Noise has become omnipresent in Western culture, and it's not only affecting our well-being, but it's affecting our children's well-being and their hearing too because it drowns the sounds of nature.
Natural sounds are calming, soothing, relaxing, and melodic. Listening to them is pleasant, and they help us feel better and hear better.
Nature and Feeling Better
In psychology, artificial sounds promote inward-focused thinking, which means we focus on ourselves by worrying and ruminating over unpleasant things we can’t control.
On the other hand, natural environments encourage outward-focused thinking, which has the opposite effect. Outward-focused thinking calms us and gives us a greater sense of well-being.
We know that focusing on ourselves does not lead to happiness. The less we focus on ourselves, the better we feel.
““The woods were my Ritalin. Nature calmed me, focused me, and yet excited my senses.””
Being in nature encourages more outward-focused thinking, which is why it's so good for our emotional well-being.
And children love nature.
Give them a tree they can climb and swing from or a stream of water they can wade across and splash about in, and kids will occupy themselves for hours in a state of perfect joy.
Nature and Hearing Better
Children are born with the ability to hear just enough to jump-start the hearing portion of the brain. They are not born with fully developed hearing systems, which means that the auditory environment a child grows up in is vital to the developing auditory system.
“Man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard; [the Lakota] knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too.”
Recent statistics show that 28 million Americans suffer noise-induced hearing loss; many of these 28 million Americans are still young.
The external noise of our environments is one problem, but what about devices like headphones? Many children use headsets today, and it’s becoming more uncommon to see a young person going about town headset free.
Wouldn't our children be happier spending more time in the environment of natural sounds and less time bombarded with artificial sounds?
A Nature Game
A fun game you can play with your children is to go into nature and be still. They can't make any noise but should listen to every sound around them and write it down.
Explain that you'll do the same and see who heard the most sounds after five minutes.
Children love doing this, and it will strengthen their auditory system.
Warning: we won’t tell them it’s a game to improve their hearing ability and sense of well-being, but let them enjoy the game for fun.
Sitting quietly in nature will put our children in tune with the natural world, so they learn to appreciate its majesty and awesomeness. It will also provide them with a place for seeking solace when they feel down.
“Let Nature be your teacher.”
I have fond memories of being on my grandfather’s ranch, sleeping outdoors under the stars, and listening to the sound of crickets and frogs at night.
So fond were my memories that when our hot tub attracted a frog, I was ecstatic. The frog would croak at night like music from my childhood.
But my son, not having had a positive association with the croaking of a frog, decided to move him to the neighborhood pond one night.
I never thought I’d grow up to miss a frog’s croak, but I missed him. I still love the sound of frogs and crickets because of the nights in childhood when they sang me to sleep.
Those are the kind of memories we want our kids to have. They’re deep, and the memories live in our souls.
☞ Disclaimer: This is not a politically-correct blog.
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