The woods were my Ritalin. Nature calmed me, focused me, and yet excited my senses.

Being close to nature, in general, helps boost a child's attention span.

There is a real world, beyond the glass, for children who look, for those whose parents encourage them to truly see.

If war occurs, that positive adult contact in every shape is needed more than ever. It will be a matter of emotional life and death. There's not a handy one-minute way of talking to your kid about war.

In a famous Middletown study of Muncie, Indiana, in 1924, mothers were asked to rank the qualities they most desire in their children. At the top of the list were conformity and strict obedience. More than fifty years later, when the Middletown survey was replicated, mothers placed autonomy and independence first. The healthiest parenting probably promotes a balance of these qualities in children.

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

No other youth group like the Scouts has trained so many future leaders while at the same time being a nature organization with its outdoor focus.