What I’m Reading and Where I’m Reading It: An Absurdity.

So. I take the kidos to McD’s this week for dinner, you know: To Get. Out. Of. The. House. They eat and then scamper and cavort in the safety of the enclosed play place. The arrangement works for all of us. They’re happy and running around like mad and I get to read a bit.

I’m excited to get into this book: The Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. I picked it up in TN immediately upon seeing the title and reading the back cover. I had only the chance to read a few pages of the first chapter but I had a good idea that I liked where it was going so far and wanted to really sink into it. We order. We eat. And afterwards they run off to play and I settle in.

Now, maybe you’ve already figured this out, but it takes me a few paragraphs and then it hits me. I’m reading about the importance of nature for our mental and physical well-being and how children have become removed from direct exposure to natural play in, you guessed it, NATURE.

And guess what? The kids are playing on plastic palm trees under cover of Plexiglas surrounded by a painted jungle inhabited by some real looking jungle creatures (leopards and elephants and such) and some not so real (Grimace and the Fry Guys), and falling on unidentified synthetic floor covering so as not to skin a knee. The paradox hits me so hard I tilt the book so the cover is hidden lest someone else should notice, and I really start to consider this.

Yes, it’s scary to let your kids play outside in the woods or open fields or sometimes just in the front yard. Yes, they’ll get dirty. Yes, they'll do stupid stuff and maybe get hurt from time to time. Yes, they are safer inside with me. But I am convinced of the benefits of playing outside and determined to give them more opportunities to connect in real ways with nature.

So the next day, we take a picnic lunch to “the woods” in one of our local parks. No swings, slides, mulch flooring, or those cool fountains that spit water into the air. I will admit I choose an area that is regularly mowed, but still under canopy of trees and surrounded by woods and even bordered by a stream (I try not to make much of the stream just yet, don’t want anyone falling in, now do we?). I forgot the Off so poor little Maya came home with some nasty bug bites, and I’m certain someone will come down with a poison something or other.

It took a bit of doing, but I let them run around and play without once requesting that someone be careful or stay out of the weeds (but I was thinking it). And you know what? They played for two hours, loved every minute of it, and everyone made it home in one piece. Now we'll have to wait and see about that poison ivy.