By Letting Our Children Lead Us To

Rather Than Accepting The Drifting Separation Of The Generations, We Might Begin To Define A More Complex And Interesting Set Of Life Stages And Parenting Passages, Each Emphasizing The Connections To The Generations Ahead And Behind. As I Grow Older, For Example, I Might First See My Role As A Parent In Need Of Older, Mentoring Parents, And Then Become A Mentoring Parent Myself. When I Become A Grandparent, I Might Expect To Seek Out Older Mentoring Grandparents, And Then Later Become A Mentoring Grandparent.

Something Else Was Different When We Were Young: Our Parents Were Outdoors. I’m Not Saying They Were Joining Health Clubs And Things Of That Sort, But They Were Out Of The House, Out On The Porch, Talking To Neighbors. As Far As Physical Fitness Goes, Today’s Kids Are The Sorriest Generation In The History Of The United States. Their Parents May Be Out Jogging, But The Kids Just Aren’t Outside.

No Other Youth Group Like The Scouts Has Trained So Many Future Leaders While At The Same Time Being A Nature Organization With Its Outdoor Focus.

The Future Will Belong To The Nature-smart-those Individuals, Families, Businesses, And Political Leaders Who Develop A Deeper Understanding Of The Transformative Power Of The Natural World And Who Balance The Virtual With The Real. The More High-tech We Become, The More Nature We Need.

It's Easy To Blame The Nature-deficit Disorder On The Kids' Or The Parents' Back, But They Also Need The Help Of Urban Planners, Schools, Libraries And Other Community Agents To Find Nature That's Accessible.