When I look see birches bend to left and right....
I like to think some boy's been swinging them.
Robert Frost
Do your children like to climb trees as much as mine do? Whenever we are near one Andrew and Parker try to scramble up as high as they can go. I think that God just put into us the desire to be outside, whether young or old.
I have started reading a book
called "Last Child In The Woods," by Richard Louv. I wouldn't agree with all his thoughts, but, I think he has some valid ones, too. This is a quote from the Introduction of his book:
...Americans around my age, baby boomers or older, enjoyed a free, natural play that seems, in the era of kid pagers, instant messaging, and Nintendo, like a quaint artifact. Within the space of a few decades, the way children understand and experience nature has changed radically. The polarity of the relationship has reversed. Today kids are aware of the global threats to the environment - but their physical contact, their intimacy with nature, is fading. That's exactly the opposite of how it was when I was a child.
As a boy, I was unaware that my woods were ecologically connected with any other forests. Nobody in the 1950s talked about acid rain or holes in the ozone layer or global warming. But I knew my woods and my fields; I knew every bend in the creek and dip in the beaten dirt paths. I wandered those woods even in my dreams. A kid today can likely tell you about the Amazon rain forest - but not about the last time he or she explored the woods in solitude, or lay in a field listening to the wind and watching the clouds move.
I actually borrowed my copy from the Library, or you can purchase a copy here.
Have you read his book? What are your thoughts?
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