If getting our kids out into nature is a search for perfection, or is one more chore, then the belief in perfection and the chore defeats the joy. It's a good thing to learn more about nature in order to share this knowledge with children; it's even better if the adult and child learn about nature together. And it's a lot more fun.

The real cultural war is between the culture of narcissism and what might be called the culture of renewal.

Now, more than ever, we need nature as a balancing agent.

It's easy to blame the nature-deficit disorder on the kids' or the parents' back, but they also need the help of urban planners, schools, libraries and other community agents to find nature that's accessible.

Kids are plugged into some sort of electronic medium 44 hours per week.

There's a generation now that didn't grow up in nature. Some of these adults are parents and they know that nature is good for their kids but they don't know where to start.

To take nature and natural play away from children may be tantamount to withholding oxygen.