Monday 13 August 2012

Please, Don't Touch the Nature - NYTimes.com



A really thought provoking article about our communications with children in respect to their interactions with nature. How much are our own perceptions effected by our own fears and ignorance of nature?

The full article can be read from the link above  


Our environment, we’re told by climate scientists, is fragile. But are children learning that their natural environment — the trees, dirt and grass that surround us — is “fragile,” too? Several educators, after observing years of children’s being taught to “look, but don’t touch,” have argued this summer that many programs and policies designed to protect the natural world are actually preventing a new generation from developing an interest in it. Don’t climb the trees, don’t dig holes, take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints — do we keep nature and children too far apart in the interest of protecting (or overprotecting) them both?

Photo by  KJ DELL'ANTONIA

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