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Excellent read. It really makes you think. I hope that this book is read by all parents.
The author writes an interesting point of view on how children benefit from spending time in nature, how nature teaches, heals, stirs the childs curiosity and renews the mind. Computers are a good source of learning and a good tool for business, but they can't take the place of being outside in the fresh air and sunshine,the real dirt, smells, sounds,and colors of the woods or desert, the wholeness of our environment and how we fit into it. The author has hit on a legitament cause that parents and teachers need to address.
A delightful and informative read that explores how our society has removed children from nature. No longer do children spend hours of free play in the woods or along a creek. Studies are presented that link this loss of exploratory time in nature to a loss in creativity in our children. A "MUST READ" for conservationists and educators.
Perhaps one of the best book even written, it hits home of our children who siting in the house day after day watching TV and playing computer games. Children do not know how to play outside in Nature these days. A lot of todays children view parks and woods as dangerious place to play rather a place to enjoy. ALL PARENTS SHOULD READ THIS BOOK TODAY.
This book appeals to the parent, the educator, the club leader, the community leader, the philosopher, the nature-lover, the urban planner, the financial advisor and just about anyone else who exists on our country. I think the major point of this book is that the nurturing of the child is dependent upon how adults nurture and renew the child's naturally curious, caring and chaotic relationship with the earth. But no one leaves this reading unscathed--the culpability starts at home with the family, expands to educational systems, to communities who plan for pavement instead of plants, and continues to the cultural vultures in the media, who fill children and parents with fear of the wide-open spaces because of the chance of vicious creatures, extreme weather and predatory humans.
The combination of a very literary narrative and comprehensive research makes Last Child not only a feast for the intellect, but also awakens the reader to take personal responsibility for the broken, and seemingly disappearing relationship between children and nature. The book is rich with examples of Montessori and charter schools who have made getting children outdoors their priority, of communities who have targeted new neighborhoods to be rife with accessible green spaces while awakening old urban plots with gardens, and of families who have spent their time outdoors reaping the healthy benefits and looking to share the wealth. For these people, I absolutely recommend this book.
Though this almost global guilt is a major influence in making any reader want to push their kids out into a forest glen and tell them to "run free," Louv carefully crafts this book to offer a broad, uplifting sense that there is still hope if we act today. The ramifications of this broken relationship are evident: Children today express fear of things natural; they experience a disconnect between their understanding of local natural habitats and the more trendy, distant kind of nature loving, such as protecting the rainforests and saving endangered species across the world; and they are experiencing physical and psycho-social effects of this relatively recent upswing in indoor, climate-controlled children, such as increases in childhood obesity, depression and attention deficit disorders.Louv makes a strong case for getting children outside at home, at school and in communities of all sizes. In the chapter called The Jungle Blackboard, the author proposes changes in the structure of classrooms and suggests putting the force of education to use in a proactive way to rebuild the relationship between children and nature through recognizing the edifying properties of our natural world, and rightfully places some blame on the educational system for being so squeamish about letting kids outside in the past 30 years.
Last Child in the Woods leaves no stone unturned when it comes to making the point that nature should be accessible and is necessary for all populations of people, and that is the responsibility of everyone to get outside and reconnect on a physical, mental, social and spiritual level with the planet that is our home.
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