By Mike Libecki
Its pretty clear that we all parent differently. We are all, for the most part, a product of the way we were raised by our parents, grandparents and/or other family. In addition to that, ultimately we are also a product of what our environments and experiences have been until this very moment. Imagine raising your children exactly as your parents (or family/other) raised you. If your children did not have the same technology they do now, when you were their age. Positive? Negative? Some of both? There are many wonderful things that I continue to teach and share with my daughter that my parents and grandparents passed on to me: - Being thankful and appreciative of what we have. - Not judging others, 'don’t judge a book by its cover.' - Supporting passions and interests. - Have a positive attitude and make the best out of any situation. - Hard work, commitment, team work… - Going into nature with family - Yes, the list goes on and on, you know all of this… But let’s stop there for a moment…I want to stop on the last one: Going into nature. Do you all really know how important it is to get out and be in nature? As a fellow human, a child of this planet, and a father, going into nature is one of the absolute most important things in life, as a family, with friends, by ourselves, for all of us. Here are some really important reasons why: 1. It fires up your children’s imagination. Too often, we find ourselves stuck in the known, the comfortable, the familiar. The physical spaces of most everyday urban and suburban life — houses, classrooms, offices, sidewalks, roads (or worse: roads with no sidewalks) — all reinforce this. They’re designed around longstanding norms, regulations, zoning, and a plethora of laws which, without our being fully conscious of them, govern the way we move, the way we interact with place; they deeply entrench our everyday sense of normality, of possibility. But whether it’s science or sports or relationships or art, discoveries and innovation come through the unknown, and nature is a direct route. Take your closest natural area, possibly a park or lake or national forest. What’s under the water there? What does it look like at dawn, or at night? What animals inhabit the region or migrate through? Who were the area’s original inhabitants? What is the oldest tree there? The simple but profound act of just being there, in nature, opens up lines of investigation that can fire children’s (and adults’) imagination. 2. It puts everyone on an equal ground. An extension of the above, the physical spaces and parameters all around us tend to segregate children and adults. Check any park or playground: Kids in the sandbox, moms and dads sitting on benches looking at smartphones. Check school lunchrooms: kids at one table, teachers at the other. From school to after-school to extracurricular activities to weekend soccer games, the entire structure implies adults and kids occupy two different worlds. Thus kids grow up imitating, reinforcing the pattern: Power struggles center on who gets to do what, and in what order. But nature — especially wilderness where there’s no furniture, no benches, doors, steps, gates, fences — suddenly removes these structures. It may be a subtle psychological effect, but after years teaching both in and out of the classroom, I’ve seen over and over how getting adults and kids onto the “neutral” ground of nature changes the group dynamic, makes children more responsive, appreciative, and adults less distracted. 3. It lets children and parents burn off energy and emotions in a healthy way. As mangroves absorb the energy and damage from flood tides and storm surges, so too does just being out in the woods as a family allow everyone to run around and explore, burning off energy without limitations. In our household, we use “indoor voices” and play “indoor games.” These can be fun, but once we’re in the woods, all bets are off! Racing up hills, exploring creeks, being as exuberant as we want. That’s the time. That’s the space for it. It’s something our family needs and cherishes, to the point that when people are starting to get cranky, bickering at each other, we know we’re overdue for more “river time.” 4. It teaches empathy, compassion, and connection. Over the last several decades, people have become increasingly distanced from the sources of their most basic necessities, everything from water to food to clothing to the energy that powers their homes. With this disconnection comes disengagement, a dwindling sense of responsibility, of community. Engaging as a family with nature can make lasting impressions on a child in terms of where she or he comes from and how it’s connected to the rest of the world. One of the simplest ways to teach this is through the simple concept of one’s “watershed address.” As a family, study the contours of the land around your house, your neighborhood, your streets. When it rains, where does the water go? Into what lakes, what rivers? Where does it go from there? Everyone in the world has a watershed address. Our water comes from somewhere and our wastewater goes somewhere. There’s an upstream and a downstream. Find your watershed address down to the closest creek or river; look at Google Earth to help find the names, and plot the course all the way out to the ocean. How many other towns are above yours, or downstream? Build a model outside in the dirt, have your kids carve the riverbeds. Let them feel it with their hands. 5. It teaches that outcomes aren’t always predictable. Too many activities, exhibits, and amusement parks like Disneyworld are structured around predictable outcomes. You pay for a ticket, take the ride, and then it’s over. You press a button, hear a recording explain what an exhibit is about, and then move on. All of this parallels the expectation of immediate gratification that families already experience via screen-time: You press a button, change the channel, and another show / game / app comes up. Being in nature reminds us that the world isn’t stop-start, binary, predictable. Nature is constantly changing, always in movement, at its own pace. The obvious teaching here is patience. A great exercise is constructing a “blind.” Choose a familiar woods where you can create a small fort (kids will love this) of brush, sticks, leaf-cover. Leave one side open, facing as open of an area as you can find: hollows, valleys, a body of water. After constructing it, come back another day either early morning (pre-dawn is best) or late-afternoon, staying till evening. Bring binoculars. What animals do you observe? What changes to the landscape? The more you observe — and prompt kids to observe, turning it into a game, a challenge — the more you’ll get into it. 6. It creates opportunities for children to be inventive. An extension of the above, the medium through which children (and families) interact in nature, whether it’s mud puddles, balls of clay scooped from a riverbank, or shells picked up along shoreline, are tactile and “interactive” in a way that a touchscreen can never be. Kids are given toys, apps, etc. with the idea that having numbers and letters makes them “educational,” when they’re actually deprived of the kind of play where they’re able to be most imaginative. 