In a candid conversation with an audience here at the Aspen Environment Forum, eminent biologist/naturalist EO Wilson said soccer moms are killing off bio-education because they don’t let their children experience nature.
In what he calls the “soccer mom syndrome” Wilson said the worst thing a parent can do for a child is to take him or her to a botanical garden where all the trees are marked and labeled. Instead, “Go to the seashore and give them a pale pail and bucket. Let them experience nature…and then come back and ask questions,” Wilson said, admittedly paraphrasing Rachel Carson’s advice. Carson famously wrote the book “Silent Spring.”
Wilson, who is compiling an encyclopedia of life (www.eol.org), which will describe every species known to man, didn’t back down when a woman from the audience said that she would “forgive him” for the soccer mom comment.
“Don’t,” he responded. “Think on it.”
Wilson filled more than an hour of questions and answers with witty remarks and barbs. And to be sure, his tone was playful. Yet, there was a seriousness behind his “soccer mom” remarks that struck a cord with many people in the audience: Have children been largely cut off from nature because of technology?
Many people agreed that they have, with video games, the Internet and structured play times replacing — as comedian George Carlin commented in a recent skit — sitting outside in a yard with a stick wondering how to entertain themselves.
That creative process — kinesthetic — is perhaps immunizing children from nature and therefore creating a social environment that entails less caring for the outdoors and all its splendors, people said.
It’s an interesting discussion in an age when children’s schedules and days are filled with all sorts of activities–but leave little time for children to entertain themselves outside.
Wilson said there is nothing to fear with nature. “I feel more afraid sometimes in big cities than when I step into a rainforest,” he said.
Appreciation, in other words, can only be had by first-hand experience. Virtual surrogates just won’t do.
Soccer moms take note and, I’m sure, some offense.
March 31st, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Thank you for having the courage to speak out against soccer moms. These monsters have been keeping their kids away from sand buckets and beaches for far too long.
March 31st, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Bullshit. It’s that “blame mom” syndrome for everything wrong with children.
March 31st, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I second that, Holly. Wilson’s sexism almost spoils his good point.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:05 am
While I agree with the sentiments, I think that it is very difficult to do in practice. You take kids somewhere like a nature trip or camping and all they do is whine about lack of tv or nintendo - that’s if they don’t happen to have their cell phones, game boys etc with them. Nature and entertaining oneself with a stick are harder for kids raised on video games, internet, and video.
At least soccer moms are getting their kids involved in “real” activities as opposed to artifical ones. I think it is a shame that kids get scheduled until they have no time to think or just be on their own, but if you look at what they do when they are allowed free time it is those activities which make them less in tune with the “real” world and more in tune with artificial ones.
Don’t know the answer to this one. But it isn’t as simple as the author is suggesting. The average American kid today is more likely to be glued to his cell phone or game boy than play with a sand bucket.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:39 am
I have long believed that modern kids are being cut off from nature, but the “soccer mom” comment is just off-putting. It’s a silly stereotype. It focuses only on moms when dads are more involved than ever in their children’s lives - and more responsible for what happens. It makes people mad and it takes away from the message.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:17 am
It is true that today’s kids lives have become too structured. Those who want to think outside the box are medicated. Luckily I was brought up with a curiosity and appreciation for nature. Now I have four boys who love to hike, looking for snakes, bugs, lizards; love the beach and respect the oceans, rivers, streams. One son saved his hard earned money for a snake hook, like those used by Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin. I’ve had some kids decide to tag along, when all they knew before were structured playdates and video games, they left amazed, their parents garnered that look of “OMG, what kind of parent are you?
We’ve had a great time exploring the great outdoors and all that nature has to offer. They have a sense of adventure, and most importantly a strong respect for nature, and a deep love for all creatures.
You’re right, nothing scares me more then the soccer mom syndrome. I’m glad to find I’m not a leper, and that possibly there could be more in the world like me.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:24 am
Monsters…? You’re kidding right. I don’t think Mr. Wilson was taking it quite that far, in fact I don’t think he was ’speaking out against soccer moms’ I think he was just trying to give them something to think about.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I think the point Wilson was trying to make (and I say think because how would I know) is that the connection with nature has been interrupted by rigid scheduling, expectations, and technology. So then when too could ask: If children have fallen victims to these trappings can the same also be said of soccer moms themselves? If so, then it certainly isn’t a case of “blame mom” syndrome rather it’s society that is to blame. A much bigger fix, if indeed one is needed, than merely soccer moms….
April 1st, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Actually, Wilson is more right than wrong. I think he could’ve been more tactful about it (but that’s Wilson for you, he’s a very smart man but not the most politically savvy guy around) but the overall thrust of his comments are correct. We have decided, now, that childhood should be structured and risk-free. It is simply NOT a good idea to keep your kids in your heavily-anti-bacterial-scrubbed house where their learning immune systems don’t get heavily challenged. It is simply NOT a good idea for kids ideas of nature to be wholly or perhaps even substantially gained from going to sterilized areas like botanical gardens (which have their place, mind you).
