Eco-Centric Thinking

“Three-quarters of UK children spend less time outside than prison inmates,” reported Damian Carrington in an article in the Guardian, “revealing the extent to which time playing in parks, wood and fields has shrunk. A fifth of the children did not play outside at all on an average day…Experts warn that active play is essential to the health and development of children, but that parents’ fears, lack of green spaces and the lure of digital technology is leading youngsters to lead enclosed lives.”

Ruth Wilson, in her article, “Children, Trees and Eco-Centric Thinking,” in the September/October 2019 edition of Exchange magazine, writes about the power of children’s connections with trees to help them create positive, personal connections with nature and the outdoors. “Trees, for children, can be magical,” she explains...“Trees appear frequently in children’s drawings and many children identify trees as one of their favorite features in a natural environment….

Some adults may wonder if children should be corrected when suggesting that trees talk and have feelings. A growing number of scholars suggest honoring children’s ways of knowing versus ‘correcting’ them for viewing trees and other living things in more relational terms…They strongly advise supporting children’s tendency to relate to trees and all other living things in a spirit of companionship and kinship.”

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