Kate Howlett
When I was approached to write this guest post, I wondered for a good while what perspective I could add to this wonderful site.
Any organisation with the mission ‘Our goal is to raise the next generation to be mindful of our natural world and to preserve wild spaces’ is something I can get behind. But you seem to have it all covered: fantastic gear and activity reviews, beautiful photography of a stunning landscape, and a powerful, honest philosophy of making the world a better place.
I usually write on Substack, where my goal is to start a conversation around our relationship with the natural world, spread knowledge about the science behind nature connection, inspire people to reconnect with nature, and, perhaps most importantly, to get more nature into kids lives.
But as I browsed through the Excellent Family Adventures site, I found myself thinking, ‘These people get it. There’s no convincing to be done here.’
Outdoor adventures in nature are exactly what we need to be prioritizing when we have kids, not putting off until they are old enough or big enough. The natural world is far safer than our human, urbanized world, when we take the time to show our children how to take joy in it.
But you know this.
Then it clicked. I want to talk to you about why we think of outdoor gear as ‘gear’ at all.
Stick with me.
It makes me so happy that this site exists—that a collection of families has got together to build a resource-sharing project and share their love of the outdoors with other families.
On the other hand, there’s a part of me that feels sad it has to exist. Let me explain why.
My partner and I are trying for our first child at the moment. One of the things we are most excited about is showing them nature—getting to see them experience the first time their little feet touch grass or they dip their hands into a clear mountain stream.
But before being introduced to Excellent Family Adventures, I would have felt quite at a loss to know where to find good information about outdoor gear or activities for kids. I’m sure I would have dug some up, but it would have taken some digging.
Contrast this with information on other kinds of kids’ stuff—toys, TV shows, sports equipment, cute clothes. There’s no shortage of this.
This difference is reflective of what our society values for children and young families. Time out in nature is thought of as an extra, a luxury, a bit of a niche hobby.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Time in nature is essential for our wellbeing, mood, physical and mental health, and our life satisfaction. It’s even been shown that more nature leads children to be more active and social at school, and improves their academic performance.
I spent five years researching children’s relationship with nature for my PhD. I worked with many primary schools across the UK, which I visited to survey the nature living in their grounds. As well as a niche knowledge of school playground-specific wildlife, this gave me a unique perspective on the sheer range of attitudes different schools hold towards nature.
Some are lucky enough to have sufficient space for a sports playing field, a tarmacked playground (maybe with a climbing frame), and a wilder outdoor area with trees. These schools aren’t forced to make a choice between these activities.
Most, however, are quite pushed for space. This means they are forced to choose between using the outside for sports or free play.
Many schools I visited poured their limited budgets into maintaining the playing field—keeping the grass short, painting the pitch lines, paying for goalposts—that kind of thing. In large part, they have to, since sports is mandated—it has to be provided.
Access to nature, on the other hand, is not necessary at all. The curriculum doesn’t place any kind of focus on learning about the natural world or ecology, and there is no requirement for outdoor learning, which is beneficial for all subjects and wellbeing.
In fact, many teachers I spoke to viewed trees or other aspects of nature as a pain. In the bureaucratic world of education, trees or grass represent hazards—things children could fall off or slip on. So it makes better sense to use their limited budget to cut the trees down or tarmac over the grass.
Who Defines Essential?
Let me bring you back to my point about outdoor gear.
My memory of the required kit list for school is a little hazy since it’s about 20+ years old. I am certain, though, that it included an extensive list of sports kit—trainers, football boots, tracksuits, maybe a tennis racket—but zero requirement to provide wellies or a puddle suit.
What does this say about the activities we, as a society, prioritise for our kids?
Yes, I know, instilling the importance of exercise is important for long-term health.
But exercise doesn’t have to be playing football or hockey. Exercise can be climbing a tree, running around with your friends or, outside of school, hiking or camping.
Let’s face it. How many of us have fond memories of school sports? Most of us do not get our exercise as adults by being a member of a sports team. Most of us are active adults because we walk outside.
Why, then, is it perfectly acceptable to ask parents to fork out a lot of money for sports kit but not for outdoor kit? Why is what you do here—reviewing kit for outdoor adventures with kids—niche and hard to find?
I don’t know what schools are like in British Columbia. But in the UK, the vast majority of those I visited found space for their children’s sports kit bags but not for wellies. Then, they proceed to ban outdoor breaktime when it’s raining because the kids will bring mud back inside with them.
What I’m saying is I think we have our priorities backwards, and you, being parents who value the outdoors, get this.
The School That Got It
I’d like to tell you about one school that gave me great hope. It was only small. It was not rich. But every classroom had a door to a little outdoor patio where there was a wooden rack for wellies and overalls. Every class was responsible for a line of crops in the school’s small vegetable patch.
We don’t need to teach children to care for the natural world. They do this instinctively. But we do need to stop squashing this instinct. How can we expect the next generation to grow into adults who value, respect and care for the natural world if they have always been separate from it, if it is full of danger, if they don’t have the right kit to be able to enjoy being outside in all weathers?
I think nurturing these values at school should be of the highest priority. And research agrees.
Learning To Love Nature
One of my favourite studies on the importance of childhood relationships with nature was done way back in 2006. Researchers interviewed 2,000 adults living in urban areas across the US. Unsurprisingly, childhood experiences in nature were the most important thing in determining whether someone cares about the environment or takes action to protect it as an adult.
This study separated childhood nature experiences into ‘wild’ ones—like hiking or camping, ‘domesticated’ ones—like picking flowers or growing produce, and environmental education, either inside or outside of school. They found that both wild and domesticated nature experiences during childhood were positively associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours as adults.
This means that, if we want people to care about our natural world and value it at the ballot box, we need kids to spend time in nature. They can’t do this without a raincoat, a warm hat and good shoes.
But your average kid, whose parents aren’t necessarily outdoor lovers, is much more likely to own trainers and a tennis racket than they are some good outdoor gear.
All this to say, I’m feel so uplifted that this community and website exist. It lifts my heart that a collection of families values this philosophy enough to start a project like this. It is the most important work.
Buying your children the right kit, taking them for a hike or just toasting some marshmallows with them around a campfire are some of the most important things you can be doing for your children’s love of the natural world and the future of the planet.
Next stop—let’s convince our respective education systems either side of the Atlantic of the same!
Kate Howlett holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge on children’s relationship with nature. You can read more from Kate on her Substack, “Natural Connection“.
