Generation 'In' gets a new nudge: Go out and play

Generation 'In' gets a new nudge: Go out and play

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1011/p01s02-ussc.html

October 11, 2006 edition
By Ben Arnoldy | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
POMFRET CENTER, CONN.

The great outdoors doesn't have the same pull it once did.

Attendance at national parks has slipped around 25 percent since 1987.
The decline is even more precipitous at some state parks. Here at
Connecticut's Mashamoquet Brook State Park, attendance on peak days has
fallen by roughly half during the same period, says the park
supervisor.

The main culprit, experts suspect, is a generational shift.

Today's youngsters and their parents are more wired and more scheduled
than earlier Americans, leaving less unstructured time to spend
outdoors. For the kids, that can mean missing out on childhood bonds to
nature.

Alarmed, conservationists and government officials are looking for ways
to reverse the trend. Connecticut has already started, with a new
campaign this year called "No Child Left Inside." The idea: bring
families back to parks, families like the Verdones.

"I was always in the woods. As soon as my bed was made, I was out the
door," says Brenda Verdone, strolling with her family through
Mashamoquet Brook. Pointing at her daughter, Deanna, who is skipping
ahead after their white husky, "I want her to do this stuff. Being
inside isn't good for you."

Connecticut has begun advertising and promoting the outdoors. Borrowing
a concept from reality TV, organizers invited teams of families with
kids to follow clues in an adventure contest spanning eight state
parks.

A key to the adventure program was getting entire families to
participate. Each team had to have at least one adult and at least one
child. Families could share online photos and blogs of their trips.
Some 400 families signed up, more than organizers could handle
initially.

The "No Child Left Inside" idea is part of a larger national discussion
among park wardens, government officials, and environmentalists about
how to reverse a growing alienation from nature, particularly among
youths. Those concerned cite the health of future generations, and the
long-term support for conservation efforts by an indoor civilization.

"For thousands of years in human history, kids went outside and spent
their childhood outdoors, in nature. In the matter of a few decades, we
are seeing the disappearance of that kind of play ... and that has
enormous implications," says Richard Louv, author of the recent book
"Last Child in the Woods."

Studies of children, he notes, show that exposure to nature boosts
attention spans, reduces stress, and could be an antidote to the rising
problem of childhood obesity.

But the changing landscape of America - from grass and asphalt-only
neighborhoods to highly structured schedules for kids - means this
interaction with nature is no longer a given. Mr. Louv says parental
fear of strangers also plays a role: A 1991 study found that the radius
around the home that parents allowed 9-year-olds to wander had shrunk
to one-ninth of what it had been in 1970.

Enrollment in the Boy Scouts fell 14 percent between 1999 and 2005. The
Girl Scouts, meanwhile, are looking to augment their outdoor programs
with indoor concerns like cyber-bullying.

These trends prompted academics and officials - including US Interior
Secretary Dirk Kempthorne - to gather last month in West Virginia for a
first-of-its-kind conference entitled "Children and Nature." Offering
some hard data were the authors of a study that found a high
correlation between the drop in national park visits and the increased
time spent with TV, home movies, video games, and the Internet. While
oil price rises also correlated to a lesser degree, the study found,
many other factors did not, including vacation time and federal
funding.

"We may be seeing evidence of a fundamental shift away from people's
appreciation of nature ... to 'videophilia,' which we here define as
'the new human tendency to focus on sedentary activities involving
electronic media,' " reads the study, funded by the Nature Conservancy
and published earlier this year in the Journal of Environmental
Management.

Patricia Zaradic, one of the study's authors, has discarded her TV and
urges other parents to go outdoors with their children. "The kids are
going to do what you do," she says. "If you are spending the majority
of your time glued to some sort of boob tube, how can you tell them to
go outside and play?"

Too often, argues Louv, children who don't have such experiences assume
there isn't anything to do outside.

"Environmentalists also have a role to play in this because there has
been this look-but-don't-touch ethic that has sometimes been
appropriate, but sometimes not," he says.

The hunting community may offer lessons about engaging children
outdoors, says Kyle Scanlon, editor of the fish and game magazine
Outdoors. His home state of Vermont, like others, offers mentoring
programs to teach kids gun safety and sets aside youth-only weekends
during hunting season.

The proliferation of outdoor chic - from high-end REI or EMS camping
gear to glossy magazines like Outside - suggests an ongoing connection
with the outdoors.

"There are still plenty of people interested in outdoor activity, but
there aren't as many people interested in extended trips," says Shannon
Stowell, president of the Adventure Travel Trade Association. "They are
more inclined to do day trips and be back somewhere comfortable for the
night. And the gear sales reflect that as well." Day packs are in,
overnight packs are out.

Ms. Verdone's efforts to reconnect her family with nature - including
bike rides and hikes around southern New England - seem to be paying
off.

