In some ways, I think I had the ultimate childhood. I grew up on a former working farm– 70 acres of pasture land, woodlands, and disused orchards. This land included a farm pond, which attracted all sorts of interesting creatures.
And I had a grandfather who fancied himself to be quite the self-taught naturalist. My parents’ house was on the same property as my grandfather’s house, so he was forever bringing me things from his various “zoological expeditions.” His job involved tending natural gas wells in rather remote part of the county, where the land was very wild. He had seen wild beasts of all types, including several escaped/abandoned squirrel monkeys and one large black monkey that was wandering down a forest trail. Several people saw this monkey, but its species was never identified. (It wasn’t a sasquatch, before you ask.)
When I was a little boy, he would bring me things home. I remember several ring-necked and garter snakes that he caught and brought home. I also remember him bringing me the carcass of a dead screech owl that got hit by a car. He got my lizard collection started, bringing me northern fence lizards and five-lined skinks to fill my home built terrariums.
All of these experiences with the natural world gave me a profound appreciation for the wild beasts and their environment. I had the normal pets that children have– dogs, hamsters, and rabbits– and animals that farm children have– horses, ponies, and muscovy ducks. And all of these animals opened my eyes to their natural history, their domestication, and their behavior.
I was encouraged to wander the farm at an early age. I developed my own interests in animals, and although my parents never really got as into the wild creatures as I did, they at least tolerated my interests.
Today, most children don’t have those experiences, and their knowledge of most other animals comes from the television. Parks are a good compromise, but no urban child gets the opportunity to wander the parks as I wandered the farm.
What we need is community-based outreach groups to really get children interested in animals. However, these things require commitment from various groups, including landowners, who would be needed to provide access to their lands.
We have to create a society for amateur zoology. Not everyone is going to study at the highest level, but I think we’re all better off if we know a bit of it. But the only way to get people interested in it is to have them experience it.
And these experiences shouldn’t be only for those with means. We need nature camps that offer urban residents a chance to experience it.
The more people experience nature as it is, the more they will want to preserve it, and that will serve the totality of life on the planet. And we need passionate adults to share their knowledge with children.
More people should send their kids to summer camps where they still hike/canoe/horseback ride in the woods. Some of my favorite memories are from such a summer camp.
It’s sad to see so many kids and adults nowadays with so little knowledge or interest in the natural world. Those ignorant people tend to also be the ones who believe and support stupid AR positions because they don’t know any better.
There was a book I had as a kid (I’m trying to track down the title and a picture but no luck yet) which was a hand me down, either from my parents or my older cousins, which featured (in short) how to catch and care for various small wildlife- mostly lizards, snakes, and bugs, but also brief ‘what to do if you find a bunny or an orphaned bird’ beyond “Use google to find your local wildlife rehabber’. It was SUCH a cool book. It had info such as how to build terrariums, how to catch bugs to feed to frogs, and all sorts of cool stuff. I *adored* that book. But my younger cousins (10 and 14 years younger than me) have SUCH a different experience, even growing up in the same family, with access to the same family farm on weekends. ALL snakes are dangerous, ALL bugs are icky, don’t catch the frogs, you’ll get muddy, you can’t ride your horse outside the arena, it’s dangerous (riding at all has been declared ‘too dangerous’ and all our horses have now passed away of old age :(), it’s just SAD.
Oh! And (I should have stuck this in my other comment but I only noticed it this morning) if you’ve got a kiddo? Check our your local state park for GREAT activities and offerings. They’re generally pretty cheap and they’ve got all sorts of fun programs, at least here in Texas – http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/kids/
and http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/learning/bof/ – are the two relevant links.
We have an “Amateur naturalist” program in West Virginia, but I don’t know if many parents know about it. It’s also for adults, not necessarily children.
That’s a pretty good program in Texas.