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Oct. 26th, 2008 01:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
auntiemeeshHm, my DVD player seems to think we switched the clocks this week. Yet the internet insists we don't switch until next week. I'm going to assume the internet is correct on this one, and not run around changing all my clocks like a mad thing.
Yesterday was exhausting but mostly good. The first workshop wasn't what I was expecting and I didn't get much out of it, but I was really impressed by the Keynote Speech. I have to admit I usually don't pay a whole lot of attention to those (they're usually first thing and a bit too drone-y for my limited attention span). But this year the speaker was Cheryl Charles, and she had a lot of really thought-provoking things to say about reversing this trend of the past thirty years of being afraid to let our children play outside. She's a strong advocate of what she calls 'free-range play' - kids running around outside, interacting with nature. This isn't the same as being involved in afterschool sports or other highly structured things like that. She talked about the need for making sure children have access to green spaces, whether they be urban parks, rooftop gardens, or true wilderness. I was a free-range kid all the way, growing up, and it's kind of heartbreaking to see these kids now (and it's not all of them, but it's a lot) who never get closer to nature than a grassy field at the playground. Even worse to see the kids who don't even get that. The kids whose parents let them stay inside because it's easier than fighting inertia to get their kids moving, or who don't have the resources to get them out of the city and into fresh air on a regular basis. The speaker talked about several books, chiefly The Last Child in the Woods. I ended up buying that and one other afterwards. Now at least I have some good reading to look forward to.
Eta: Wow, lj is being cranky today. First it refused to post this at all, then it posted an older version of the post, that I had changed considerably. D'oh! So I have now gone back and fixed things, at least somewhat (I don't remember exactly what I had said before, darn it!).
Yesterday was exhausting but mostly good. The first workshop wasn't what I was expecting and I didn't get much out of it, but I was really impressed by the Keynote Speech. I have to admit I usually don't pay a whole lot of attention to those (they're usually first thing and a bit too drone-y for my limited attention span). But this year the speaker was Cheryl Charles, and she had a lot of really thought-provoking things to say about reversing this trend of the past thirty years of being afraid to let our children play outside. She's a strong advocate of what she calls 'free-range play' - kids running around outside, interacting with nature. This isn't the same as being involved in afterschool sports or other highly structured things like that. She talked about the need for making sure children have access to green spaces, whether they be urban parks, rooftop gardens, or true wilderness. I was a free-range kid all the way, growing up, and it's kind of heartbreaking to see these kids now (and it's not all of them, but it's a lot) who never get closer to nature than a grassy field at the playground. Even worse to see the kids who don't even get that. The kids whose parents let them stay inside because it's easier than fighting inertia to get their kids moving, or who don't have the resources to get them out of the city and into fresh air on a regular basis. The speaker talked about several books, chiefly The Last Child in the Woods. I ended up buying that and one other afterwards. Now at least I have some good reading to look forward to.
Eta: Wow, lj is being cranky today. First it refused to post this at all, then it posted an older version of the post, that I had changed considerably. D'oh! So I have now gone back and fixed things, at least somewhat (I don't remember exactly what I had said before, darn it!).
