Okay, I want to read it even more then, because yes, I send my kids outside all the time, and we started a weekly forest school where they are encouraged to go off in the woods together. But when nobody else in the neighborhood is sending their kids outside, we are unable to fix that other half of the battle. My youngest is almost five years behind the next youngest, and so it's harder for her when no other kids are outside. The forest school helps, but it's still adult-instituted, which is not quite the same.
I think Forrest School is a GREAT solution, and I think it's probably doing a lot more than you think it is. You could also find a local Wild + Free chapter.
We love forest school! I see a change though just in how society influences the kids even in the last decade. I started the group nine years ago, and in recent years, the kids don't go off as far as the older group of kids did when we first started. I'm working to encourage more of that independence and freedom for the current group!
I've noticed this, too, that with the more information we have available, the easier it is to have this idea that we can control and prevent nearly all negative outcomes. It's stressful for us as adults to try to take on responsibilities we were not meant to have and also for children to be insulated from experiencing anything unpleasant.
It gives us the illusion of relying on ourselves instead of relying on Him. I fall into the trap too often. Have you heard of the book 'The Anxious Generation?"
Yes, I've wanted to read that. I see myself half in and half out of the anxious generation, if I'm understanding the idea correctly. Born in 1979, I remember when we didn't have instant access to fifty different seemingly valid answers to everything, but now we do, and I see older people getting sucked into the anxiety too with the current barrage of information overload. I have to remind myself to back up to the freedom of that time of less control.
That's part of it, but also, our generations (gen X and millennials) are the first to raise our kids this way, so we keep them inside where we can see them and give them anxiety about going out into the world, so they escape into devices they're given at too young an age. And even when we don't let devices in, we've isolated them because that's how everyone else is socializing. So he encourages parents to send their kids outside to find the few other kids who are still playing outside.
Okay, I want to read it even more then, because yes, I send my kids outside all the time, and we started a weekly forest school where they are encouraged to go off in the woods together. But when nobody else in the neighborhood is sending their kids outside, we are unable to fix that other half of the battle. My youngest is almost five years behind the next youngest, and so it's harder for her when no other kids are outside. The forest school helps, but it's still adult-instituted, which is not quite the same.
I think Forrest School is a GREAT solution, and I think it's probably doing a lot more than you think it is. You could also find a local Wild + Free chapter.
We love forest school! I see a change though just in how society influences the kids even in the last decade. I started the group nine years ago, and in recent years, the kids don't go off as far as the older group of kids did when we first started. I'm working to encourage more of that independence and freedom for the current group!
It's so good that you have this influence on your small community.
Thanks for the details about the book; I need to read it and then see if the other moms in the group want to read it, too!
Good luck!
Needed this story today. Thank you!
I'm so glad it found you!
Thank you for sharing this. I've found that the older I get, the more I understand and appreciate the Church's perspective on "memento mori."
I agree. I think the more I experience, the more mortification happens in my soul and, because God is good, that leads to peace.
I've noticed this, too, that with the more information we have available, the easier it is to have this idea that we can control and prevent nearly all negative outcomes. It's stressful for us as adults to try to take on responsibilities we were not meant to have and also for children to be insulated from experiencing anything unpleasant.
It gives us the illusion of relying on ourselves instead of relying on Him. I fall into the trap too often. Have you heard of the book 'The Anxious Generation?"
Yes, I've wanted to read that. I see myself half in and half out of the anxious generation, if I'm understanding the idea correctly. Born in 1979, I remember when we didn't have instant access to fifty different seemingly valid answers to everything, but now we do, and I see older people getting sucked into the anxiety too with the current barrage of information overload. I have to remind myself to back up to the freedom of that time of less control.
That's part of it, but also, our generations (gen X and millennials) are the first to raise our kids this way, so we keep them inside where we can see them and give them anxiety about going out into the world, so they escape into devices they're given at too young an age. And even when we don't let devices in, we've isolated them because that's how everyone else is socializing. So he encourages parents to send their kids outside to find the few other kids who are still playing outside.