by Paul Caputo
Seven years before Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder made its resounding impact on the field of interpretation (as well as much of the rest of society), another book encouraged all of us to get outside. In fact, John Stilgoe’s book, Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places, begins with the directive, “Get out now.” Stilgoe continues:
…Not just outside, but beyond the trap of the programmed electronic age so gently closing around so many people at the end of our century. Go outside, move deliberately, then relax, slow down, look around. Do not jog. Do not run. Forget about blood pressure and arthritis, cardiovascular rejuvenation and weight reduction. Instead pay attention to everything that abuts the rural road, the city street, the suburban boulevard. Walk. Stroll. Saunter. Ride a bike, and coast along a lot. Explore.
To be sure, Outside Lies Magic and Last Child in the Woods are different books, written with different purposes in mind. John Stilgoe focuses not only on the natural world, but overlooked details of the man-made environment. (There’s an entire chapter on interstate highways.) Richard Louv addresses the importance specifically of getting children into nature—for their own well-being and to nurture future stewards of the environment. Both books, though, speak to the importance and benefits of unstructured exploration of the environment.
When I get home from work in the evening, I am always thrilled to find my neighborhood teeming with kids (two of them my own) riding bikes, playing baseball, and, in the case of my two-year-old daughter, picking up “roly-polies” to watch them curl up in a ball. Parents watch, chat with one another, and play with the kids. My suburban neighborhood is not a remote wilderness by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel that John Stilgoe and Richard Louv would both approve.
This issue of Legacy focuses on interpretation’s response to the challenge to parents and educators highlighted in Last Child in the Woods—to create opportunities for children to get outdoors. A host of feature articles and commentaries address the roles and responsibilities of interpretive sites, interpreters, and parents in cultivating a love of the outdoors.
Paul Caputo is the art and publications director for the National Association for Interpretation.
