N.D.D.?

I can honestly say I'm thankful I didn't grow up in the age of Nintendo. If I would have, though, it's a safe bet that I wouldn't have owned one anyway, so it's just as well. My parents weren't concerned that we had the "hottest" toys on the market. Sometimes we knew it was better to not even ask. Remember Creepy Crawlers? I'm sure I did ask for that one Christmas but received something a little more sensible instead. We weren't lacking for toys, but much of our play time was spent outdoors with the neighbor kids, letting our imaginations run wild, making the most of the given environs. Mr. Bays' brick incinerator became a jail (only when it wasn't burning), the area under the Streeters' back porch made a great fort, the Fredericksons' lilac grove next to the alley served as our hideout. No neighbor's yard was immune from our wanderings and role play. I still think I grew up in one of the coolest neighborhoods ever.

Joel claims to have had it even better. Spending his early years in a small western Kansas town, he and his brothers (and friends) explored the nearby pasture for hours on end. Heaven only knows what all happened on those expeditions. They also, without their parents knowledge, dug a cave in the side of the hill by their house, large enough for three or four kids. That provided great fun until it was discovered, then they had to replace all the dirt. We both had the benefit of growing up in farming families, which provided a whole other realm of outdoor experiences.

So why am I taking this particular trail down memory lane? I read this article by Albert Mohler, discussing Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. The author believes America's children are suffering from nature-deficit disorder, and therefore have impoverished lives and stunted imaginations. He states that many children are more familiar with the Discovery Channel than they are their own back yards. If you take a look around your neighborhoods, you might have to agree. We have young children next door to us, and they do spend time outside, but I was mildly shocked last week when Nathan (around fourteen) told me how excited he was that he just learned how to climb a tree. Stretching out across the branches of the red maple and looking up toward the sky seemed to give him a whole new perspective on things. Is contact with nature necessary for a healthy childhood? "Louv is absolutely confident that children have a deep need for contact with the natural world and its wonders. 'Unlike television, nature does not steal time; it amplifies it,' Louv insists. In his view, 'whatever shape nature takes, it offers each child an older, larger world separate from parents.' The natural world offers children an opportunity to think, dream, touch, and play out fantasies about how he or she imagines the world. Nature brings a capacity for wonder and a connection with something real that is endlessly fascinating and largely outside human control."