Book Tag
I'm supposed to be working (just finished some taxes, was going to switch to work work, but hey, it's a Sunday) when I made the silly mistake of checking MB's blog. Drats! Tagged!
1. Find the nearest book: Lately it has been "What to Expect When You are Expecting", but it is upstairs. Mostly I have magazines near me on my desk, but I do have one I got from Little Baby Benny for Christmas.
2. Name the book title and author: "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder" - written by Richard Louv
3. Turn to page 123: Hey! The start of a new chapter halfway through!
4. Go to the 5th sentence on the page and then copy the next 3 sentences on your blog.
The boundaries of children's lives are growing ever tighter. A 1991 study of three generations of nine-year-olds found that, between 1970 and 1990, the radius around the home where children were allowed to roam on their own had shrunk to a ninth of what it had been in 1970. In the winter 2003 issue of American Demographics magazine, TNS Intersearch reported that 56 percent of today's parents say that by the time they were ten yeras old they were allowed to walk or bike to school. Today, only 36 percent of those same parens say their own kids should be allowed similar freedoms. A separate study by Taylor Reseach and Consulting fuond that 41 percent of children ages eight to eleven worry about being safe in their neighborhoods.
(As an aside, this is something I had been thinking about lately - and I hadn't even gotten this far in the book! I was in grade 6 when Ben and I started biking to school. We were never allowed to go alone - although when he was in 7 and 8, he could bike the 3 miles to his best friend's house - but it was a good 45 minute bike ride. We were about the same age when we biked the 8 miles + into the local village in the summer. I can't imagine letting my kids do that now, even if I wasn't in a fairly high traffic zone with crappy sides of the road. I hope I don't become a distance nazi with my kids, but it is sad that I already know that they will be restricted from what I did as a kid.)
I have to tag 3 people, but most people who read my blog don't have blogs on their own (except on myspace, where they don't blog). I could make them do this in my comment area, but most don't comment on here either - just in person or on email. So ...... 'Stina, when you read this .... tag!
posted by Janey @ 5:35 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Oh and yes, I realize that I copied 5 sentences instead of 3, but I just took the whole paragraph. :)
Hey, that wasn't so bad, now was it?? As has been with everyone elses, yours is way more interesting than my *yawn* text. Only 2 more weeks of classes and then I'll be free....free.... FREEEEEE.... well, after my last practice teaching, then I'll be free....but still, less work than university courses!
Oh yeah, I was never allowed to bike anywhere but down the lane and back over and over again. Exciting. I remember dreaming often about how wonderful it would be to ride on actual pavement, nice and smooth, no puddles or rocks....ahhhh, bliss.... Mom and Dad said there was too much traffic on the road.... and I guess there was, plus no sidewalk!
That was a busy highway you lived on - Hwy 2 wasn't as bad and except when we went to the convenience store or Lancaster, we weren't on it that much anyway.
Here, I won't even walk on Hwy 75 between here and the convenience store a mile away - I tried once when I went around the long way and ended up calling my brother-in-law to get me (he was near our house at the time) because I felt so unsafe even way over in the ditch.
Hi Janey!
I have often thought about that subject myself and I read your excerpt with interest.
Fortunately we live in a rural area where my kids can walk the mile or so to the candy store, ride their bikes or walk to and from school, go to the beach on their own and play in the creek across the road with all the neighbourhood kids.
The deer, elk, moose, skunks, coyotes, squirrels, chipmunks, ravens, ospreys and eagles share the woods and skies with us.
...along with our garden - we once watched a giant golden eagle eating a fish in our front yard one afternoon.
The kids often come home from school with bear and cougar warnings when there's been a local sighting, so we will often drive them places till we know the potential danger has moved on.
It's a pretty amazing place we live in and I am glad we have the opportunity to feel so connected with nature!
Unfortunately it's not so for most.
Thanks for posting.
:)
Dale
I remember going to the annual horse show in Lancaster!
Hi Dale! I would love to live in a place like you do. I'll have to make due with my smaller mountains. We have bears and cougars around here, but not AROUND here. Shannon's only seen a mountain lion twice and I've only heard the lions up in the mountain behind my MIL's house. She's had lions and bears (no tigers) cross over her yard though.
My blog name changed. I couldn't get that beta thing to switch it over and then it kept screwing up...so repost my link...it is now: THATballerinagurl.blogspot.com
Thanks for the funny email...posted it on my blog as it was too funny not to!
x0x0x-Molly
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