April 1st, 2008 at 12:40 pm
It’s more than just about time with dirt and grass - it’s a general pattern. Parents now are obsessed with stranger-danger fear, to the point of hysteria, even though the risks have not increased. Look at the masses of huge vehicles jammed around schools at the start and end of the day.
Children are so safe now that if you could stay at a 10 year old’s death rate, you’d live 5000 years. Yet the safer people are, the more anxious they get about irrational fears.
It’s a sad and general truth about the way people think - it works for adults fears for themselves, too. Surveys show it’s the elderly that are most afraid of crime, for example, even though it’s people in their 20s who are far and away the most likely victims of crime. The rampant ninnyism about kids is the surest sign that they’re in reality overly safe.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Soccer moms are a scourge on society. And to give equal time, so are soccer dads. What a deprived generation of children they are raising.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:33 pm
I think it is true that kids are cut off from nature and organic play and they are over-scheduled but I don’t think it is helpful to blame “soccer moms”. I hope it gets people thinking though.
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:32 am
“Bullshit. It’s that “blame mom” syndrome for everything wrong with children.”
No. That’s not what Wilson said at all. He’s not blaming mothers with everything that’s wrong with children. He’s saying soccer moms are keeping kids away from nature, and he’s right. You’re reading something completely different into his comments that he didn’t even say - something that’s in your head, not in his words. What is your problem?
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:07 am
I agree that the term “soccer mom” is not intended just for certain mothers, and really is more about society as a whole. I don’t even think Wilson was being tactless - he was using a very evocative term for the over-scheduled lives that have misplaced what it is about nature that we need to enjoy. It’s bigger than soccer moms, but that’s where we can make the first changes to our habits.
I was put-off by the comment at first, but I really got the entire image he wanted to convey.
Very interesting.
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Wow. I just love it when someone stereotypes individuals in one big “soccer mom” group. (By the way, why is it never “football moms, baseball moms, or basketball moms”?) My son plays sports, plays instruments–and believe it or not– loves the outdoors, too! Although we used to live in Colorado where we spent the majority of our time in the mountains, we now live in Ohio (due to family) and to put it bluntly, the weather sucks. So, thank goodness that my children have the opportunity for things like soccer, iceskating, and music (which, by the way, they love). I am also a highschool teacher, and believe me, the kids that are not involved in activiites are the ones that tend to get into trouble–simply because they have nothing better to do, and they are trapped where they are. I am very glad that there are people out there that have the opportunity to be in the outdoors all of the time (like we used to be), but not all of us have that opportunity. You can be involved in activites, and still greatly appreciate the outdoors. It’s called well-rounded.
Oh, and simply “going to the seashore with a bucket” is pretty expensive for most of us!
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Would it really have mattered if Wilson had said football moms or baseball moms?
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:35 pm
He wrong to single out soccer moms, but he’s right that kids today are disconnected from nature. But the fault also lies with dads, schools, and our modern society in general, not just soccer moms.
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I think when he says “soccer mom” he is including fathers. It’s actually the entire family that sets the schedule, not just the “mom”.
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:33 am
“The worst thing a mom can do for a child” How totally absurd. Far worse things happen to kids then being taken to a botanical garden - lets start with incest, child abuse or emotional neglect
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:47 am
Wow, I heard Wilson speak at a lecture once. I didn’t take his remarks as sexist, but he is quite narrowly focused on white middle class and completely clueless about a significant segment of American youth who have no opportunities to “experience nature.” I teach at an urban school just an hour from the ocean, but the majority of my students have never been to the beach. Their jungle is made of concrete covered with graffiti. They engage in NO structured activities after school (despite efforts from the district and after school programs to recruit them), and often have minimal parental involvement in their lives. Experiencing nature is hardly a priority for these youths.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:36 am
[…] In a nutshell, that is what an “eminent biologist/naturist” EO Wilson said at at the Aspen Environmental Forum. […]
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:48 am
People should stop taking offense so rapidly (striking a little too close to home, maybe?), and actually take some time to digest what this eminent scientist has said. This is the brilliant man who gave us Sociobiology (which led to Evolutionary Psychology, the modern paradigm of the mind), who made “biodiversity” daily word. I’ve seen him speak, I’ve read his books, and I can assure you that little that comes from him has not been carefully thought on. We’d all do better to pay attention to our learned elders instead of allowing ourselves to be so easily controlled by influences that are uninterested in actually improving the well-being of people and of the world.
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:52 pm
don’t forget all the superbugs they’re creating by using hand-sanitizing lotion every 10 minutes and buying into anti- microbial furniture, toys, clothes, flooring, etc (buut they’re so kuh-yeeeeeewt!!) as if keeping kids away from EVERY SINGLE POSSIBLE MICROBE THAT CAN MAKE THEM SNIFFLE was the bestest idea in the whole wide world!
April 5th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
I wonder how many of those who are so quick to defend the good professor’s remarks actually have kids? I’m a father of two, and while I understand the “soccer mom” comment, I can also certainly understand why real moms would be offended by it.