On this day's walk with her parents, Deanna says she discovered "stuff
you don't see every day." With wavy hand motions, she describes a tree
she found with rippled bark: "It was really weird." She also saw a tree
charred by lightning, as well as playful wildlife. "There was a
squirrel jumping tree to tree and chucking stuff at us," she says.

As for other ways to get the next generation into the woods, her mother
has a novel idea: "You know what they should do is tell guys [that
hiking] is a cheap date. And the girls will think it's romantic."

Turning off the TV, PC, DVD, PS2, PSP, DS, GBA and every other source of
brain-drain could help...

"Fred Goodwin, CMA" wrote in message
oups.com...
Generation 'In' gets a new nudge: Go out and play

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1011/p01s02-ussc.html

October 11, 2006 edition
By Ben Arnoldy | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
POMFRET CENTER, CONN.

The great outdoors doesn't have the same pull it once did.

Attendance at national parks has slipped around 25 percent since 1987.
The decline is even more precipitous at some state parks. Here at
Connecticut's Mashamoquet Brook State Park, attendance on peak days has
fallen by roughly half during the same period, says the park
supervisor.

The main culprit, experts suspect, is a generational shift.

Today's youngsters and their parents are more wired and more scheduled
than earlier Americans, leaving less unstructured time to spend
outdoors. For the kids, that can mean missing out on childhood bonds to
nature.

Alarmed, conservationists and government officials are looking for ways
to reverse the trend. Connecticut has already started, with a new
campaign this year called "No Child Left Inside." The idea: bring
families back to parks, families like the Verdones.

"I was always in the woods. As soon as my bed was made, I was out the
door," says Brenda Verdone, strolling with her family through
Mashamoquet Brook. Pointing at her daughter, Deanna, who is skipping
ahead after their white husky, "I want her to do this stuff. Being
inside isn't good for you."

Connecticut has begun advertising and promoting the outdoors. Borrowing
a concept from reality TV, organizers invited teams of families with
kids to follow clues in an adventure contest spanning eight state
parks.

A key to the adventure program was getting entire families to
participate. Each team had to have at least one adult and at least one
child. Families could share online photos and blogs of their trips.
Some 400 families signed up, more than organizers could handle
initially.

The "No Child Left Inside" idea is part of a larger national discussion
among park wardens, government officials, and environmentalists about
how to reverse a growing alienation from nature, particularly among
youths. Those concerned cite the health of future generations, and the
long-term support for conservation efforts by an indoor civilization.

"For thousands of years in human history, kids went outside and spent
their childhood outdoors, in nature. In the matter of a few decades, we
are seeing the disappearance of that kind of play ... and that has
enormous implications," says Richard Louv, author of the recent book
"Last Child in the Woods."

Studies of children, he notes, show that exposure to nature boosts
attention spans, reduces stress, and could be an antidote to the rising
problem of childhood obesity.

But the changing landscape of America - from grass and asphalt-only
neighborhoods to highly structured schedules for kids - means this
interaction with nature is no longer a given. Mr. Louv says parental
fear of strangers also plays a role: A 1991 study found that the radius
around the home that parents allowed 9-year-olds to wander had shrunk
to one-ninth of what it had been in 1970.

Enrollment in the Boy Scouts fell 14 percent between 1999 and 2005. The
Girl Scouts, meanwhile, are looking to augment their outdoor programs
with indoor concerns like cyber-bullying.

These trends prompted academics and officials - including US Interior
Secretary Dirk Kempthorne - to gather last month in West Virginia for a
first-of-its-kind conference entitled "Children and Nature." Offering
some hard data were the authors of a study that found a high
correlation between the drop in national park visits and the increased
time spent with TV, home movies, video games, and the Internet. While
oil price rises also correlated to a lesser degree, the study found,
many other factors did not, including vacation time and federal
funding.

"We may be seeing evidence of a fundamental shift away from people's
appreciation of nature ... to 'videophilia,' which we here define as
'the new human tendency to focus on sedentary activities involving
electronic media,' " reads the study, funded by the Nature Conservancy
and published earlier this year in the Journal of Environmental
Management.

Patricia Zaradic, one of the study's authors, has discarded her TV and
urges other parents to go outdoors with their children. "The kids are
going to do what you do," she says. "If you are spending the majority
of your time glued to some sort of boob tube, how can you tell them to
go outside and play?"

Too often, argues Louv, children who don't have such experiences assume
there isn't anything to do outside.

"Environmentalists also have a role to play in this because there has
been this look-but-don't-touch ethic that has sometimes been
appropriate, but sometimes not," he says.

The hunting community may offer lessons about engaging children
outdoors, says Kyle Scanlon, editor of the fish and game magazine
Outdoors. His home state of Vermont, like others, offers mentoring
programs to teach kids gun safety and sets aside youth-only weekends
during hunting season.

