New book from pediatricians encourages outdoor adventures

Pooja Sarin Tandon and Danette Swanson Glassy, authors of the new book, “Digging Into Nature: Outdoor Adventures for Happier and Healthier Kids,” know more than a little bit about their subject. Between them, they have more than 50 years of experience as pediatricians. They are also experts on the effect of nature on children. Tandon is director of health at the Trust for Public Land, and Glassy leads BestStart Washington’s Project Nature initiative. And both are mothers who know firsthand the challenges and benefits of getting kids outside.

The bad news? Kids in the United States spend an average of seven hours a day on entertainment media.

“I think what brought me to this was being a pediatrician in practice like Danette, and also being a researcher and a mom of two boys, for the past 10 years, I saw how childhood was increasingly indoors and on screens, and how I felt like it was such a such a useful strategy for me, personally, to be outdoors with my children,” Tandon said. “I recognized that even though I hadn't thought of myself as somebody outdoorsy growing up, it became more clear to me what physical and mental and social benefits that I got and the joy from being outdoors that me and my family experienced. It led me to understand more of the research, and I worked on a systematic review where we looked at all of the literature on nature contact and children's health, put that together for the scientific audience, and then wanted to use this opportunity to bring it to parents and families and a broader audience.”

Tandon said as a pediatrician, the focus is often on treating illnesses or preventing conditions.

“Spending time outdoors and moving your body outdoors is one of the few things that can help both prevent conditions and treat certain conditions,” she said. “That, to me, is really powerful. Really anyone and people of all ages – from babies – even if they're perfectly healthy, can get benefits by moving outdoors, in terms of preventing problems from occurring later on.”

Being outside is good medicine

Tandon said the science shows that being outdoors can help with conditions like ADHD and depression.

“The range of things that being in nature can help with, and the fact that it can really help both prevent and treat, is really compelling to me,” she said.

Glassy said the book reaches out to families with even the youngest children and it is inclusive of a variety of conditions and situations

“Twenty-seven percent of kids have some sort of health condition and some of those are chronic, some are temporary,” she said. “But we didn't see a lot of information for families that was credible about getting children with health conditions outside in a safe and effective way, so we wanted to talk about that for families. And then, no matter who you are, what you experience outdoors, awe and joy are part of that. And I think people – parents, especially – are really ready to find healthy ways to find that for their children and experience that. Being outside, the idea of free play and providing that for your family really resonates with people, as well as some of the science starting to support that for healthy development.”

Practical ways to engage kids of all ages outdoors

This book isn’t just a policy paper or a “why” for adults. It includes practical ideas for parents, grandparents and caregivers. From tips for encouraging language development in infants and young children while outside to how to include a teen’s cell phone when encouraging nature connection (and no, the answer isn’t to take away the phone), Glassy and Tandon meet parents where they are along every step of their parenting journey, encouraging little steps toward more time in nature and engagement with the natural world. The hope is that the steps become habits and the habits become a gift from one generation to the next.

“We're not prescriptive about ‘go outside for this amount of time, at this time every day,’” Glassy said. “It's just finding any time and squeezing that in, or relying on your caregivers for that, and working in your community to increase more green space. We have little hints here and there for activism, for families to push for that as well.”

“ Digging Into Nature : Outdoor Adventures for Happier and Healthier Kids” is published by the American Academy of Pediatrics and will be available Oct. 15, 2024.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: New book from pediatricians encourages outdoor adventures