I could be wrong, but I get a sense that those who are so quick to defend EO Wilson have never actually raised children, and so they agree with him in more of a theoretical than practical sense. When you have kids of your own, lets see how easy it will be for you to ignore “stranger danger”. I’m not defending paranoia, but I also know that as a parent, my own kids were allowed to roam unattended (but I will admit their “free-range” wasn’t as far from our home as mine was when I was a kid).
I will also admit that, as a parent, I’ve let my kids get far too involved in television, video games and the Internet. But both of my kids were also very active in Scouts (my daughter earned her Silver as a Girl Scout, and my son is currently a Life Scout). Both learned an appreciation of the outdoors by camping in it and experiencing it first-hand, not via some “catalog” developed by a professor on the Internet.
If you want your kids to appreciate nature, its better to do it locally by camping in your back yard, or with the Scouts, than it is to sign an online pledge as part of some classroom exercise to save the Amazon rain-forest.
As I see it, part of the problem with kids today (and some learned professors) is that there is far too much “appreciation-at-a-safe-distance” (and usually on a global scale) when it comes to nature, and far too little actually going out and experiencing it on a local scale (like the neighborhood park or stream).
April 7th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
“Bullshit. It’s that “blame mom” syndrome for everything wrong with children.”
Yes I blame mom and dad. They are the ones to blame. I am a parent and if my kid does not get to have the experiences that Wilson describes then it is absolutely the my fault. Same to ever other parent. You are responsible for raising your kids and providing them with new experiences in which they can learn and grow. Your comment shows a closed mind and an unwillingness to accept responsibility as a parent for molding and shaping your children. I found your comment much more inflammatory then Wislons.
April 8th, 2008 at 9:06 am
I’ve been thinking along the same lines lately - the people least likely to believe in climate change never experience the climate. We, as a society, tend to be insulated from those things we view as problems: bad weather, uncomfortable conditions, etc. When I go for a walk I rarely see people using parks, or the lake, except for short stretches at a time - entertainment & diversion. Camping is an exercise in how much of regular life can we bring: DSs, PSPs, TVs, iPods, RVs. Some of my best memories from childhood are good only in retrospect: freezing while camping one time because snow fell in July, wringing out sleeping bags after five inches of rain fell one night, hiking in fog. Stuff that at the time is uncomfortable and sometimes scary.
Overly protecting children is the best way to ensure that they don’t have a life and end up spoiled.
April 8th, 2008 at 9:51 am
The “soccer mom” generalization is a bit unfair, but his main point is correct. There is huge value in sending the kids outside and just letting them play. I think most moms you talk to DO recognize this. I suppose he would need to define “soccer mom” better. If he’s just talking about moms who drive mini-vans and have kids that play soccer or other sports, he’s not acknowledging the diversity within that group… and there are huge differences.
A “soccer mom” would mean the kid is of the age to at least join a soccer team, usually a bit older than your average bucket and shovel weilding toddler/preschooler. And who’s to say that the mom whose kid is on the soccer team is not also taking them to the sea shore, the mountains, or a non-labeled garden, in her mini-van?
Maybe it’s the Non-soccer-moms who have kids that spend more time watching TV and playing video games that he should be criticising.
I think the overall point is good; get your kids outside, let them explore and learn. The soccer mom reference is inflammatory without being useful.
April 9th, 2008 at 1:40 am
Interesting how many people think that their having been “put off” is substantially germane to the issue. [Could this too be part of the Soccer Mom Syndrome!!!!!!]
April 11th, 2008 at 6:23 am
Then I won’t be taking my kids to any libraries, what with all the books being marked and labeled.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:05 pm
“”While I agree with the sentiments, I think that it is very difficult to do in practice. You take kids somewhere like a nature trip or camping and all they do is whine about lack of tv or nintendo - that’s if they don’t happen to have their cell phones, game boys etc with them. Nature and entertaining oneself with a stick are harder for kids raised on video games, internet, and video.”"
It’s something that parents have to teach their kids, just like anything else. If your kid is so spoiled that they whine and complain that they don’t have a cell phone, then something is wrong with the way that they were raised. Maybe you shouldn’t have taught them that cell phones and video games were more important than experiencing life.
“”"At least soccer moms are getting their kids involved in “real” activities as opposed to artificial ones.”"”
Running around, kicking a pleather ball on the pesticide-sprayed, chemically fertilized, mowed remains of what used to be a forest … doesn’t sound too “real” or healthy to me
I think Wilson is hinting in the right direction … but yuppie soccer moms are a very small piece of the problem … there are many more things that need to be done besides taking your kids to the beach with a pail … like maybe teaching them about how to grow a garden after talking about the pesticides in their food, or maybe telling them that their cell phone was made in a sweatshop overseas, or telling them about the torture camps and death squads that are funded by your tax dollars … not wrong, just not telling the whole story.
–J. Taylor
April 30th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
I think the soccer moms dont care about their kids at all. They just go there to gossip and then go shopping for stupid little dogs to parade around. You know those little hybid dogs that never stop yapping.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
While Wilson may have chosen words that have offended some, his point is a good one. Let kids eat dirt. Let them play. Let them be kids. There will be plenty of time to worry about death camps later. It’s all over the news anyway.
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