The proliferation of outdoor chic - from high-end REI or EMS camping
gear to glossy magazines like Outside - suggests an ongoing connection
with the outdoors.

"There are still plenty of people interested in outdoor activity, but
there aren't as many people interested in extended trips," says Shannon
Stowell, president of the Adventure Travel Trade Association. "They are
more inclined to do day trips and be back somewhere comfortable for the
night. And the gear sales reflect that as well." Day packs are in,
overnight packs are out.

Ms. Verdone's efforts to reconnect her family with nature - including
bike rides and hikes around southern New England - seem to be paying
off.

On this day's walk with her parents, Deanna says she discovered "stuff
you don't see every day." With wavy hand motions, she describes a tree
she found with rippled bark: "It was really weird." She also saw a tree
charred by lightning, as well as playful wildlife. "There was a
squirrel jumping tree to tree and chucking stuff at us," she says.

As for other ways to get the next generation into the woods, her mother
has a novel idea: "You know what they should do is tell guys [that
hiking] is a cheap date. And the girls will think it's romantic."

go out and play as long as your in a good air zone, everyone else its more
like go 0ut and get poisoned ..then pay for that poison with drugs
"Fred Goodwin, CMA" wrote in message
oups.com...
Generation 'In' gets a new nudge: Go out and play

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1011/p01s02-ussc.html

October 11, 2006 edition
By Ben Arnoldy | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
POMFRET CENTER, CONN.

The great outdoors doesn't have the same pull it once did.

Attendance at national parks has slipped around 25 percent since 1987.
The decline is even more precipitous at some state parks. Here at
Connecticut's Mashamoquet Brook State Park, attendance on peak days has
fallen by roughly half during the same period, says the park
supervisor.

The main culprit, experts suspect, is a generational shift.

Today's youngsters and their parents are more wired and more scheduled
than earlier Americans, leaving less unstructured time to spend
outdoors. For the kids, that can mean missing out on childhood bonds to
nature.

Alarmed, conservationists and government officials are looking for ways
to reverse the trend. Connecticut has already started, with a new
campaign this year called "No Child Left Inside." The idea: bring
families back to parks, families like the Verdones.

"I was always in the woods. As soon as my bed was made, I was out the
door," says Brenda Verdone, strolling with her family through
Mashamoquet Brook. Pointing at her daughter, Deanna, who is skipping
ahead after their white husky, "I want her to do this stuff. Being
inside isn't good for you."

Connecticut has begun advertising and promoting the outdoors. Borrowing
a concept from reality TV, organizers invited teams of families with
kids to follow clues in an adventure contest spanning eight state
parks.

A key to the adventure program was getting entire families to
participate. Each team had to have at least one adult and at least one
child. Families could share online photos and blogs of their trips.
Some 400 families signed up, more than organizers could handle
initially.

The "No Child Left Inside" idea is part of a larger national discussion
among park wardens, government officials, and environmentalists about
how to reverse a growing alienation from nature, particularly among
youths. Those concerned cite the health of future generations, and the
long-term support for conservation efforts by an indoor civilization.

"For thousands of years in human history, kids went outside and spent
their childhood outdoors, in nature. In the matter of a few decades, we
are seeing the disappearance of that kind of play ... and that has
enormous implications," says Richard Louv, author of the recent book
"Last Child in the Woods."

Studies of children, he notes, show that exposure to nature boosts
attention spans, reduces stress, and could be an antidote to the rising
problem of childhood obesity.

But the changing landscape of America - from grass and asphalt-only
neighborhoods to highly structured schedules for kids - means this
interaction with nature is no longer a given. Mr. Louv says parental
fear of strangers also plays a role: A 1991 study found that the radius
around the home that parents allowed 9-year-olds to wander had shrunk
to one-ninth of what it had been in 1970.

Enrollment in the Boy Scouts fell 14 percent between 1999 and 2005. The
Girl Scouts, meanwhile, are looking to augment their outdoor programs
with indoor concerns like cyber-bullying.

These trends prompted academics and officials - including US Interior
Secretary Dirk Kempthorne - to gather last month in West Virginia for a
first-of-its-kind conference entitled "Children and Nature." Offering
some hard data were the authors of a study that found a high
correlation between the drop in national park visits and the increased
time spent with TV, home movies, video games, and the Internet. While
oil price rises also correlated to a lesser degree, the study found,
many other factors did not, including vacation time and federal
funding.

"We may be seeing evidence of a fundamental shift away from people's
appreciation of nature ... to 'videophilia,' which we here define as
'the new human tendency to focus on sedentary activities involving
electronic media,' " reads the study, funded by the Nature Conservancy
and published earlier this year in the Journal of Environmental
Management.

