Shrinking Playgrounds
Summer Vacation 1985. Kavita, 11, had just returned from boarding school in the Vindhyas to her home in a middle class Delhi colony. She eagerly anticipates going over to her best friend Avni’s house the next day. They love playing in the colony park, watching the birds and squirrels and sometimes going over to the market nearby to buy ice cream or sweets.
That is an improbable scene now. Even as recently as the 1990s, children had access to the natural world around them and the general, even if urban, world around them. A major part of their recreational time was spent outdoors – exploring wooded areas around, sidewalks, streets, greenways, and parks.
The radius of the activity area has shrunk significantly. It was not unusual for children to regularly wander off to areas 400 to 500 meters away from
their homes to play. Parents would only start getting alarmed or rather, annoyed if they did not return home on time.
But increasing concretization of cities and even smaller towns isn’t the only the only deterrent to children being in the outdoors.
A Culture of Fear
Even in areas where trees, birds and parks are available, children just aren’t going outdoors as much. Children are, instead, glued to the Internet, computer games and TV. Children in general have lost touch with the outdoor world, fields, streams and woods. Society has told them their future is in technology and electronics.
While there is nothing inherently wrong in using these ‘electronics’ moderately, children’s lives are largely out of balance. Well meaning parents and teachers may teach children about the Sunderbans or the Amazon rain forests, endangered species and wildlife, but do little to encourage children’s personal relationship with the outside world.
An extinction of this experience breeds apathy towards environmental concerns. According to Stephen R. Kellert, a social ecologist at Yale, society has become “so estranged from its natural origins, it has failed to recognize our species’ basic dependence on nature as a condition of growth and development.”
Disregard among children for the environment is largely due to lack of understanding. In general, children do not understand the long-term implications of damage to the environment (not recycling, pollution, littering – other poor environmental choices).
Not only does the loss of outdoor play and contact with the natural world impact the growth and development of the whole child and their acquisition of knowledge, it also, in the long run, sets the stage for a continuous loss of the natural environment.
Many children do not even roam their own neighborhood or yards unless accompanied. A culture of fear has parents fearing for the safety of their children. Perhaps rightly so, given today’s urban environment.
Reintroducing Children to the Outdoors
 Young children especially need the broad experiential base provided by being outdoors. According to John Dewey, the knowledge children gain in the outdoors is foundational to literacy and science learning.
Any casual survey of adults will show a high quotient of happy memories of the outdoors some of which may have been instrumental in their development. The best way to teach children about how to care for the environment is to expose them to positive experiences in the outdoors under the care and supervision of suitable role models.
Originally, Outdoor Education (OE) was confined merely to nature study but it has now emerged as a broad multi-disciplinary and multi-activity form of education. OE is a means of curriculum enrichment, whereby the process of learning takes place out of doors.
Simply put, OE is the use of the outdoors for educational purposes. It broadly includes environmental education, conservation education, adventure education, school camping, wilderness therapy and aspects of outdoor recreation.
Outdoor Education v/s Picnics
While one cannot undermine the importance of romping in parks and picnic spots, there is a world of difference between impact of unstructured play and outdoor education. The crucial difference being the learning outcomes that lie behind the structure of OE. It is more than a recreational experience. Which is why its essence can’t be realized in a park or on a picnic.
A well-designed OE program, involves an organized experiencing of the outdoors through journey or residential experiences, with the intention of achieving certain objectives. Alongside the learning of hands-on outdoor skills, are exercises and experiences designed to strengthen life skills, improve self-confidence and responsibility, foster relationships and gain a more holistic view of not just the campsite, but of life itself. And it takes a very skilled educator to pull this through.
Stepping Out of the Comfort Zone
The ‘comfort zone’ is where we belong or rather choose to belong! It is where we are at ease and are used to the life we lead, the careers we’ve chosen, the people we like or dislike, what we choose to accept or reject .The comfort zone is where we feel a sense of security. This very comfort zone is also where one tends to stagnate. It isn’t the be all and end all. In order to grow and learn it’s essential to go beyond the comfort zone, into the ‘stretch zone’. Growth occurs when a person moves out of their area of comfort and into the unknown challenges of a fresh experience. A butterfly struggles out of the cocoon - the comfort zone; to stretch beyond it and fly free. The butterfly struggles in order to grow and achieve, the struggle being imperative. Like the butterfly, we too need to leave our comfort zone and overcome the challenges that lie beyond it.
It is normal to have fears and uncertainties upon leaving the comfort zone. The good news is that fear is in itself an indication of having left the comfort zone!! So, a picnic with the family that the child belongs to or playing in the park with friends he/she chooses, takes place in the comfort zone of the child.
Outdoor experiential activities that are beyond their comfort zone, result in children finding themselves in the stretch zone, where they face challenges in an unfamiliar environment. It is dealing with the challenges, which the stretch zone offers that leads to learning - in the true sense of the word. The comfort zone is not bad at all; but in order to see ‘beyond’ and experience ‘more’ than what your child has been accustomed to - its time to take that first step into the stretch zone!
Outdoor Education in India
There has been a big OE movement in the West quite some time ago. It has started finding its feet in India only in the last decade. Many reputed schools are trying to add OE to their curriculum framework with mixed results. There is also a growing number of organisations that offer ‘summer programmes’ for children in metros.
When choosing an OE programme for your child it is essential to remember that there needs to be more in the offing than just a programme in the outdoors. Some programmes may be purely recreational in nature while others might be hard-core adventure focused. You should study their schedule and structure to see that the approach is balanced. Talking to the outdoor leaders who will be on the field, and with parents of previous participants might be a good idea.
The programme you choose ought to have an intentional, well planned approach in achieving learning objectives. The credibility of the organisation, and the outdoor leaders will make a world of a difference. Be sure to find out who your child is going to learn and be with!
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