Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder Reviews

• unplug your kids - this book will convince you

  
  By AU767BQE0C3F2 on 2005-05-23
  I'm old enough to remember an unplugged childhood, and although I want my kids to play unfettered in the woods and waters, we're a different society today. We can't just let them wander alone, but we also owe them the natural formative experiences we enjoyed like building forts, treehouses and teepees, catching fish, frogs and critters, and observing nature - in nature, not through the TV. Although we try to limit the exposure to electronica - it's a pervasive force in modern life. Louv shows through dozens of examples where kids today get their lessons and experiences - more often than not through the TV or computer screen. He's concerned that a new generation of children is growing up detatched from the earth, who view it simply as a resource to be mined, drilled, and sold. He sees children losing the wonder of nature, and the earth losing a generation of would-be caretakers.
  As parents we don't have to move to Montana, or trap our meals to make a positive impact. It can be many little things, like catching fireflies, wading in a small stream with your kids, following animal tracks in the snow. These are all no cost and high-benefit activities that we can do with our kids to introduce them to the wonder that lies just outside our doors.
  This book is a call to action. I'm giving it to the principal at my son's elementary school. If you have kids, are thinking about having kids, or are concerned with the future of childhood - READ THIS BOOK!
  We had unplugged the tv for a few months and, frankly, were wavering. (We miss it too). After reading Last Child in the Woods, the TV is staying in the cellar. Maybe for the long haul!
  
  

• Its pure common sense - get kids out of the house, get them moving and have them see the REAL world

  
  By A1ER5AYS3FQ9O3 on 2005-12-13
  My "wake up call" came when my friend from the city brought her toddler to my home and the little girl cried in terror when her mother tried to get her to put her bare feet on the lawn, a lawn that was free of anything dangerous. We don't have a dog so there weren't even any "droppings" to worry about.
  A baby who was scared to touch ground? Her mother admitted that her offspring had never felt grass because her mother feared it might be too full of "germs". I urged her to at least let her daughter smell a handful of freshly picked clover but she looked at me as though I were crazy.
  I then told her of summers spent barefoot, of exploring creeks and finding crayfish and even some snakes, of coming across a newborn fawn in the woods, etc.
  That's when I realized that there could be a whole generation of children losing touch with the natural world around them and I started paying attention to the kids and teens in our neighborhood. Sure enough, very few of them were climbing trees, exploring creeks, walking through the nearby woods. Very few of them built forts or learned the joy of wading in a cold stream or simply lying on the grass and looking up at the clouds, listening to the birds or trying to identify the different types of trees in the neighborhood. All of these things were common activities for me as a child (admittedly, during a time when tv channels were limited to 3 or 4 and there weren't video games or cellphones).
  If there is ONE POINT this book makes, it is that parents need to make an effort to help their children discover nature. Whether it is because parents are too busy or too fearful to let their children discover nature or whether kids have too many electronic devices to distract them and which prevent them from automatically turning to the pleasures of the outside world, the result is that children spend more and more time indoors and less time being active.
  Is it any wonder that there is an epidemic of childhood obesity? I'm not naive enough to suggest that spending time outside will cure obesity but I DO believe that it might encourage children to at least contemplate the idea of running through a grassy field, climbing a tree (carefully and respectfully) or simply chasing a butterfly through a meadow, trying to see where it goes.
  Most of all, this book might help both parents and children realize that nature can be as mysterious, powerful and awesome as any video game or television show (I'd say even MORE so). If our children, our future generations, are going to learn to care about the environment and preserving the wonders that are out there, it is up to parents, teachers and other role models in their lives to foster that appreciation...and, hopefully, that passion...early on.
  
  

• silly nostalsgic nonsense

  
  By A9PMPE0PWAWC9 on 2006-09-18
  Having spent most of my adult life working in the non-profit conservation field, and as a parent, and as someone who had the good fortune to spend lots of time in nature as a child, I read this book in the hopes of learning important things. That turned out to be a forlorn hope.
  
  By a quarter of the way through I was rolling my eyes; by the halfway mark I was actively insulted that this author would expect anyone to buy what he was shoveling. I finished the thing only out of grim curiosity.
  
  Louv has about three major points:
  (a) American kids circa 2005 are much less active outdoors than American kids circa 1965 were;
  (b) that change is due to computers, personal-injury lawyers, and various other things that people Louv's age don't like;
  (c) being "in nature" is important to kids' development and to human health generally.
  
