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**What is "Nature Deficit Disorder"?**
====A couple years ago, the ultimate punishment for a kid was to be "sent to your room." There was nothing fun to do inside, especially when you knew that all your friends were outside playing and exploring. Nowadays, being sent to your room isn't as much of a punishment; you have your computer, your phone, your television and videogames all waiting for you inside. The real punishment would be to send a kid outside into the yard without any technology. Don't believe me? Here's a quote from a fourth grader in San Diego:====

"I like to play indoors better 'cause that's where all the electrical outlets are" (Louv)
The fact is that today's children are not nearly as connected with nature as they were in the past, and that has some serious consequences, both mental and physical. This is "nature deficit disorder." Here are some basic facts:
 * “the proportion of 9-12 year olds who engage in outside activities such as hiking, walking, fishing, beach play, and gardening has declined by 50 percent ...(and) children’s free play time in a typical week has declined by a total of nine hours over a 25-year period” (Sandberg, 220)
 * “After a full day at a school desk, the American child comes home to spend, on average, three or more sedentary hours in front of some kind of screen." (Sandberg, 220)
 * A study of three generations of 9-year-olds found that in 1990, the radius around the home where children were allowed to roam on their own had shrunk to a ninth of what it had been in 1970. (Louv)
 * Lack of direct contact with nature is connected to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) according to recent studies (Louv)
 * "Over the past three decades, the prevalence of childhood obesity has tripled, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Despite the fact that kids are still participating in organized sports, experts link a dramatic decline in unstructured outdoor play to the growing increase in childhood obesity." (msnbc)
 * According to the National Sporting Goods Association, since 1995, the number of kids biking, swimming and fishing has declined by more than 20 percent. (msnbc)

In light of all of these facts, I have decided to raise awareness about this issue by creating a website that focuses on the causes and effects and more importantly the solutions to the problem of "nature deficit disorder." It will have a lot of fun activities/crafts that people can do outside in nature. = =