Children and Nature

When it came to technology, I was once an early adopter. Now I’m a late arrival. After landing at the San Diego airport the other day, I was pulling my travel…

Not long ago I met some dedicated young women who were doing their student teaching at an impressive nature-based preschool. They made it clear that…

Adapted from “Last Child in the Woods.” Especially during summer, parents hear the moaning complaint: “I’m borrrred.” Boredom is fear’s dull cousin. Passive,…

Parenting advice can go to extremes. Regarding outdoor play, some experts sternly warn parents about all the dangers, real or assumed — from strangers to…

From where I grew up, outside Kansas City, Mo., the town of Lee’s Summit was just a stone’s throw. Or maybe a tornado’s toss. In the woods between the towns, my…

Is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) a painful neurological reality for many children? Undoubtedly. But could it be that at least some of the…

On Nov. 16, at the annual Learning & the Brain conference in Boston, Mass., I offered some of the following remarks in a keynote address. My topic was “The…

Everyone who advocates connecting children with nature needs to add—“not nature sprayed with herbicides, insecticides and other pesticides.” In November 2012…

What’s a grandparent to do? Marti Erickson makes a practice of keeping two collapsible chairs in her car trunk. If she’s having a particularly stressful day,…

As a busy mother of three living in the rural U.S. — specifically beautiful East Tennessee — I am truly blessed: With my three healthy children, for starters;…