  Point (c) is blindingly obvious, is not news to anyone, and is the only major point for which he offers any actual evidence which wouldn't get laughed out of the offices of a peer-reviewed journal.
  
  For points (a) and (b) he offers zero evidence, nada, zip -- absolutely nothing but anecdotes, leading rhetorical questions, and straw men. He sounds like nothing so much as Joseph McCarthy wondering whether Communists "might be" undermining American foreign policy from within the State Department. Indeed he uses precisely that rhetorical construction repeatedly, always a signpost of intellectual flabbiness.
  
  Obvious logic flaws abound, as do laugh-out-loud factual mistatements. In the first half of the book I started jotting down glaring holes in his argument but gave up in disgust when I realized that most of his factual claims weren't even footnoted! Louv isn't even consistent in his straw men: one moment he's talking about when he was a child (1960s, roughly) and the next moment he's quoting somebody talking about how much kids were outdoors in 1910, or 1860!
  
  While he offers no actual evidence for his broad proposition of a new "nature deficit disorder", he does throw tangential facts around some of which I am in a professional position to quickly confirm. I checked a half-dozen such, and the score was that he got 1 substantially correct, distorted 2 beyond recognition, and got 3 dead wrong.
  
  I could go on but enough already. This thing isn't worth the paper it was printed on.
  
  

• Children. Outside. Playing. How intriguing...

  
  By A371BE908234I4 on 2005-06-03
  An intriguing and thought-provoking work about our failures as parents, educators, and community planners to provide opportunities for unfettered nature play to our children, and the consequences of this oversight. According to Louv, in "Last Child in the Woods," the lack of opportunities for unstructured nature play, the decline of close-to-home open space, and the rise in programmed sporting activities are all contributing to a condition he labels "Nature Deficit Disorder." Although going to great pains to point out that this is not an identified medical disorder, it remains Louv's hypothesis that the modern disconnect between children and nature can and is to be blamed as a contributing factor to ADHD, obesity, lack of creativity, a loss of respect for nature and the living world, and a number of other social ills. Backed by lots of fascinating interviews, anecdotes, and research, Louv lays out a compelling argument for changing some modern social arrangements (educators, lawyers, and over-protective parents take a few lumps here) and letting today's children play the way we played as children: set them free in the outdoors, and let their imaginations do the work that we too often allow computer games and TV to do for them. Although the book drags a little the last 40 pages or so, it's only because Louv has already won you over to his argument. I highly recommend this work for local planners, educators, parents, and all others concerned about the disconnect between today's youth and the natural world.
  
  

• Thrilled this book was written!

  
  By A1I7QGUDP043DG on 2006-01-03
  As a child, I recall fishing, hiking and riding our horses through the woods. It added so much flavor and richness to our lives that I couldn't imagine not passing it on to our own children. Building memories with our children in the outdoors, and teaching them the beauty of playing outside, has helped shape them into healthier and happier people.
  For this and other reasons I was thrilled that Richard Louv wrote this book! His interview on NPR convinced me even more that he is sincere in wanting to help generations of children and their parents to see how nature can serve to enrich our lives. Our youngest child, who complains that he's the only one without a t.v. in his room, was listening to the program as well so we appreciated the 'vindication' for our lifestyle choices. My husband and I both feel that had it not been for the access to woods and outside play when we were young, we both would've either been medicated or getting into serious trouble.
  Chrissy K. McVay
  author of 'Souls of the North Wind'
  
  
• Last Child in the Woods
  By A3QROBOYS8XQV1 on 2006-03-16
  Louv makes some excellent points that everyone should consider, however you'll have to ignore his poor, disorganized writing style to get at them. He jumps between unfounded personal declarations and academic studies as evidence for his theories, but straddling these two horses somehow makes his arguments more flimsy, not stronger: it feels like he's using academic backing in a biased way. That said, I agree with many of his conclusions!
  
  
• A far from coherent attempt at an important issue
  By AVH3V73XHK5FQ on 2008-01-12
  Having bought Last Child in the Woods on the basis of the title without checking as deeply as I might have, I found myself finishing six other books while I was struggling through this, mostly on (southern) summer holidays at a camping ground surrounded by nature where I've seen three generations of youngsters growing.
  
