Friluftsliv as a cultivating asset for children’s educational resilience : How resource-strong families value and invest in friluftsliv for their children

Abstract: This study focuses on how a specific type of family invests in and ascribes value to friluftsliv and how the outdoor habits parents create for their children can be understood in relation to their children’s education. Friluftsliv is a Nordic term that involves nature-based activities such as hiking and camping but can be many activities conducted in connection to nature. However, the concept is also closely linked to the meaningful emotional connection while spending time outdoors. With a Bourdieusian view on friluftsliv, five families were interviewed, and two participant observations were conducted on two separate occasions by following an outdoor organization in Sweden, that provides children and young adults with outdoor experiences. The organization also founded its own preschool focused on outdoor pedagogy. A sixth interview followed, interviewing an organization manager of one of the outdoor organization branches in the country. In understanding how the families in this thesis invest in and practice friluftsliv, this study explored the connection between the families interviewed and their active choice of having their children in outdoor preschool. The choice of outdoor preschool was found to be a strategy that the families utilize to set a foundation for their children, a foundation for resilience and autonomy in a long-term perspective. The friluftsliv concept as a practice thus became an asset also in children’s school life, by cultivating a foundation of an active lifestyle and, by extension, managing and coping with staying in school even if it is strenuous and challenging at times. Through outdoor preschool and friluftsliv, the children learn skills and values that are useful throughout their childhood and adulthood.