Last child in the woods

I'm still in the middle of Last Child in the Woods but in honor of Earth Day, I definitely recommend it. Basic premise is that our society's lack of interaction with nature is causing all sorts of problems, especially with kids. "I like to play indoors better 'cause that's where all the electrical outlets are," said one fourth-grader the author interviewed. I heard about the book from Tyler's brother Ben, and it's made the rounds of most of Tyler's family. We've all been trying to make outdoor activities a bigger part of family gatherings now. So as part of our trip to Northern California last week, I made Ben's wife Mandi take me to one of their family's favorite spots, the Sunol Regional Wilderness where they've found a wonderful kid-friendly river to play in.

I expected to have to tear the boys away. What's not to love? It was a beautiful day, perfect weather, a short hike to a wonderful sandy river with lots of rocks to throw, sticks to build things with, leaves to race. But after about 10 minutes, Carden and Seth had "hit the wall" and were ready for something else. Exasperated, I told them to go back and play some more. After another 10 minutes of bugging me for play ideas they settled in and had a great time exploring. The interesting thing to me was how they had to "learn" to entertain themselves in an unstructured way. Leaves and dirt do make wonderful toys, but it appears that is a learned skill.

I guess a winter spent largely indoors has taken its toll, and I'm having to recondition them. Carden took to the river pretty readily, but when I told Seth to go splash around he completely melted down when his shorts got a little wet. Once he was stripped down to his underwear, life was good again, but he kept interrupting me to fuss about any ant, gnat, or flea that he saw. In his defense, poor Seth has already had two bee stings--one in his ear and one on his neck, so he's a little paranoid of all winged critters.

The irony of all this was watching my nephew William, who was completely at ease, throwing rocks to see if they would break and making nests out of grass. Mandi and I laughed that my kids, who have an enormous backyard to play in seemed so out of their element, while William, whose California house is squeezed onto a tiny lot with almost no yard, was so at ease.

After wrestling with Charlotte on my lap for an hour I plopped her down in the sand and let her explore. She loved feeling the cool sand and taste-testing various twigs and rocks. Maybe there's hope.