in smart outdoor attire moved like ants up the park’s hilly trails. By
the time I got there, seven boys were lying still like lizards on
turquoise yoga mats in a relatively secluded grove. Kim was having
them listen to the sounds of nature.
“If you want to play games better, you need to let your eyes rest,”
she told them. The boys’ mothers hung about. This was week two of
the free ten-week program, and they’d signed them up through the
City of Seoul, having attested to their sons’ obsessive behavior either
playing video games like League of Legends or texting on their
smartphones. I wondered why ten-year-olds even had smartphones,
but that horse was clearly out of the barn.
I could see that Kim’s forest program was as much for the
stressed-out mothers as it was for the boys. The session included a
clever mix of games, sensory interludes and trust exercises. Kim
arranged everyone in a circle, each person holding a shoulder-high
twig. Then she gave a command and each person lunged to the spot of
the person next to him in time to catch their neighbor’s twig before it
fell. Then they switched direction. They made the circle bigger and
the lunges faster. The boys, who had looked bored when it began,
were soon laughing with their moms and stumbling into them. Next,
Kim asked the mothers to put on blindfolds and allow their sons to
lead them.
“I’m going to give you a chance to care for your mother since
she’s always caring for you,” she explained to the boys. “The course
where you will take her is not safe. There are lots of rocks and sticks.”
They walked carefully around for a while and then they switched
places, the blinded sons alongside or just in front of their mothers.
“Usually parents drag kids around with their intentions,” said Kim to
the moms. “The one who follows has no power at all, even though
intentions are good. Don’t talk too much and relax. If there is a tree in
front, kids can sense it, so don’t worry too much, and let the kids lead.
Give them some space.”