"Just My Thoughts" Friday Noverber 24, 2006
Imagination Vs Technology

Hey folks,

Let’s start out by saying that yesterday was Thanksgiving. I had a great time. I really did. I hope you did as well. I came in looking for something to discuss, and there really is not much out there today. Yet anyway. So I did what I must do from time to time, start looking other places. Opinion sections, locals, even other blogs to see what people are talking about to see if it meets the high standards you have come to expect here at the OPN. {Smile}

Now I could be like most , and simply take the day off. But I’m not like the rest. So After seeing this article from USA Today, I decided to do a Special Friday Edition of "Just My Thoughts."

USA Today-"Nature programs' goal: No child left inside"

"There's a lot of movement all over the country, and it's increasing," says Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, a 2005 book that has increased interest in the topic. He says studies show that enjoying nature reduces kids' loneliness, depression and attention problems.

In January, the U.S. Forest Service is launching a pilot program, More Kids In the Woods, that will fund local efforts to get children outdoors. It is the service's first full-scale program targeting kids, says Jim Bedwell, national director of recreation and heritage resources.

Also happening:

•A Junior Ranger program, in which kids earn badges by completing activities at national parks, is opening Friday at Fort Clatsop in Oregon. Nearly 300 national parks have programs for kids 5 and older.

•The National Wildlife Federation is launching "The Green Hour" website in March to give parents fun suggestions for outdoor activities with their children.

•The National Audubon Society, which has opened 30 nature centers in the past decade, will launch a new one this spring in Savannah, N.Y., and has plans for a dozen more in the next few years. Most serve elementary school kids.

•Wonderful Outdoor World, a group that gets public and private funds for programs for disadvantaged urban children, plans to expand its outdoor camping trips beyond its current six metropolitan areas next year.

Connecticut launched a No Child Left Inside program in March with a scavenger hunt in eight state parks that attracted hundreds of families. Texas began a public-awareness push, dubbed Life's Better Outside, last year. Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a bill in March to study how outdoor education affects academic success and personal responsibility.

Nature "touches something very primal in people," Louv says. Adults are quick to reminisce about their childhood treehouses or forts, he says.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne agrees and has been giving speeches on the topic.

"I can still describe to you the rocks, the buttercups and the smell of the pines" of the small forest near his childhood home in Spokane, Wash., he says."

I think this is great. You know when I was a kid I would play outdoors forever. My friend and I would get up, have cereal, or something, and go out to play. We had something better than the play Station 3. We had our imagination.

This is something I really want to teach Joshua {Oh as a side note, YES, I posted a link to his photo bucket. If you did or do not like that, do not click the link} I want him to learn the power and fun or imagination. Where a stick can become a "light saber" or a kendo stick, or a gun. {I know not politically correct. Sorry to the Moms out there} My friend and I had a very active imagination. Sometimes I took the lead and others he did. We would play until my Grandmother called us in for dinner. We slept well.

Those were some of the best time in my life. Pink Floyd has a song "The Division Bell" that has a line in it that says, "Far away form a place of magnets and miracles." I love that line, because that does sum up childhood. Where anything is possible. I catch glimpses of this already in my Son.

No folks, we did not need toys that did everything for you. We did not "need" the Atari, or 150 channels. {With nothing on} We were too busy. Do not get me wrong, we loved them when they began, but we did not NEED them. We were too busy playing outside. I remember hiking and building little damns. I remember finding this one rock formation. I have no idea where it came from nor why it was there, but it made a great fort.

Now I understand that this is a way different time. I understand that some of the things we use to do as kids, would most likely NOT be safe to do today. I understand the they great outdoors is becoming scarce as well. But we wonder why some of our kids are unmotivated, and possibly even part of the reason they are overweight? Maybe at least part of this reason is the fact that they sit inside all the time and watch stupid reality shows, and play video games all day long.

I like this story by Wendy Koch. I like that organizations are coming up with these things. I like the whole concept. Oh, and by the way, the stick costs, NOTHING. Think about this the next time your kid says, "I’m bored and there is nothing on." Maybe tell them to go outside and play.
Peter