Kids at Play.

There's a book that's been out for quite awhile now that I'm really interested in getting my hands on. It's called "The Last Child in the Woods" written by Richard Louv.

His entire premise is this: "Children are spending more time indoors, and when they do go outside, they're most likely to be on their way to soccer practice or some other structured activity. The result, is that kids are out of touch with fields, streams and woods."

Louv calls this condition "Nature Deficit Disorder."

He goes on to say: "Our kids are actually doing what we told them to do when they sit in front of that TV all day or in front of that computer game all day. The society is telling kids unconsciously that nature's in the past. It really doesn't count anymore, that the future is in electronics, and besides, the bogeyman is in the woods."

Interesting. Maybe he's onto something?

I wonder if more and more, we are going to see kids exchanging their bicycles for the wii and kinect, if we'll watch empires get built online instead of castles and forts being built in our backyards, and if bb guns and slingshots will stay on store shelves in favor of video and hunting games online. Don't get me wrong - Kaden just earned himself a DS, and "Big Buck Hunter" is one of our all time favorite presents from Christmas. I'm not opposed to any of those things - and we do them all, just about daily, in fact.

I just think balance is important.

Already, my boys have a different childhood than I had. My boundaries were non-existent, just so long as we could hear the dinner bell being rung for supper. There were minimal structured activities that I was involved in as a young kid. And I didn't even have a t.v. for most of my growing up years.

My parents practically raised us kids outside, and they didn't feel the need to perpetually entertain us. We were taught that it was good to experience a little bit of boredom, because that made us actually have to use our imaginations a bit. And we knew that if we honestly could not find something to do, there was a ginormous garden that was always in need of a good weeding.

We learned very early on to never say that we were bored.

My best friend and I spent hours in our chicken coop playhouse, our bikes were our horses, we had pretend houses in the woods, we played for hours in the stream, we caught frogs and tadpoles, we visited our grandparents, we went sliding down "Killer Hill" and our imaginations ran wild and free.

And those are my absolute best childhood memories.
Cheap, free entertainment. Two kids and their imaginations.

I think that's why the phrase, "Mama, I'm bored," is one of my biggest pet peeves.
Oh man. It grinds me something awful.

But on the flip side, there is nothing I love more than to see my kids living outside. In fact, I value it so highly that if they are building forts or looking for frogs, or if they are planting seeds or catching butterflies -- I am totally cool with that being "school." Because, I'm crunchy like that and because I fully believe that school is all of life - it's not just the book work and the assignments.

And I love to see my kids be "kids" - and doing little kid things that little kids should be doing. Things like P-L-A-Y-I-N-G.

It's one of the reasons why we've chosen to wait until the boys are six before we do any form of "formal" education - homeschool, Christian school, public school, or whatever. But, that's just us. And it's also one of the reasons why I'm not (too, overly) stressed about Jesse not knowing all of his letters yet.

That will come.

And "stuctured life" will, as well - and once it arrives, it will stay.
There will be no going back.

This season of childhood is so fleeting.

These few years of playing and of getting to really and truly be a kid are so super short.

And maybe I am the only one who struggles with this, but I am constantly battling (and somewhat stressing) about how many (if any) structured activities I should be involving my children in. I want them to be as well-rounded as the next kid, and I want them to be successful, and I want to give them ample opportunity to really flourish and thrive. But I also don't want to be living in our vehicle, or be running around like chickens with our heads cut off, or never have any family suppers together because of all of our activities and involvements.

Balance again, I guess, right?

And every family will look different, and comparison destroys contentment.
So, we have to do right by our own little family's personality and needs.

And I guess for me - at least at this stage of the game - "less is more" for me.
I think that's kind of where I've landed. For now, anyway.
And they are still learning. Every day they're learning. So many things.

How to make bread, how to ride a bike, how to care for our animals, how to plant a garden, the life cycle of frogs and butterflies, fishing and hunting, building and exploring.

All of life is learning.

School is home, and school is work, and school is the classroom, and school is play.
We learn by living, and the whole world is our classroom.

So what about you?
Has anyone else read this book? Do you agree with the author?
Does anyone else struggle with wondering what they should involve their children in?
What are your thoughts on all of this stuff?