Child, Nature and Media
When we look back at the cartoons of our childhood days, each represented the climate and habitat of the producing country. The information that Skippy the Bush Kangaroo gave children and adolescents of the 1960s (1360s SH) about Australia and its nature was much more than the geography lesson of the education system. Due to the abundance of Japanese productions, the understanding of Iranian children of that era regarding the nature, environment, interests, and recreations of Japanese children was much greater than that of children from their own compatriots and ethnic groups in Iran.
With the extensive changes in urban lifestyle and the presence of children’s living hours mostly in apartments, kindergartens, and schools, the perception of children, especially those located in metropolises, of nature will be different from the perception of children in smaller towns and villages.
These climatic and spatial changes in children’s living environments alter a network of concepts that are directly related to nature.
Concepts such as:
Freedom: Instead of being defined based on the will of choice and responsibility, it simply amounts to expressing the obligation or non-obligation to social rules and standards.
Play: Instead of being based on the environment and available facilities, it tends to focus on ready-made tools.
Joy: A concept that is individual or ultimately within the small surrounding group, and its inclusivity and breadth in plants, animals, and the surrounding world are not perceived.
Exploration: Natural discovery moves towards “data engineering”.
Change: Stability and the effort to maintain the existing order push the perception of “natural change” to the limit of blindness and stressfulness of any new challenge.
Life Cycle: Cognitive limitation of habitats, diversity, and plurality in nature leads to a lack of understanding of cycles and the agency of nature.
Imagination: Naturalistic intelligence and creative imagination are formed and developed based on the direct connection of children in the early years of life within nature.
In the meantime, in addition to the minimal physical presence of children in nature and gaining lived experiences, the role of media and tools that construct their mental concepts is also becoming more prominent and important every day. Television, with a wide range of programs, can be an important factor in expanding children’s naturalistic intelligence and mental concepts.
Documentary programs that present the biodiversity and variety of Iranian children in an engaging and attractive way may be able to be a factor for sharing the experience of Iranian children in all corners of Iran. Competitions that involve children in understanding the surrounding environment with minimal facilities. Animations that introduce animals and the surrounding nature of Iranian children in a childish language. Documentary and exploratory programs to understand natural species and animals of each province of Iran, local and ethnic music, artistic, food, and clothing dependencies on nature within a network of domestically produced programs can largely expand the scope of Iranian children’s mental concepts. The combination of art and nature is the most efficient tool for the growth of children’s communication and the development of their naturalistic intelligence. Media, spearheaded by television and specialized children and young people networks, can bring this important matter into practice and be a nature school in the heart of the home.
Author: Sahar Soltani