How to Spend More Time Outdoors -- Nature Benefits

Right now, there are a lot of companies that benefit economically from children spending time either in front of television (acculturation), children's commercials (incentivization), or electronic games (occupation).

Growing research data shows a direct relationship between the development of factors like character, empathy, and confidence to the degree of time spent away from electronics, doing free play outdoors.

In most parts of the world, the outdoor environment is still much healthier and less toxic for all humans -- but especially for autistics, who invariably have impaired detoxification and a resulting high toxic burden.

The challenge is, in cultures dominated by the western economic model, adults have very little leisure, and are being encouraged to be afraid of what might happen to unsupervised children.  

So even when kids get outside, it's often in supervised, competitive, rule-bound activities (e.g. sports) where autistics usually can't measure up -- and often stop engaging.

This isn't an argument to leave children to their own devices without any kind of safety net.  However, spending time outdoors doesn't have to cost money, and doesn't have to involve training or competition.  

Outdoor time can be satisfying in terms of accomplishment, and it can be so much fun to create our own entertainments.  And fun, my friends, is one of the best ways to draw an autistic out of the fog, and into engaging.

This cheat sheet is about how to both enable and create outdoor fun.