softies

In the article Out of the Woods: Today's Kid's Can't See the Forest for the MTV, Joel Achenbach claims that today's parents are letting their kids get too "soft" and "indoorsy." (pg 278) The article opens by saying children stay indoors too much and don't go out and experience nature. Achenbach then goes into describing what he and his friends did for fun as kids. They were always outside exploring and investigating new things or digging into "this" and getting into "that." Achenbach is trying to get his own kids into nature by taking them on hikes, which they seem to dread. He then blames today's parents for the kids always being indoors. Achenbach  says we "overprotect" and say "the outside world is dangerous." (pg 278) We are sending our youth the wrong message. The outside worlds seems like such a dark, nasty place full of bad people. Why would they want to go "investigate" that? The truth is, Achenbach is right. I would consider today's youth softies. They have all this new technology and stay inside on the computer, xbox, ipod, etc. Parents are giving their kids too much access to this technology, therefore creating the problem. I've always been an outdoorsman, I've loved the outside world since I was old enough to walk. You never would have caught me inside on the computer on a nice sunny day. Bottom line, kids need to get out and live a little. They need to go experience nature and the outside world or they will never see its true beauty. I wish all kids would share my love for the outdoors. There's a great big beautiful world out there, lets go play.