Continuing with the theme of “Nature Deficit Dissorder” and “Where have all the children gone“, this story aired on NPR this morning, “Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills“.   Key to the story is the concept that we over-regulate our kids, that play has moved from being activity based to being object based, the object being a toy, a video-game and that their time is overly supervised and regulated by adults due to concerns about safety. The story states, “for most of human history what children did when they played was roam in packs large or small, more or less unsupervised, and engage in freewheeling imaginative play.”  This is how I grew up mostly and this is how I want my children to grow up. This is the type of environment we want to create for our children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters. This is what we mean by “Everyone Needs Wild Places“. We need places to let our (inner) child roam in packs engaging in freewheeling imaginative play within the right environment for that type of activity to flourish.

I encourage you to read or listen to this story. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19212514