From sniffing dandelions to prodding frogspawn and chasing butterflies, young children are often automatically and unashamedly drawn to nature. Then a chasm opens. During adolescence, many declare wildlife boring, “icky” or uncool, while the allure of social networks and fast fashion intensifies, alongside mounting pressures to conform to the norms of increasingly nature-blind communities.
In an era of climate breakdown and ecological collapse, the teenage slump in connection to wild nature is not just unfortunate, it is deeply perilous. Right now, we need to be nurturing fierce, clued-up generations of young adults, equipped and empowered to fight tooth and claw for the biosphere that supports all our lives. The rewilding movement, with its proactive, hope-infused ethos, offers inspiration and practical solutions to reconnect teenagers with nature and inspire them to demand a wilder, healthier future.
My daughter grew up geocaching, mountain biking, hiking and generally exploring the woods with me. She didn’t need to reconnect with it because she grew up in it.
If you’ve waited until they’re teenagers to get them to love being in nature, you’ve done it wrong.
Well, aren’t you just super and special? You may be right but that doesn’t help people who have ‘done it wrong’, does it?
Yes, if your goal is to “reconnect them” in their teens, you’ve done it wrong.
And yes, my mom always told people that I was special. I had my own rubber fork that I didn’t have to share with anyone.
Or maybe they’re just not as privileged as you obviously are to not only live where you can access nature easily, but also have the free time and other resources (not to mention physical ability) to do so regularly…
And maybe you could just be grateful for what you have, never mind try to have a better understanding of why not everyone can enjoy the “right” life like you do, instead of declaring people whose lives you clearly have little understanding of, “wrong”.