  The topic is clearly worthy and important (so 1.5 points) and Louv does add the further point about youngsters needing outdoor space for its own sake (another 0.5 points) but a poorly structured melding of anecdotes and research results soon had me wondering just where he was going. Being strongly convinced by Judith Rich Harris's The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do (and Harris's clear use of anecdote and research results) I was also thrown by Louv's preoccupation with the role of parents and even more so his repeated identification with the fear epidemic.
  
  It wasn't until chapter 22 of 24 started to unambiguously invoke religion that I took another look at Louv's short bio on the back flap and spotted its admission that his livelihood is generated by the child advocacy scam which put to rest any hopes I might have still had for an outbreak of rationality.
  
  In the finish it became clear that his meandering was always driven by his too cute four year old's question whether God was married to Mother Nature or they were just good friends.
  
  If this book is to be of any value it will be in flashing yet another feel good topic at the attention threshold of those caught up in fear based memeplex that brings us child advocacy and American Christianity. It has no value to anybody looking for a coherent argument about the importance of reconnecting children with the reality of nature outside fanciful human notions of justice (let alone the more recent reinterpretation that justice equals revenge).
  
  If you want a strong story at the intersection of humanity and the natural world, I'd recommend Gabrielle Walker's Snowball Earth: The Story of a Maverick Scientist and His Theory of the Global Catastrophe That Spawned Life As We Know It which I read in one pass during a break from Louv (and looking across a stream at a cliff rich with strata and life). And just let the kids explore. It's their life, not yours.
  
  
  
• Louv hits the nail on the head!
  By A1L01YMFFB87YF on 2005-08-02
  As a parent, grandparent and professional in the field of environmental education, I found Last Child In The Woods an excellent resource that supports what I have discovered first hand as the Director of an environmental center. It is a sad testimony of our times, the disconnection between people, especially children, and the natural world, that this book documents so accurately. Our research indicates that, of the thousands of 10 and 11 year olds that we have worked with (who live in a front range city in Colorado), over 60% have never taken a hike and 80% have never been to the mountains prior to participating in one of our programs. The long term negative implications of such statistics to the future of the environmental movement are clear to me - how will children grow up into adult citizens who advocate for the natural world if they have no direct knowledge of it? What Louv documents so well is how such disconnection from Nature negatively imapcts the health and well-being of individuals. I beleive that all parents and educators, as well as anyone interested in the health of our children and the health of our communities, will find very important information in this book.
  
  
• Let the children play
  By A2KC6GGTUF8VR4 on 2005-10-14
  This book will rescue children from boredom and angst, if parents will read it. It urges families to lighten up -- to stop excessive worry about traffic, poison ivy, kidnappers, snakes, and broken arms and let children go outside and have fun. It's easy. If you don't live near woods, any small patch of nature will do: This writer sings the praises of vacant lots, where beetles live under rocks and dandelion tufts wait to be blown into the wind. Take your child outside and make a necklace of clover flower. If there's a creek nearby, let him put his foot in. Find blackberries and pick them. If you have woods, encourage a fort.
  
  Oh, brave, new mom am I. A few days this summer, I let my two boys, ages 7 and 9, ride their bikes with neighbor children to a nearby creek. They waded and played and had a picnic. The boogie man didn't get them; a snake didn't get them (though they did see a snake). We called these days "wandering days," quoting a children's book we like. They'll remember these wandering days much longer than any trip to the local science museum.
  
  Thanks, Louv. This book is an act of love for youngsters.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The great outdoors is where the action is!
  By A1BCLYHAC88C65 on 2005-08-02
  Having grown up on a farm, listening to the earth, and understanding the seasons has always been as essential as breathing to me. The call of the wild is a call we must pass on to our children before they become so hooked to their computers, television sets, and video games that they forget the enchantment of just being in nature. Last Child in the Woods offers research, challenges, and solutions to assist all of us to be active participants in our health and welfare by employing the free gifts of the great outdoors. If you want to sparkle, shine, and star in this performance called LIFE, read this book under the shade of your favorite tree. Once you do, you'll definitely make time to unplug yourself, go outside, listen to the birds sing, smell the roses, take a hike to a lake, then watch the night sky. Bring your children and let them explore. Face the fear and feel the rapture of this amazing planet. It's never to late to have a happy childhood."
  Cynthia Brian, NY Times best selling co-author, Chicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul, Be the Star You Are!, and Daddy's Hands, Mommy's Heart, Children's Memories
  www.star-style.com
  
  
• Thought-provoking writing
  By AQZVHOGA5XLER on 2005-08-03
  This book is a well-researched, clearly organized and thought-provoking personal exploration of a timely subject: Children and their new relationship with nature. If you are looking for escape reading for the beach, or an academic, chart-filled textbook, this book isn't for you. Louv lays out the facts, includes numerous interviews, personal anecdotes and relevent stories, and proposes big-picture solutions. Politicians, parents, teachers, parks personnel, summer-camp directors, landscape architects and others interested in or concerned about current children's issues will find pertinent information. "Last Child" is rich with ideas.
  