Patricia Zaradic, one of the study's authors, has discarded her TV and
urges other parents to go outdoors with their children. "The kids are
going to do what you do," she says. "If you are spending the majority
of your time glued to some sort of boob tube, how can you tell them to
go outside and play?"

Too often, argues Louv, children who don't have such experiences assume
there isn't anything to do outside.

"Environmentalists also have a role to play in this because there has
been this look-but-don't-touch ethic that has sometimes been
appropriate, but sometimes not," he says.

The hunting community may offer lessons about engaging children
outdoors, says Kyle Scanlon, editor of the fish and game magazine
Outdoors. His home state of Vermont, like others, offers mentoring
programs to teach kids gun safety and sets aside youth-only weekends
during hunting season.

The proliferation of outdoor chic - from high-end REI or EMS camping
gear to glossy magazines like Outside - suggests an ongoing connection
with the outdoors.

"There are still plenty of people interested in outdoor activity, but
there aren't as many people interested in extended trips," says Shannon
Stowell, president of the Adventure Travel Trade Association. "They are
more inclined to do day trips and be back somewhere comfortable for the
night. And the gear sales reflect that as well." Day packs are in,
overnight packs are out.

Ms. Verdone's efforts to reconnect her family with nature - including
bike rides and hikes around southern New England - seem to be paying
off.

On this day's walk with her parents, Deanna says she discovered "stuff
you don't see every day." With wavy hand motions, she describes a tree
she found with rippled bark: "It was really weird." She also saw a tree
charred by lightning, as well as playful wildlife. "There was a
squirrel jumping tree to tree and chucking stuff at us," she says.

As for other ways to get the next generation into the woods, her mother
has a novel idea: "You know what they should do is tell guys [that
hiking] is a cheap date. And the girls will think it's romantic."

There was a discussion about this in rec.backcountry.
Another point was ethnic demographics.
Some groups are rarely seen in NPs because it not
their habit yet. And these groups almost the majority
in the younger generation.

Today's kids are spoiled with digital electronics and are obsessed with
materialistic, Hollywood type fashion. Better to join the Boy
Scouts, NRA, or
other outdoor groups. Tell those city-slicking youngsters to watch
the classic movie, Deliverance,
and they'll wet in their pants in the outdoors and be city slickers
forever.
Fred Goodwin, CMA wrote:
Generation 'In' gets a new nudge: Go out and play

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1011/p01s02-ussc.html

October 11, 2006 edition
By Ben Arnoldy | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
POMFRET CENTER, CONN.

The great outdoors doesn't have the same pull it once did.

Attendance at national parks has slipped around 25 percent since 1987.
The decline is even more precipitous at some state parks. Here at
Connecticut's Mashamoquet Brook State Park, attendance on peak days has
fallen by roughly half during the same period, says the park
supervisor.

The main culprit, experts suspect, is a generational shift.

Today's youngsters and their parents are more wired and more scheduled
than earlier Americans, leaving less unstructured time to spend
outdoors. For the kids, that can mean missing out on childhood bonds to
nature.

Alarmed, conservationists and government officials are looking for ways
to reverse the trend. Connecticut has already started, with a new
campaign this year called "No Child Left Inside." The idea: bring
families back to parks, families like the Verdones.

"I was always in the woods. As soon as my bed was made, I was out the
door," says Brenda Verdone, strolling with her family through
Mashamoquet Brook. Pointing at her daughter, Deanna, who is skipping
ahead after their white husky, "I want her to do this stuff. Being
inside isn't good for you."

Connecticut has begun advertising and promoting the outdoors. Borrowing
a concept from reality TV, organizers invited teams of families with
kids to follow clues in an adventure contest spanning eight state
parks.

A key to the adventure program was getting entire families to
participate. Each team had to have at least one adult and at least one
child. Families could share online photos and blogs of their trips.
Some 400 families signed up, more than organizers could handle
initially.

The "No Child Left Inside" idea is part of a larger national discussion
among park wardens, government officials, and environmentalists about
how to reverse a growing alienation from nature, particularly among
youths. Those concerned cite the health of future generations, and the
long-term support for conservation efforts by an indoor civilization.

"For thousands of years in human history, kids went outside and spent
their childhood outdoors, in nature. In the matter of a few decades, we
are seeing the disappearance of that kind of play ... and that has
enormous implications," says Richard Louv, author of the recent book
"Last Child in the Woods."

Studies of children, he notes, show that exposure to nature boosts
attention spans, reduces stress, and could be an antidote to the rising
problem of childhood obesity.

But the changing landscape of America - from grass and asphalt-only
neighborhoods to highly structured schedules for kids - means this
interaction with nature is no longer a given. Mr. Louv says parental
fear of strangers also plays a role: A 1991 study found that the radius
around the home that parents allowed 9-year-olds to wander had shrunk
to one-ninth of what it had been in 1970.

