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Health and Fitness

Outdoor Experiences Help Develop 21st Century Leadership Skills in Girls

By Sarita Bhargava
Here is an excerpt from Sarita Bhargava’s recent post to www.naturerocks.org. I could not agree with her more, that outdoor experiences help girls gain confidence, especially since nature and the outdoors have always brought me such solace.
Do you agree with Ms. Bhargava?
It turns out that girls who spend time outdoors regularly surpass their peers who spend less time outdoors in environmental stewardship, readily seek more challenges and are better problem-solvers – all critical leadership skills – says a new study by the Girl Scout Research Institute More Than S’mores.
As I have said before, I am constantly amazed by the benefits nature provides people, especially kids. Our parents didn’t have this “why nature is good for us” rationale, they just knew that it was.
Now, we can answer the why. Nature is restorative, novel, soothing, and the list goes on. As I mentioned in my post about raising confident girls, we cannot afford to skip spending time in nature if we want our daughters to be leaders. Importantly for time-pressed, harried parents, it’s easy and does not have to take up too much time.
Regular outdoor (as little as once a month) interaction can have an impact. In fact, spending time in nature (even just walking in the park) has been shown to improve concentration and creative reasoning among children and adults. This is good news for me because there are stretches of time when getting into nature can be challenging in my household.
Nature can be new and challenging. Learning to handle new situations through a sense of discovery and curiosity help develop leadership skills. Additionally, Learning to be self-aware and to work as a team to problem-solve in outdoor settings (e.g., rafting) help facilitate these important leadership and confidence skills our girls need.
As I devoured this study, I realized that my daughter Kareena finds satisfaction differently in nature than she does inside our house. Both are great, but when I see Kareena in the outdoors, the joy and a sense of satisfaction that comes from conquering something she could not do before is different from learning to sew a button or master a dance step. I see she is more open to hearing from classmates about how to do something like build the tent or make a fire than she would be at home. Out in nature she’s also pretty fired up to try new things, like go further on a hilly hike. It’s funny how I didn’t notice these things before, but upon reflection they’re there.
As Kareena enters a time in her life where she can choose to lead or be led, I want to ensure that she has the skills she needs to navigate not only the middle school years, but also the rest of her life. Learning to work through challenging and unknown situations in middle school is tough. Spending time outdoors will help teach her to make confident decisions and conquer the unknown.
I can’t ignore the role nature plays in helping my daughter develop her life skills. Have you seen evidence of this in your children?
To read the entire discussion, please visit: http://www.naturerocks.org/outdoor-experiences-help-develop-21st-century-leadership-skills-in-girls.xml