Leave No Child Inside – Greater Cincinnati was founded in order to educate the community that time spent in nature is essential to the physical, mental and emotional health of all children.  Because obesity is one of the most pressing issues facing the health community today (26% of children between the ages of 2-5 are overweight or obese, and that number leaps to 33% in school age children), it’s easy to lose sight of other issues related to the relatively recent disappearance of unstructured play in nature.

With the near extinction of that experience, we are seeing unprecedented levels of stress-related illnesses in children.  In a recent post, pediatrician Larry Rosen, MD calls on all of us to do what we can to restore nature free-play to the childhood experience.  In another post,    Mary Brown, MD discusses the negative academic and health impacts of stress on the developing brain and why the American Academy of Pediatrics is looking to nature play as a way to prevent or lessen “the lifelong effects of a stressful childhood, including depression, obesity, behavior problems, drug use and risk-taking behavior.”

This is a problem we can fix!

Some of the solutions are easy, some are not, but we can all play a part in reconnecting children with nature.  We encourage each and every one of you to stay informed and help spread the word about this important issue.  If you’d like to get involved more formally, please contact us.