“Outside, the child explores, he becomes aware of the living”

Reconnect with life, a source of benefits and learning. With her documentary “Tous Dehors”, director Anne Jochum warns of a lack of nature from which children are increasingly suffering.

Biodiversity, space, artificial intelligence, education… Spotlight on the conferences and meetings organized at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie. Today, screening debate around the documentary “All out!” by Anne Jochum, Tuesday, December 3 at 2:30 p.m.

How did the desire to address this subject emerge?

This film was born from a concern. The Préparons Demain association, which produced it, releases a documentary every year, focusing on youth and parenthood. Initially, we had planned to work on food when we were warned by Jean Epstein, a psychosociologist specializing in early childhood, to “the emergency” to address this subject. Since confinement, institutions and professionals have been alarmed by a lack of nature. Today we are witnessing a double movement. On the one hand, a return to nature for those who found it difficult to be cut off from it. On the other, an increasingly marked compartmentalization due to family habits and screens. This concerns children, as well as parents. In the documentary, we hear mind-blowing figures. Children go out less than prisoners. In France, 4 out of 10 children never play outside during the week…

During the preparation of this documentary, the most worrying thing for me was this observation: in Quebec, a society focused on child development, children only benefit from 12 minutes of free play per day, that is- that is to say when they are neither directed nor accompanied. In my eyes, that says a lot about the rest. The child is less and less in contact with himself. He no longer has the leisure to do things alone, to know what he likes and doesn’t like, to explore, to be bored. The scope of freedom diminishes with each generation. If for our great grandparents, it extended several kilometers. Now it is reduced to a few hundred meters, or even tens. However, this freedom is fundamental to its development and this lack greatly influences its relationship with the outside world.

In the film, you mention all the benefits of nature on the development of children…

First, there are the health implications. Moving is good for the muscles and the heart. But there are also all the psychic contributions. Everything that the relationship with nature develops: cooperation, empathy, autonomy, self-confidence. Outside, the child explores, he becomes aware of the living. When he crushes an ant, it is dead, it’s a learning experience. His actions have an impact and he experiences it. He slips, falls, starts again. He learns through mistakes.

What are the avenues today to remedy this lack of nature?

At the architectural level, cities are becoming more and more interested in it. Schoolyards are greening up again. In the nursery, educational projects are designed in relation to the outside world. There is also the development of “forest schools”, even if they are still private initiatives. We released this film to raise the alarm because professionals must be able to act with parents and institutions. They must think together about why children no longer have access to the outdoors. What are the brakes? The fear of the predator, of the road, of the dirt… There are many things to deconstruct. In a hygienist society, we have all become a little caught up in standards and health injunctions. However, there is a real public health issue behind these questions.