  
• Review written for college paper
  By A3143RB7VVZYLP on 2005-12-23
  I wrote this review for the MiraCosta College paper. Loved the book.
  
  Richard Louv's latest work "Last Child In the Woods" makes a strong case for letting children be more involved in their surrounding environment. In his book Louv makes a diagnosis of the current situation, compares that to the time Baby-boomers were kids and has a plethora of suggestions how to change the situation for the better.
  
  His main concern is that our current generation of children lack so much hands-on experience with playing outside, exploring their neighborhood. Referring to some studies, he claims that this nature-deficit, as he coined it, causes the children to be at a higher risk for ADHD, obesity, a loss of senses and a situation less severe: plain boredom.
  
  Most of Louv's ideas are interesting and well reasoned. His suggestions to be more active with children are very do-able and are written in an inspiring way for both parents and those who work with children on a daily basis. He is hopeful of a new frontier movement in the Great Plains States that have slowly become under-populated. The book refers often to our local San Diego County surroundings, from an open patch of land in La Jolla to the Wild Fires of 2003. This gives it an extra interesting tone for us locals.
  
  As a fierce children rights advocate, Mr. Louv has been active in a multitude of child advocacy organizations. His weekly column in the San Diego Union-Tribune focuses on family, nature and community. His other book topics are parenting and fishing. The only annoyance I noticed while reading this book were the too often strewn about extensive quotes, that were rather distracting.
  
  As a parent and environmental conscience person, I would highly recommend this book to those who have children in their life and who want to make a difference. And Mr. Louv has found in me a new reader of his Tuesday column in the San Diego Union Tribune!
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Eye opening
  By A2OSOR6O698LN7 on 2006-11-12
  This book engages one to think about the subject of how to bring a child up in this world without preaching. It presents facts, and it presents the shortcomings of the information it has available, but asks the question what would be wrong with trying to change.
  
  I have never read a book before that made me think as much as this book did. It rekindled old memories of childhood that were almost forgotten, it encourage me to strike up conversations with strangers who asked what I was reading about, and it converted me into an almost preacher for this book.
  
  The book is not a non stop page turner, but it was fun to read; made my eyes well up with emotion several times; and most of all encouraged me to think about a subject that I did not realize had so much meaning to me.
  
  
  
• Chapters describe the costs of alienating kids from nature
  By A14OJS0VWMOSWO on 2005-08-08
  Our kids are the first to be raised without meaningful contact with nature: that's the message and warning of Last Child In The Woods: Saving Out Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder. Kids are so 'plugged in' that they're becoming 'unplugged' from nature and the outdoors. So why is this of concern? Because columnist Louv links such deficit to the rise of childhood problems ranging from obesity to depression and ADD. Chapters describe the costs of alienating kids from nature - and also provide solutions which are as close as one's back yard.
  
  
  
• everyone (especially parents and educators) should read this
  By A3CY03DGVII7DD on 2006-08-13
  I saw Richard Louv's book in a bookstore in Chicago, and though I didn't have enough money to buy it then, when I saw it two weeks later in the Shenandoah National Park bookstore, I immediately took that as a sign and bought it. =)
  
  I identified with the positive factors of play in nature that Louv described immediately: though, unlike the author, I'm still in my teens, I remember having similar experiences in nature because that's how all the kids in my neighborhood played, and assumed that climbing trees, trespassing into people's backyards by climbing over fences, and scaling my way up small waterfalls was something normal to me. But because I don't see such behavior in my little sister and brother (three and eight years younger, respectively), I'm understanding how vital and urgent the need to reverse this process is, because I can't imagine what a different person I would be if I didn't grow up like I did.
  
  Louv's style is easy to read and frequently punctuated with personal anecdotes shocking, stirring, and humorous, make this book into a work that truly convinces the reader of the purpose that the author is trying to reach. Because I want to work in conservation when I'm older, this book has also helped me see that a balance must be met between "sacred space", "play space", and "people space."
  