Enrollment in the Boy Scouts fell 14 percent between 1999 and 2005. The
Girl Scouts, meanwhile, are looking to augment their outdoor programs
with indoor concerns like cyber-bullying.

These trends prompted academics and officials - including US Interior
Secretary Dirk Kempthorne - to gather last month in West Virginia for a
first-of-its-kind conference entitled "Children and Nature." Offering
some hard data were the authors of a study that found a high
correlation between the drop in national park visits and the increased
time spent with TV, home movies, video games, and the Internet. While
oil price rises also correlated to a lesser degree, the study found,
many other factors did not, including vacation time and federal
funding.

"We may be seeing evidence of a fundamental shift away from people's
appreciation of nature ... to 'videophilia,' which we here define as
'the new human tendency to focus on sedentary activities involving
electronic media,' " reads the study, funded by the Nature Conservancy
and published earlier this year in the Journal of Environmental
Management.

Patricia Zaradic, one of the study's authors, has discarded her TV and
urges other parents to go outdoors with their children. "The kids are
going to do what you do," she says. "If you are spending the majority
of your time glued to some sort of boob tube, how can you tell them to
go outside and play?"

Too often, argues Louv, children who don't have such experiences assume
there isn't anything to do outside.

"Environmentalists also have a role to play in this because there has
been this look-but-don't-touch ethic that has sometimes been
appropriate, but sometimes not," he says.

The hunting community may offer lessons about engaging children
outdoors, says Kyle Scanlon, editor of the fish and game magazine
Outdoors. His home state of Vermont, like others, offers mentoring
programs to teach kids gun safety and sets aside youth-only weekends
during hunting season.

The proliferation of outdoor chic - from high-end REI or EMS camping
gear to glossy magazines like Outside - suggests an ongoing connection
with the outdoors.

"There are still plenty of people interested in outdoor activity, but
there aren't as many people interested in extended trips," says Shannon
Stowell, president of the Adventure Travel Trade Association. "They are
more inclined to do day trips and be back somewhere comfortable for the
night. And the gear sales reflect that as well." Day packs are in,
overnight packs are out.

Ms. Verdone's efforts to reconnect her family with nature - including
bike rides and hikes around southern New England - seem to be paying
off.

On this day's walk with her parents, Deanna says she discovered "stuff
you don't see every day." With wavy hand motions, she describes a tree
she found with rippled bark: "It was really weird." She also saw a tree
charred by lightning, as well as playful wildlife. "There was a
squirrel jumping tree to tree and chucking stuff at us," she says.

As for other ways to get the next generation into the woods, her mother
has a novel idea: "You know what they should do is tell guys [that
hiking] is a cheap date. And the girls will think it's romantic."

wrote:
Today's kids are spoiled with digital electronics and are obsessed with
materialistic, Hollywood type fashion.




Better to join the Boy
Scouts, NRA, or
other outdoor groups. Tell those city-slicking youngsters to watch
the classic movie, Deliverance,
and they'll wet in their pants in the outdoors and be city slickers
forever.

In Anywhere but here, they approach the
sixty-four-thousand-dollar question

is there a single teen who doesn't hate their parents

there was no good one-liner

it was more a character and anecdote type story

susan sarandon and natalie portman got out of wisconsin

they move to Beverly Hills.

Portman's first day at school she shows up in sweaters because she only
has a
wardrobe for three-dog night

this story is
on all fours
with almost every other teen is embarrassed of parent story.
sarandon's way to
take five
is to always go out for ice cream.

I don't think that it really matters whether the setting was Hollywood
or
Wisconsion, it is
six of one and a half dozen of the other.
and so on. The saddest part was when sarandon got laid by this young
handsome
dentist, and of course she thinks he is in love with her, even though
it is
clear he is substantially younger than her and only wanted sex. She
deludes
herself into believing that maybe just maybe she will hear from him
some day but
why in the seven seas
should she, I feel the same as she does waiting for that phone call.

She quits her job as a speech pathologist, just when the family is
broke and
needs money. Fortunately, she eventually trades that one in for
another
job, but she really is looking for a financial provider. In her new
job in the
nursing home, she meets a carpet salesman who is not particularly
dashing, and
she is on less than
on cloud nine.
It is clear he is not in her
top 10
of sexy men. But at the
eleventh hour
she gives in and goes to dinner with him
I don't know what this means

mk5000

"So Bill D, are you saying, in a sport which is suppose to be promoting
HEALTH
and fitness, when the bodybuilders are on stage, after
weeks of dieting, getting their bodyfat percentages down to
unhealthy
levels, and possibly using muscle enhancing drugs, that that is
healthy ? "-- billdthrill

