Time in nature is not leisure time; it's an essential investment in our chidlren's health (and also, by the way, in our own).

There is another possibility: not the end of nature, but the rebirth of wonder and even joy.

In our bones we need the natural curves of hills, the scent of chaparral, the whisper of pines, the possibility of wildness.

These days, unplugged places are getting hard to find.

In medieval times, if someone displayed the symptoms we now identify as boredom, that person was thought to be committing something called acedia, a 'dangerous form of spiritual alienation' -- a devaluing of the world and its creator.

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.

By letting our children lead us to their own special places we can rediscover the joy and wonder of nature.