Wait…how many iPads do you have?

I know I have mentioned that I am a professional ski bum but I haven’t told you how that is possible.  I am a ski instructor.  It is a great job, but some of the things that kids say, are scary.

I work with kids 6 and up so instead of going on about fore and aft pressure, edging, rotary, and balance,  I create games for them.  For instance, squishing the marshmallow in the front of your ski boot and things like that.  Well, one of my games to play is shooting the monsters in the woods with the lasers on the front of their skis.  I had a class say to me that it was stupid game and there are no monsters in the woods.  Later at lunch the kids were talking about all their gadgets that they have at home.  One kid was saying he had two iPads, one leap frog pad, and a kindle…then it dawned on me that imagination is not a thing anymore.  Kids these days have so many other things to occupy themselves with, instead of playing house, school, or even hot wheels.  It makes me sad.

I am currently reading a book called Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv that addresses this problem.  I am only on page 54 but so far it is pretty good.  Louv talks about how kids these days do not appreciate nature and how generations before always were outside playing.  I am part of the generation where technology was starting to take over, but I am thankful enough that my classmates and I were at the start of it, so many still had an imagination and played outside.

I think if more kids were outdoors they would have more appreciation for the environment.  Why? Well, if they climbed a tree everyday for a few months, and it was their favorite tree and then they saw it get cut down because the city was planning on building a house there, I think they would be upset about that, don’t you?  Maybe I am just one in a million that thinks that.

I played outside a lot when I was younger, and because of that I believe that I appreciate the environment and everything in it.

My cousin and I would pretend that spaces between rocks were parking spots for the cars we were playing with and the rocks were houses.  A friend and I when we were sitting on the sidelines watching our sisters play soccer, would turn trees into forts and make that our house.  The forest behind my house was Narnia to me and my dog when it snowed.

When my town made plans to develop behind my house I got beyond mad, especially since I had seen so many animals make that forest their home.  There is no doubt that when you spend time outside in nature, you develop a connection to it.

So when I hear kids having multiple iPads, kindles, and iPhones, I wonder what is going to happen to nature.  Is it going to be a cement block?  Are we going to have blow up trees like in the movie The Lorax?  I really hope not.  So parents, get your kids OUTSIDE, please!!!

With love,

Concerned Ski Bum