Children’s behavior may suffer due to a lack of outdoor space or time, especially during COVID-19.

Many people such as New Yorkers, rely on city provided green spaces like playgrounds and parks for their children. Due to recent outbreak of the coronavirus all of these outdoor spaces have been closed down. Many parents started to notice their children to be “more moody and cranky.” One parent saying, “My 8-year-old is so jealous of her friends who have backyards right now.”

This 2020 pandemic has shown the need people have for a connection to nature that maybe they didn’t notice that they ever had or needed before. Researcher saying, “As young people spend less of their lives in natural surroundings, their senses narrow, both physiologically and psychologically.”

Nature-Deficit Disorder is a nonmusical condition that suggests that spending less time outdoors can contribute to behavioral changed in children.

Researchers are beginning to see the high amount of children with this disorder, telling parents to add some indoor plants, showing their children pictures of nature, or even having scents of different flowers will help reduce stress and better regulate heart rates.

(New York Times)

Susie Bean Gives