7. It’s instructive about the circle of life. Guiding your family through experiences in nature can be a primary way to introduce concepts around life and death, especially to young children. From encountering dead animals, to walking along the beach and looking at shells (“What happened to all the animals that used to live in the shells?”), or even something as simple as stopping by a fallen tree in the forest, examining how the material decays and enriches the soil, nature reminds us that we are connected to the circle of life, and it isn’t something to shelter oneself from, but embrace. 8. Lots of outdoor play is proving to have specific health benefits. The Center for Disease Control has studied childhood obesity over the last two decades, and their findings are ugly: Obesity in school-age children has more than doubled, and the rate of clinically obese adolescents has tripled. The CDC points to the trend of children spending more and more time indoors over the past two decades, and has concluded that at least an hour a day of physical activity outside is beneficial for all children’s physical well-being. Additionally, science has found linkage between the downward trend of children’s outdoor play-time, and emotional problems that can occur throughout life. 9. It’s the only place to learn so many life skills. There is no classroom like nature. When I was a kid, I was lucky enough to go to schools and camps where the teachers were experts at what they referred to as “life skills.” This included practices like building proper fires, constructing shelters, navigating terrain via map and compass, negotiating creeks and rivers, identifying plants, trees, animals, constellations, knowing how to obtain potable water, and so much more. Looking back, I realize it wasn’t these skills in and of themselves which were the real “lesson,” but the cumulative effect they had in making me more aware and appreciative of nature. In a surprisingly profound way, simply spending time in nature with your family, learning the most basic skills and knowledge that every man, woman, and child for thousands of years knew (example: where the moon rises) can help lead towards a deeper appreciation or understanding of the places you live and travel. To be able to move through places without simply blundering through half-asleep. 10. It could one day save people’s lives. And an extension of the above: In a very real, direct way, learning these kinds of life skills can actually save someone’s life, or help avoid or alleviate a potentially dangerous situation. From understanding where along a river is safe to play, swim, explore, to feeling comfortable in the woods and able to find one’s way, there is an important sensibility possessed by those who’ve grown up close to nature: respect.
About Mike Libecki
The indomitable National Geographic explorer specializes in first ascents, daring to be the first human on the world’s most isolated peaks. Though passionately drawn to the thrilling allure of uncharted climbs, Mike is equally passionate about adventuring with a broader purpose, whether it be bringing solar panels to villages in Kyrgyzstan or conducting DNA research with Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation. He has completed more than 65 major expeditions all over the world, including Antarctica, Baffin Island, Guyana, Greenland, China, Madagascar, Kyrgysztan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Venezuela, Yemen, Indonesia, Philippines, Polynesia, and Africa as well as numerous unnamed spots around the globe. His goal? One hundred expeditions by the time he is 100. In October of 2016, Dr. Tanner (Founder & Director of The Knox School of Santa Barbara) met Mike Libecki at UCSB’s Arts & Lectures series after his talk ‘Untamed Antarctica’ during which Mike gave a humorous and gripping account of the most remote climbing expedition possible to Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, where he and his team battled extreme cold, furious katabatic winds, and fickle weather in an epic, ten-day climb to the summit. Throughout his presentation, Dr. Tanner was struck by his optimism, his belief in the human spirit, and in his relationship with struggle. Knox students have the potential to do great things in support of this beautiful world, and one passion Dr. Tanner, personally, has is to introduce students to mindsets that will allow them to accept setbacks and seek challenge as part of the growth process. There started a wonderful partnership with Mike Libecki whos has traveled to The Knox School to give talks to students, parents, and teachers and who has guided their 7th/8th grade trip op Yosemite on several occasions! At Knox, we feel it is important to introduce students to individuals who are pursuing their passions in their chosen field, whether locally or around the globe. We are excited to give students opportunities to interview, shadow, and otherwise interact with those who are striving for answers, excellence, and growth. The lucky 7th/8th graders get to learn from a master explorer about the joys and struggles of exploring mysterious, unexplored, and harsh environments and Mike’s message of optimism and faith in oneself is as relevant to climbing as it is to life. “You have to have belief, courage, perseverance, and you have to be patient,” says Libecki. “All of these words apply to expeditions and everyday life.”
Inspiring Gifted Learners
Valuing students’ deep intellectual curiosity, high ethical standards, and emotional sensitivities, The Knox School provides a receptive, nurturing, student-centered environment encouraging inquiry and independence. Students are encouraged to advance at their own pace with no ceiling in place. Core classes are supplemented by a comprehensive STEAM program, Fine Art, Performing Arts/Music, Phys Ed, and Mindfulness.
GRADES JK-8 - LOCATED IN DOWNTOWN SANTA BARBARA
Is My Child Gifted?
Emotionally sensitive
Physically sensitive
Intense reactions
Long attention span when something interests them
Capable but not necessarily performing well in school (underachieving)
Perfectionistic
Large, advanced vocabulary
Asks many questions, rarely settling for a simple explanation
Energetic
Learns information quickly
Excellent memory
Extraordinarily creative or talented in specific area
Parents who are overwhelmed, frustrated, or exhausted!