Generation gap My A--.Its the Government gap. The gap between what they
spend and what they get in taxes. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to
know as a kid you better hit the books, and get ready for college. They're
prepping kids in 8th grade now for college. Everyone has to work , now, to
carry our no control spending government. Everyone has to work , so I can
send my kids to college. Everyone has to attend college or load boxes at
night at Walmarts until you die. . Everyone has to pay off the college
loans , and work, because their parents went camping, and got fired. . There
is no time to do anything unless you want to live under a bridge, in a box.
Or you want your kids to. Leisure time in America is finished. Its only a
matter of time until they declare the parks or anything else that takes away
from their tax income , or their ability to spend money overseas , off
limits . Our government can't even rebuild new Orleans. Over half still has
no water or electricity . Get used to it..
wrote in message
...



Not the boy scouts.. they don't teach love of nature.


On 13 Oct 2006 15:04:37 -0700, in alt.rec.hiking
wrote:

Today's kids are spoiled with digital electronics and are obsessed with
materialistic, Hollywood type fashion. Better to join the Boy
Scouts, NRA, or
other outdoor groups. Tell those city-slicking youngsters to watch
the classic movie, Deliverance,
and they'll wet in their pants in the outdoors and be city slickers
forever.
Fred Goodwin, CMA wrote:
Generation 'In' gets a new nudge: Go out and play

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1011/p01s02-ussc.html

October 11, 2006 edition
By Ben Arnoldy | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
POMFRET CENTER, CONN.

The great outdoors doesn't have the same pull it once did.

Attendance at national parks has slipped around 25 percent since 1987.
The decline is even more precipitous at some state parks. Here at
Connecticut's Mashamoquet Brook State Park, attendance on peak days has
fallen by roughly half during the same period, says the park
supervisor.

The main culprit, experts suspect, is a generational shift.

Today's youngsters and their parents are more wired and more scheduled
than earlier Americans, leaving less unstructured time to spend
outdoors. For the kids, that can mean missing out on childhood bonds to
nature.

Alarmed, conservationists and government officials are looking for ways
to reverse the trend. Connecticut has already started, with a new
campaign this year called "No Child Left Inside." The idea: bring
families back to parks, families like the Verdones.

"I was always in the woods. As soon as my bed was made, I was out the
door," says Brenda Verdone, strolling with her family through
Mashamoquet Brook. Pointing at her daughter, Deanna, who is skipping
ahead after their white husky, "I want her to do this stuff. Being
inside isn't good for you."

Connecticut has begun advertising and promoting the outdoors. Borrowing
a concept from reality TV, organizers invited teams of families with
kids to follow clues in an adventure contest spanning eight state
parks.

A key to the adventure program was getting entire families to
participate. Each team had to have at least one adult and at least one
child. Families could share online photos and blogs of their trips.
Some 400 families signed up, more than organizers could handle
initially.

The "No Child Left Inside" idea is part of a larger national discussion
among park wardens, government officials, and environmentalists about
how to reverse a growing alienation from nature, particularly among
youths. Those concerned cite the health of future generations, and the
long-term support for conservation efforts by an indoor civilization.

"For thousands of years in human history, kids went outside and spent
their childhood outdoors, in nature. In the matter of a few decades, we
are seeing the disappearance of that kind of play ... and that has
enormous implications," says Richard Louv, author of the recent book
"Last Child in the Woods."

Studies of children, he notes, show that exposure to nature boosts
attention spans, reduces stress, and could be an antidote to the rising
problem of childhood obesity.

But the changing landscape of America - from grass and asphalt-only
neighborhoods to highly structured schedules for kids - means this
interaction with nature is no longer a given. Mr. Louv says parental
fear of strangers also plays a role: A 1991 study found that the radius
around the home that parents allowed 9-year-olds to wander had shrunk
to one-ninth of what it had been in 1970.

Enrollment in the Boy Scouts fell 14 percent between 1999 and 2005. The
Girl Scouts, meanwhile, are looking to augment their outdoor programs
with indoor concerns like cyber-bullying.

These trends prompted academics and officials - including US Interior
Secretary Dirk Kempthorne - to gather last month in West Virginia for a
first-of-its-kind conference entitled "Children and Nature." Offering
some hard data were the authors of a study that found a high
correlation between the drop in national park visits and the increased
time spent with TV, home movies, video games, and the Internet. While
oil price rises also correlated to a lesser degree, the study found,
many other factors did not, including vacation time and federal
funding.

"We may be seeing evidence of a fundamental shift away from people's
appreciation of nature ... to 'videophilia,' which we here define as
'the new human tendency to focus on sedentary activities involving
electronic media,' " reads the study, funded by the Nature Conservancy
and published earlier this year in the Journal of Environmental
Management.