  Highly recommended for parents, educators, and teens, too.
  
  
• Louv's RX for the well-being of ALL children
  By AB48L2LKRCIYZ on 2005-08-01
  Perhaps of all the categories of children needing Richard Louv's
  RX for optimal well-being, the plight of gifted and talented
  stands out. Just one example of many: "a gifted 11 year old runs
  up from the pond area shouting to come quickly because three
  deer are there having a conversation. Accompanying him to the
  water's edge with no deer in sight, it is necessary to explain
  to him that the deer he hears are frogs croaking."
  
  With a prolific abundance of media, every phase of nature
  can be viewed through the eyes and words of Stephen Hawkins,
  Carl Sagan, Ed Wilson and others by our youngsters,
  but it's not the same thing as hands-on direct experiences
  with nature as a crucial part of growing up.
  
  Louv's book has been written not as an academic "treatis" but as
  a "treat" for readers of all backgrounds to be reminded of the
  moments of wonder from our own childhoods and the crucial impact
  such moments can have for the children in our lives today.
  
  
  
  
• Really Difficult but Important Reading
  By A2V2VP7NBIL0FS on 2006-08-24
  Having been an outdoorsman most of my life, and raising 3 sons all of whom are Eagle Scouts. One son worked as a ranger at the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimmeron New Mexico in the Sangre de Christo Mountains, wrote in his first letter to his Mother: "I can'd describe what it's like sitting on top of a mountain at 13,000 feet looking down on a rainbow".
  
  It hurts my heart that the current generation of children including my grandchildren are missing out on those opportunities.
  
  This book is a must read for everyone who loves children, and the outdoors.
  
  
• A Call to Action
  By A1K9IG5MP8RW75 on 2005-07-30
  What a wonderful concept: nature-deficit disorder. I remember summer days turning up rocks in the creek to find crawdads, and wandering through woods and pastures under the hot Kansas sun. Because of those experiences and my parent's interest and encouragement, I care about animals, plants and the state of the planet.
  Are today's children missing all that? If their exposure to nature is television documentaries and carefully orchestrated trips to a petting zoo, will they bond with nature? There's no question that electronic gadgets occupy too much of their time and has consequences beyond short attention spans and weight gain.
  I wish parents would read this book and take steps to unplug their child and provide regular outdoor time both structured and free time.
  
  
• Every parent shoud read this
  By AP58PU1YUWG0Y on 2005-11-05
  This book hits like a pan in the face, giving you the answers to what's wrong with the kids today. It will inspire you to turn of the Playstation and bring the kids to a creek to play and watch their stresses dissapear and their senses awaken.
  
  After reading the book I have made a consciuous effort to use nature everyday in the upbringing of my 3 children, calming one with ADHD, stimulating one that is gifted and making a cranky baby girl a happy one crawling around in the leaves.
  
  If you are a parent, grandparent or teacher - please read this book!
  
  
• A little too pessimistic and a bit too incomplete
  By A1HRYC60VTMYC0 on 2008-04-21
  True, today's computer use by kids has in too many cases divorced them from the real benefits of being outdoors and understanding the need to interact with Nature in all its various forms.
  
  However, the author errs when he puts forth the premise that todays activists are interfering with the kids' rights to interact with nature - NOT SO!!! Hunting and fishing will ALWAYS be with us -- and RESPONSIBLE hunting and fishing should be the core of every sportspersons' agenda. Not everyone wants to hunt and fish -- so those who just enjoy hiking and camping should be aware of and follow the rules and responsibilities of careful stewardship of the earth (bring your trash OUT of the wilderness with you-- be extra careful with camp fires, etc etc)
  
  Not one word of his book mentions Humane Education, or the GREAT work that Humane Educators, especially the Institute for Humane Education -- are doing to re-acquaint children with the ecology (animal vegetable and mineral) that surrounds them and their responsibility toward this ecology that is EVERY individual's birthright. I would HOPE that the next revision of this book WILL discuss the great contributions of these Humane educators and organizations.
  
  Neither does the author mention the efforts on the part of major religious organizations to make their members aware of the need to respect, preserve and maintain God's gifts of flora and fauna and verything that makes up this big beautiful earth.
  
  Growing up in the Big City -- as a child, I visited the MANY FREE places open to kids of all ages in New York City -- namely the zoos and botanical gardens that are still there today. These organizations appeal to children and have programs specifically aimed at all children, and ARE visited on a daily basis by children who attend the local schools.
  
