Children going wild

A $200 a night spa, let alone a $1500 a night resort, are not the kind of places you'd expect to find toddlers and pre-teens, but that's just what wilderness resort owners are finding more and more. Parents want to bring their kids with them on their wilderness holidays. And so they should, researchers and nature advocates are saying louder and louder.

For many kids that grow up in a city, hanging out in the forest, camping out overnight or riding a horse on the range is more exotic than a trip to Dubai. Author Richard Louv calls it “Nature Deficit Disorder" in his book Last Child in the Woods. Turns out humans are hardwired to learn in a natural environment, processing sensory information from all our senses at once. Not just being visually distracted and zoned out by TV or video games or texting. Not spending time in the wilderness not only lessens our value for wild places but is also harmful to kids development.

There's an excellent article on this topic in the summer issue of explore Magazine which you can find here.

What wilderness resort operators are finding is that parents are realizing this disconnect and many are trying to do something about it. They remember spending time in the wilderness with their parents and remember how important those experiences were.

To feed the growing demand many resorts are offering family style programs or specifically cater to families with programs designed to instill a value in wild places and nature in the whole family. You can read more about some of these options in an article that appeared in the first issue of Be Wild in BC by clicking here. Or browse through the members of the WTA and discover some of the potential experiences like staying at a backcountry lodge as the family pictured did at Mistaya Lodge in the Canadian Rockies.