Patricia Zaradic, one of the study's authors, has discarded her TV and
urges other parents to go outdoors with their children. "The kids are
going to do what you do," she says. "If you are spending the majority
of your time glued to some sort of boob tube, how can you tell them to
go outside and play?"

Too often, argues Louv, children who don't have such experiences assume
there isn't anything to do outside.

"Environmentalists also have a role to play in this because there has
been this look-but-don't-touch ethic that has sometimes been
appropriate, but sometimes not," he says.

The hunting community may offer lessons about engaging children
outdoors, says Kyle Scanlon, editor of the fish and game magazine
Outdoors. His home state of Vermont, like others, offers mentoring
programs to teach kids gun safety and sets aside youth-only weekends
during hunting season.

The proliferation of outdoor chic - from high-end REI or EMS camping
gear to glossy magazines like Outside - suggests an ongoing connection
with the outdoors.

"There are still plenty of people interested in outdoor activity, but
there aren't as many people interested in extended trips," says Shannon
Stowell, president of the Adventure Travel Trade Association. "They are
more inclined to do day trips and be back somewhere comfortable for the
night. And the gear sales reflect that as well." Day packs are in,
overnight packs are out.

Ms. Verdone's efforts to reconnect her family with nature - including
bike rides and hikes around southern New England - seem to be paying
off.

On this day's walk with her parents, Deanna says she discovered "stuff
you don't see every day." With wavy hand motions, she describes a tree
she found with rippled bark: "It was really weird." She also saw a tree
charred by lightning, as well as playful wildlife. "There was a
squirrel jumping tree to tree and chucking stuff at us," she says.

As for other ways to get the next generation into the woods, her mother
has a novel idea: "You know what they should do is tell guys [that
hiking] is a cheap date. And the girls will think it's romantic."

none2u wrote:

Generation gap My A--.Its the Government gap. The gap between what they
spend and what they get in taxes.
------------------
That "gap" is NEGATIVE, it's called the deficit. Nobody is being given
handouts except the rich, LEGAL ones, make them ILLEGAL, the GAP IS
ACTUALLY THE RICH GAP, everything YOU DON'T HAVE is because the RICH
DO have it, stolen from our wages as "profit", and windfall payment
to rich corporations for military overcharging! That's why the Rich
Republicans always crank the budget up into the red, the deficit is
paid to the rich and your families have to pay it off for 50 YEARS!
Steve

http://www.tri-mansworldmailboxofficesupply.com/
Fred Goodwin, CMA wrote:
Generation 'In' gets a new nudge: Go out and play

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1011/p01s02-ussc.html

October 11, 2006 edition
By Ben Arnoldy | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
POMFRET CENTER, CONN.

The great outdoors doesn't have the same pull it once did.

Attendance at national parks has slipped around 25 percent since 1987.
The decline is even more precipitous at some state parks. Here at
Connecticut's Mashamoquet Brook State Park, attendance on peak days has
fallen by roughly half during the same period, says the park
supervisor.

The main culprit, experts suspect, is a generational shift.

Today's youngsters and their parents are more wired and more scheduled
than earlier Americans, leaving less unstructured time to spend
outdoors. For the kids, that can mean missing out on childhood bonds to
nature.

Alarmed, conservationists and government officials are looking for ways
to reverse the trend. Connecticut has already started, with a new
campaign this year called "No Child Left Inside." The idea: bring
families back to parks, families like the Verdones.

"I was always in the woods. As soon as my bed was made, I was out the
door," says Brenda Verdone, strolling with her family through
Mashamoquet Brook. Pointing at her daughter, Deanna, who is skipping
ahead after their white husky, "I want her to do this stuff. Being
inside isn't good for you."

Connecticut has begun advertising and promoting the outdoors. Borrowing
a concept from reality TV, organizers invited teams of families with
kids to follow clues in an adventure contest spanning eight state
parks.

A key to the adventure program was getting entire families to
participate. Each team had to have at least one adult and at least one
child. Families could share online photos and blogs of their trips.
Some 400 families signed up, more than organizers could handle
initially.

The "No Child Left Inside" idea is part of a larger national discussion
among park wardens, government officials, and environmentalists about
how to reverse a growing alienation from nature, particularly among
youths. Those concerned cite the health of future generations, and the
long-term support for conservation efforts by an indoor civilization.

"For thousands of years in human history, kids went outside and spent
their childhood outdoors, in nature. In the matter of a few decades, we
are seeing the disappearance of that kind of play ... and that has
enormous implications," says Richard Louv, author of the recent book
"Last Child in the Woods."

Studies of children, he notes, show that exposure to nature boosts
attention spans, reduces stress, and could be an antidote to the rising
problem of childhood obesity.

But the changing landscape of America - from grass and asphalt-only
neighborhoods to highly structured schedules for kids - means this
interaction with nature is no longer a given. Mr. Louv says parental
fear of strangers also plays a role: A 1991 study found that the radius
around the home that parents allowed 9-year-olds to wander had shrunk
to one-ninth of what it had been in 1970.