  All is NOT lost -- computer can never supplant the "real Thing" -- but many children still need to acquaint themselves with Mother Earth and their responsible relationship to her. With some improvements, this book can help re-acquaint all of us to the beauty of nature and the need to preserve it (without bashing any of the groups out there who have their own specific philosophies about other living beings) and can act as a beneficial guide to parents and children alike.
  
  
• The Future is Now!
  By A2KP28XR5VVTFJ on 2006-11-09
  Richard writes with a determined, but quiet passion about the disconnect between our children and nature. You don't have to look very far to see how true and profound that disconnect is. See parents eating dinner with their children who are mindlessly thumbing their GameBoy or lost in their iPod; watch as young children repeal from the feeling of grass on their toes and teenage boys who don't want to get their sneakers dirty. These are but small, every day examples of how we are becomming plugged in and tuned out.
  I would encourage you to stop reading this, click on the link buy the book,and read it, RIGHT NOW! Share it with someone. Share the message with your kid's teacher/principal, school board, city council, anyone and everyone, start a revolution. Make a personal promise to take your kids fishing this weekend, take a walk in the woods, listen, smell, share. The future is now, Louv has provided all of us with the most poignant of wake up calls.
  Take your kids and GO OUTDOORS NOW!
  
  
• You'll Enjoy this Book if...
  By A22QATUZUP01TT on 2007-05-11
  You'll enjoy this book if:
  
  1. You work with children. Educators of all types will be inspired by this book. Teachers will be provided with firm reasons for taking their students outside for exploration, discovery and study. Teachers will also find the author's thoughts on the way nature is often taught now (as a crisis or a danger) fascinating. Scout leaders, after-school activity teachers, camp councilors, and daycare providers will be also be inspired to either continue the outdoor activities they already do-- or to add more nature exploration to their programs.
  
  2. You are a just "let them play" type parent. Parents who intuitively know that mud-pie baking trumps most other after-school activities will enjoy having words put to their intuition. This group of parents often feels a bit guilty because we don't sign our kids for daily structured activities and clubs. Our kids are just too busy digging up rocks, wandering the backyard, looking for earthworms and mud puddle jumping. It is, quite simply, a relief to know that these activities are not only fun and relaxing for the family, they are actually emotionally and mentally healthy!
  
  3.You are an environmentalist. Lastly, this book will provide conservationists with more evidence in their fight to preserve and protect natural areas. Often, conservations feel so much love for natural areas that they begin to feel that the need to preserve them is self-evident to everyone. Unfortunately, it's not! This book provides a myriad of concrete reasons for preserving natural spaces. The author also provides marvelous ideas for creating contact with nature in urban areas.
  
  P. Gould (author of Feeding the Kids: The Flexible, No-Battles, Healthy Eating System for the Whole Family)
  
  
• Taking Back Nature ....
  By A1BI8PUEHA5CHW on 2007-08-05
  I would have never heard of this book if it wasn't for my sister-in-law, who is battling lung cancer. She and I were talking about whether or not I should bring her some books to read while she was undergoing chemo and she happened to mention this book, as her school system was recommending that she read it before school starts in a few weeks. Naturally, I had to pick up a copy of it and was sold.
  
  This book (with a wonderful front cover, by the way ~~ my boys kept saying, "Mom! That kid's going frogging too!" ~~ they love frogs) is chock full of information and data and statistics. It is a book full of common sense and while Louv was very very careful to say that studies have not been done yet to proven that kids with ADHD disorders can be weaned from their medicine if they were outside in nature more, he offers that as a possible solution to solve a lot of mental disorders in today's society among kids and adults. He also offers a lot of other solutions as well ~~ different types of studies or programs that other people are trying to start up to recruit people back into living in a greener world.
  
  As a kid, I was not very interested in playing outside. I lived in a neighborhood in a small town. BUT my parents signed me up for junior naturalist programs, they took my siblings and me camping, they took us to the parks, they encouraged all kinds of outdoor activities. I did not get a chance to go into the woods by myself in the morning like my dad did while he was growing up (he lived in a very rural area), but when we were camping, I took advantage of playing in the woods. We were not encouraged to watch a lot of tv. That is a trend that a lot of my friends look down on me at ~~ I only have one tv in this house. My boys probably do watch a lot more tv than they should but whenever we get a chance, we are outside, working in the yard, playing or going camping someplace now that they are older and we can start introducing canoeing, hiking ... things that take you back to nature.
  
