There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom's Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids (from Friluftsliv to Hygge)

by Linda Åkeson McGurk

The curriculum for the Swedish preschool doesn’t just promote play in all its activities—it also establishes children’s legal right to play and learn outside, both in planned environments, like the school yard, and natural environments, like the forest.

Max, a popular Swedish burger chain, recently introduced five new vegetarian dishes to reduce their carbon footprint, and instead of calorie counts, the restaurant labels each item on the menu with the CO2 emissions generated.

The cafeteria is central to the school’s environmental work in other ways. The menu is now “climate adjusted,” which means that each meal is carefully composed based not only on its nutritional value but also on its impact on the environment.

In reality, our modern, sanitized lifestyle has wiped out a lot of beneficial microbes in our gut that help us stay healthy. Being exposed to certain microbes in the womb and early childhood can actually strengthen our immune systems and protect us from illnesses later on. When the immune system is not challenged enough, it might start looking for stuff to do, like overreacting to things that are not really dangerous, like pollen and peanuts. This is believed to cause allergies, asthma, eczema, childhood diabetes, and inflammation later in life.

Some research suggests that low- or nonpathogenic strains of mycobacteria can help regulate the immune system and protect against allergic hypersensitivity. One of them, Mycobacterium vaccae, seems to have the ability to trigger our serotonin production, effectively making us happier and more relaxed. M. vaccae occurs naturally in soil and water, and is inhaled or ingested when we come in contact with dirt.

“Gardeners inhale these bacteria while digging in the soil, but they also encounter M. vaccae in their vegetables or when soil enters a cut in their skin,”

“I work with kids who come to school bouncing off the walls on Monday because they spent all weekend inside playing video games.

Yes, and they're in withdrawal.

In Sweden, gardening is becoming an established form of therapy for treating mental burnout,

“The Barefoot Song,” is exactly what the title implies: a celebration of running around without socks and shoes.

“You’ve been cooped up way too long, and your feet have been trapped in shoes,” she says as she addresses the school’s eighty-some students. “Now is the time to throw them off and walk around barefoot. Promise me that you will do that!” Chances are she won’t need to ask them twice.

100%.

There are plenty of ideas for strengthening the connection between children and nature in the US, and as vast and diverse as this country is, we’re more likely to see a patchwork of solutions than universal ones. Richard Louv, one of the most prominent visionaries for the children and nature movement in North America, thinks that embracing the “hybrid mind”—the result of marrying nature and technology, direct and digital experiences—will be key to this effort. The hybrid mind, he hypothesizes, will “increase our intelligence, creative thinking and productivity” and could lead to the creation of communities that aren’t just sustainable but “nature-rich.”