Outdoor adventure vacations teach kids how to appreciate the environment and help fight childhood obesity.
I truly believe that too many children are growing up without realizing the importance of all we receive from Mother Nature.
If you are concerned that your children spend too much time playing video games, watching TV or stuck in front of a computer and not enough time connecting with the natural roots of our world, why not consider taking them on an outdoor adventure vacation?
Outdoor adventure vacations are an eye-opening experience for people of all ages, particularly those who live in urban areas. Non-profit organizations like Educational Recreational Adventures (ERA) in Portland, OR, supply families, schools, businesses and other organizations with a hands-on journey into the splendors of the wild. This firsthand experience allows people to create a relationship with their environment that often is not available to them otherwise.
Benefits of Outdoor Adventure Vacations
I completely agree with Jeffry Gotfried, executive director of ERA, who says “Time spent in the great outdoors is not simply a frill in the developing life of a child or youth. It is needed for healthy emotional and physical development. It is also needed so that nature, the fish, wildlife, forests, rivers, mountains and wild places will have advocates in the future.”
When a young person falls in love with the outdoors, it becomes a win-win situation for both the youth and the environment.
Outdoor adventure travels deliver an educational experience that can’t happen within the confines of a building. Here are firsthand lessons in ecosystems and wildlife habitats, forests and watersheds, and the way nature prepares a place for each species, not just man alone. Organizations like ERA make it possible for every person who visits them to personally see why we need to become environmentally responsible planet mates with the other living creatures with which we share the earth.
Finding a connection with nature can make an amazing difference in the life of some children. Even young people who are emotionally troubled or withdrawn, or kids who have had brushes with the law, have often been able to gain a new respect for life and for themselves after backpacking through centuries-old forests or climbing rocky mountain walls.
They find a new confidence and, for many, a new attitude. Frequently, they discover a healthy outlet for stress, an alternative to negative methods with which they may have experimented. They experience a sense of accomplishment after joining together to perform habitat restoration, even though some of them have never before known what accomplishment felt like. Mother Nature is a wonderful teacher.
We’re all concerned about the epidemic of childhood obesity attacking our youth, but it’s easy to burn calories when you’re enjoying fun and meaningful activities that keep you off the couch and moving forward. Outdoor adventure vacations are also great ways to fight obesity. Young people won’t think of it as exercise–they’ll consider it an adventure.
Outdoor Travel Adventures are Just Plain Fun
Of course, you won’t want to tell your kids that your vacation is educational, because they’ll be having too much fun to realize how much they are learning. There’s opportunities for them to learn fly fishing, archery, cross country skiing and other outdoor activities. They can go backpacking, rock climbing or camping in the wilderness. These are the opportunities that create tomorrow’s environmental guardians.
Whether you’re a parent, an educator, a counselor or a teacher, you can join your kids on the adventure of a lifetime. Contact Educational Recreational Adventures or a similar orginazation in your area to learn more. Trust me, the children aren’t the only ones who will come home with a new respect for nature and our endangered planet. We must teach children the value of our planet’s natural resources today.
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