  Louv writes very compelling though throughout this book about today's generation and how they are drifting away from nature. He writes about the irony of people driving ATVs into the desert with their children to look at wild life and basically destroying the terrain with the automobiles and kids are "being exposed" to wildlife but from the safety of the vehicles. Or encountering kids who show no interest whatsoever in the wild life that the author had just spotted. There are a lot of stories that he shared ~~ personal and from other people. He also writes of the connection between kids being locked up in their houses all day and the rising concidences of obesity among today's children ... and so on.
  
  This is definitely a book for parents to read. I cannot write an accurate review of this book because there are too much information in here and one cannot honestly know where to begin. Yes, it can be dry reading in spots, but keep on reading because it gets better and more interesting. However, I do have a question for all those global warming experts out there ~~ how come none of you have read this book and tried to implement some of the theories into practice? I'd like to see this book touted more in the media.
  
  8-5-07
  
  
• Affirmation
  By AJAU7R1JFUIKG on 2007-01-09
  This is an incredible book. I am 64 years old and have grown up and spent my entire life in rural and country settings. This book affirms almost all of my outdoor and nature related experiences. It makes me want to share what I have experienced with others.
  
  
• Excellent for Environmental Educators and Especially Parents!
  By A15AC01HGF3TL2 on 2007-05-12
  I am a naturalist who works primarily with educating children about nature, so I bought this book. It is excellent and has inspired me to one day run a facility involving nature therapy. I am looking into selling this book at our nature center because I believe any and all parents should read it for the health and well-being of both their children and the planet.
  
  The book is easy to read, I finished it reading casually in about a week, but it has many great insights as well as helpful statistics and other information relevant to "nature defecit".
  
  
• Sappy with no depth
  By APDCVI2O7C588 on 2007-11-09
  The book came quickly and was in the same condition described. I have no problem with the seller. But the content of the book is lacking. I was expecting depth and real data to support their claims. Instead it was just a bunch of feel good mumbo jumbo. I totally believe children need to spend more time in nature, but this book did not convince me of that.
  
  
• "Hope for our Children"
  By A5OT93NFAL6VH on 2006-08-22
  After reading this book I wish that every educator (especially of young children) would read it. We as educators are being forced to add to the complete removal of our children from all that is natural and beautiful. Will our children know how to take a test? Maybe, but will they have any affinty to nature, that is the larger question. This book is informative, factual and down right realistic about what is happening to our children. I recommend it without reservation.
  
  
• Richard Louv Defines the Environmental Issue of the Decade
  By A1V4GMOWOVU7CF on 2006-09-20
  Richard Louv's message of hope - for change and for a greater future - may be the key to keeping us all sane for generations to come.
  
  Making it even more powerful, the love for his own children is almost tangible as your make your way through the book.
  
  This essential book should be handed to every parent as they are discharged from the hospital with their newborns.
  
  
  
  
• Strikes a chord
  By A1QQYKX1CGIUMB on 2006-11-08
  This book really struck a chord with me. Louv describes how today's kids are increasingly disconnected from the natural world and links children's increased time indoors, watching TV and playing video games, to conditions like attention disorders, childhood depression and obesity. It also highlights research that shows the power of time spent in nature to decrease symptoms of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and increase test scores.
  
  I am compelled to get outside for myself, and believe there is much good to be had from the nature experience for my kids. Louv captures those feelings in a compelling way.
  
  I highly recommend this book - for parents and for adults without children.
  
  
• The Last Child in the Woods
  By A3ER582A0UKGBN on 2005-09-12
  This is a timely book that takes a serious look on how we educate and treat our children. The computer, and other electronic items such as gameboys have transformed our children. At the same time we have entered the increase use of computer age educators and counselors have seen an increase in emotional problems with children. They are need of such services younger and younger.
  
  

• Sharing Nature With Children (20th Anniversary Edition, Revised and Expanded)
• The Web of Life: Weaving the Values That Sustain Us
• I Love Dirt!: 52 Activities to Help You and Your Kids Discover the Wonders of Nature
• Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education (Nature Literacy Series, Vol. 1) (Nature Literacy) (Nature Literacy)
• Nature in a Nutshell for Kids: Over 100 Activities You Can Do in Ten Minutes or Less