Enrollment in the Boy Scouts fell 14 percent between 1999 and 2005. The
Girl Scouts, meanwhile, are looking to augment their outdoor programs
with indoor concerns like cyber-bullying.

These trends prompted academics and officials - including US Interior
Secretary Dirk Kempthorne - to gather last month in West Virginia for a
first-of-its-kind conference entitled "Children and Nature." Offering
some hard data were the authors of a study that found a high
correlation between the drop in national park visits and the increased
time spent with TV, home movies, video games, and the Internet. While
oil price rises also correlated to a lesser degree, the study found,
many other factors did not, including vacation time and federal
funding.

"We may be seeing evidence of a fundamental shift away from people's
appreciation of nature ... to 'videophilia,' which we here define as
'the new human tendency to focus on sedentary activities involving
electronic media,' " reads the study, funded by the Nature Conservancy
and published earlier this year in the Journal of Environmental
Management.

Patricia Zaradic, one of the study's authors, has discarded her TV and
urges other parents to go outdoors with their children. "The kids are
going to do what you do," she says. "If you are spending the majority
of your time glued to some sort of boob tube, how can you tell them to
go outside and play?"

Too often, argues Louv, children who don't have such experiences assume
there isn't anything to do outside.

"Environmentalists also have a role to play in this because there has
been this look-but-don't-touch ethic that has sometimes been
appropriate, but sometimes not," he says.

The hunting community may offer lessons about engaging children
outdoors, says Kyle Scanlon, editor of the fish and game magazine
Outdoors. His home state of Vermont, like others, offers mentoring
programs to teach kids gun safety and sets aside youth-only weekends
during hunting season.

The proliferation of outdoor chic - from high-end REI or EMS camping
gear to glossy magazines like Outside - suggests an ongoing connection
with the outdoors.

"There are still plenty of people interested in outdoor activity, but
there aren't as many people interested in extended trips," says Shannon
Stowell, president of the Adventure Travel Trade Association. "They are
more inclined to do day trips and be back somewhere comfortable for the
night. And the gear sales reflect that as well." Day packs are in,
overnight packs are out.

Ms. Verdone's efforts to reconnect her family with nature - including
bike rides and hikes around southern New England - seem to be paying
off.

On this day's walk with her parents, Deanna says she discovered "stuff
you don't see every day." With wavy hand motions, she describes a tree
she found with rippled bark: "It was really weird." She also saw a tree
charred by lightning, as well as playful wildlife. "There was a
squirrel jumping tree to tree and chucking stuff at us," she says.

As for other ways to get the next generation into the woods, her mother
has a novel idea: "You know what they should do is tell guys [that
hiking] is a cheap date. And the girls will think it's romantic."

Maybe this is a joke that I've missed and I'm just being defensive.

If not I don't understand where this comment is coming from. Scout material
is based on a love of the outdoors. As a Cub Leader for my sons Pack I place
an emphasis on outdoor activities like camping, hiking and orienteering.
Family participation with youth at this age is mandatory so some can't make
it on these trips because of thier parents. But if you ask most any scout in
my Pack what thier favorite activities are the top 5 answers will be
camping, hiking, fishing, compass navigation and archey / pinewood derby
(tie). This is coming from boys 6-10 years old. Teaching youngsters this age
about the Leave No Trace program is not easy. Honestly, I did a lousy job
trying to incorporate it into our last trip. But whatever they did get out
of it was much more than they would have gotten watching a Spongebob dvd in
the back seat of thier parent's SUV on the way to McDonald's had they not
gone camping that weekend. I'll just work harder preparing the material for
next time.

I did manage to focus them for about 2 hours on compass navigation which
they all were fascinated with. Some are still, one month later, carrying
around compasses and checking bearings for the fun of it. They had the time
of thier life and learned an essential outdoor skill. Chalk one up for Cub
Scouts.

This coming year I'm starting a Boy Scout Troop for the 3 communities on our
island. The older scouts will be working on conservation projects with state
and local govt. Camp trips and hikes will be longer and more frequent. Leave
No Trace will be practiced faithfully.

A love of nature seems to be inherent in all youngsters. What needs to be
TAUGHT is a respect for nature. Through teaching wilderness and survival
skills, frequent outdoor "adventures" and being a role model full of "love"
of the outdoors, I expect to play a big part in the development of the
relationship these children will have with nature throughout thier lives.
It's a role that I don't take lightly (though I make sure these lessons are
as much fun fun as possible), and it's a position that I'm immensely proud
of , even though I know adults may be smirking when I pass by in uniform. (I
don't mind...I have a good sense of humor!).
I invite everyone to participate in this manner in your own communities.