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Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education

Abstract

Those who have read, and taken seriously, Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder must quickly obtain a copy of Mercogliano' s In Defense of Childhood ... Mercogliano's focus is on modern parenting and public schools asserting that most of them stifle the innate sense of wonder, imagination, and creativity that all healthy children are born with. The main culprit, in his view, is an over-structured lifestyle imposed on children by parents and schools. By attempting to provide risk free situations and to prepare children for success in a consumer oriented society parents micro manage children's lives leaving them little time to explore, make innocent discoveries, experience solitude, play freely, and identify the "inner wildness" (the sparkling effervescence and originality of children) necessary to help them find a measure of happiness on their earthly journey.

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