Stayed Awake to Finish this book

I just finished reading In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids' Inner Wilderness by Chris Mercogliano.  It seems as the author has been influenced by almost all of the same researchers that I have been inspired by in these last few years of studying the benefits of nature, what schooling should look like, and the dangers of a society that is too plugged into electronic media.  Although, my own personal conclusions may not always be the same as the authors.  I do agree that we can do a much better job giving children a childhood that prepares them for adolescence and then adulthood as separate stages in life.  It all begins in the basis of unstructured play, letting children follow their "inner voice" - which he calls wildness, and more time outside.

Something that really resonated with me was were when he described some of the memories he had of biking through huge piles of leaves with his friends, seeing who could get the farthest through them.  It reminded me of how my children have recently taken to riding their bikes into the bushes at the bottom of our hillside.  I feel so lucky that my children have the opportunity to play: that they have a safe yard. That they have balance bikes in good safe condition, and that they have adults around them who are able to find time to be with them.

Chris Mercogliano also has a chapter on the importance of solitude.  This is something I value and yet have not always given my children.  They are so often the direct focus of my attention that it is a practice to give them that space.  I am trying more and more often to leave my children to have their own experiences, often in the peace of our own yard.  I must admit that I still watch from behind the bushes or I leave the door open enough so that I can hear their banter while I wash dishes inside the house- but I try to leave them in peace so they can find their own passions and imagine without interruption.

In all I highly recommend this book.  He has wonderful research.  He writes in an honest way that shows he has been working with youth most of his life.