Nature Is One Of The Best Antidotes

Leave Part Of The Yard Rough. Don't Manicure Everything. Small Children In Particular Love To Turn Over Rocks And Find Bugs, And Give Them Some Space To Do That. Take Your Child Fishing. Take Your Child On Hikes.

In Medieval Times, If Someone Displayed The Symptoms We Now Identify As Boredom, That Person Was Thought To Be Committing Something Called Acedia, A 'dangerous Form Of Spiritual Alienation' -- A Devaluing Of The World And Its Creator.

Increasingly The Evidence Suggests That People Benefit So Much From Contact With Nature That Land Conservation Can Now Be Viewed As A Public Health Strategy.

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.

The Times I Spent With My Children In Nature Are Among My Most Meaningful Memories-and I Hope Theirs.