced this storm without the perspective that only length of time on this earth can create, this pandemic has been especially confounding. But nature. The forests, the rivers, the birds and their songs, the dirt and the wildflowers in their inexplicable beauty in seemingly improbable places — all of it. Time here is restorative and necessary because of what our children have lost.

So much of the past two plus years has been about denial, delay and loss. The toll has been all too real for children and will not heal on its own. The wild, open spaces of nature, with its solace, wonder and mystery, can heal.

So much of the past two plus years has been about denial, delay and loss. The toll has been all too real for children and will not heal on its own. The wild, open spaces of nature, with its solace, wonder and mystery, can heal.

By now you will likely have heard the term “learning loss,” used to describe the academic losses students have suffered due to pandemic school closures and remote learning via technology. This is a real deficit that needs to be equitably addressed by our education system, but there is more here. 

Dislocation from friends, family and any spaces outside of the home has negatively impacted life for our children and changed them in ways we must seek to understand and begin to remedy. 

In my work reconnecting children to nature, parents have shared with me some of the ways in which the pandemic and all of its impositions have negatively impacted their children. From sadness, loneliness, confusion and difficulty sleeping, to introversion and other personality changes, parents are worried.

The academic research demonstrating the numerous benefits of time spent in nature for children (and adults) is now well-established. Unstructured play in the woods can build confidence, promote creativity and ignite imagination, teach responsibility, provide healthy mental stimulation, reduce stress and emotional fatigue, all while encouraging movement that doesn’t feel like exercise. All of this nurtures the interior life of a child. 

That interior life is revealed through character, spirit, and passions. It is all that animates them in their life as children. Time in nature will work its restorative magic here. Those same parents who reported negative impacts of the pandemic, noticed that their children were happier, sleeping better and that the entire mood of the household had improved after a few days of exploring in nature.

In Canada we are blessed with an abundance of beautiful natural landscapes. And with a bit of effort, everyone can make a little time to walk in the woods. Immerse yourself in the beauty of nature. Walk amongst the giants of pine, maple and spruce. Hear the hawk’s call, the rush of the river, the stunningly beautiful silence of nothing at all. It will change you and your children.

Immerse yourself in the beauty of nature. Walk amongst the giants of pine, maple and spruce. Hear the hawk’s call, the rush of the river, the stunningly beautiful silence of nothing at all. It will change you and your children.

Enjoying the outdoors is a profoundly human experience. All you need is an open mind and your curiosity (and maybe a water bottle!). The joy your children will experience there is unique. The beloved poet Mary Oliver, seeking refuge from a difficult childhood, sought the forest. I think she put it best when she said, “ I got saved by the beauty of the world.”

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