An Excerpt--Nature and Families

[An excerpt from my book, The Contemplative Mom: Restoring Rich Relationship with God in the Midst of Motherhood]

Mary Pipher, Ph.D., author of the book The Shelter of Each Other: Rebuilding Our Families, describes several case studies of families in turmoil. She contrasts a family from the 1930s—her grandparents, actually—with those families she sees currently in her counseling practice. Noting the strengths and weaknesses of each era, she draws some practical conclusions and offers suggestions that she has seen bring healing. After describing a family that struggled with typical suburban problems, Pipher wrote:

"As adults, people remember three kinds of family events with great pleasure—meals, vacations and time outdoors. I wanted this family to have some memories.

"'I’m going to make a couple of radical suggestions here,' I said. 'One is that you turn off the television and computer for at least a couple nights a week, and two, that the family do something out of doors every week. Watch a sunset, go for a walk or take a trip to a wilderness area.'

"These were standard suggestions for me. I think that the natural world has great power to heal and restore broken families. Children need contact with the natural world. It’s an antidote to advertising and gives them a different perspective on the universe. Looking at the Milky Way makes most of us feel small and yet a part of something vast. Television, with its emphasis on meeting every need, makes people feel self-important and yet unconnected to anything greater than themselves."

(p. 59, The Shelter of Each Other: Rebuilding Our Families, Mary Pipher, Ph.D., Ballantine Books, NY, 1996)

Just as Pipher suggested, turning off technology and getting out in nature has brought our family closer and already we are seeing that those three kinds of family events remembered with pleasure are reality for us: meals, vacations, and time outdoors.

For us, camping takes care of all three in one fell swoop.