Most People Are Either Awakened

Unlike Television, Reading Does Not Swallow The Senses Or Dictate Thought. Reading Stimulates The Ecology Of The Imagination. Can You Remember The Wonder You Felt When First Reading The Jungle Book Or Tom Sawyer Or Huckleberry Finn? Kipling’s World Within A World; Twain’s Slow River, The Feel Of Freedom And Sand On The Secret Island, And In The Depths Of The Cave?

By Bringing Nature Into Our Lives, We Invite Humility.

In A Famous Middletown Study Of Muncie, Indiana, In 1924, Mothers Were Asked To Rank The Qualities They Most Desire In Their Children. At The Top Of The List Were Conformity And Strict Obedience. More Than Fifty Years Later, When The Middletown Survey Was Replicated, Mothers Placed Autonomy And Independence First. The Healthiest Parenting Probably Promotes A Balance Of These Qualities In Children.

It Takes Time--loose, Unstructured Dreamtime-- To Experience Nature In A Meaningful Way. Unless Parents Are Vigilant, Such Time Becomes A Scarce Resource, Not Because We Intend It To Shrink, But Because Time Is Consumed By Multiple, Invisible Forces; Because Our Culture Currently Places So Little Value On Natural Play.

We Do Not Raise Our Children Alone.... Our Children Are Also Raised By Every Peer, Institution, And Family With Which They Come In Contact. Yet Parents Today Expect To Be Blamed For Whatever Results Occur With Their Children, And They Expect To Do Their Parenting Alone.