This was recently posted on the Southwest Region list serve; you may find it of interest.
Diana ************************************************** Diana R. Tomchick Professor Departments of Biophysics and Biochemistry University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center 5323 Harry Hines Blvd. Rm. ND10.214A Dallas, TX 75390-8816 diana.tomch...@utsouthwestern.edu<mailto:diana.tomch...@utsouthwestern.edu> (214) 645-6383 (phone) (214) 645-6353 (fax) Begin forwarded message: From: Robert Wood <robw...@wwdb.org<mailto:robw...@wwdb.org>> Hi fellow cavers, I have done much study on why there is a national trend of outdoor activity organizations inability to attract new members. It really boils down to the difference in the way kids are being raised versus how the Baby Boom generation was allowed to experience their childhoods. This article sets the stage pretty clearly http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/04/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/ If you want more in-depth solution oriented ideas I highly suggest “How to Raise a Wild Child” by Scott Sampson. Having raised my 3 kids on the side of a ski mountain in northern Colorado with free access for them both summer and winter I clearly see the societal pressure that is the norm today to overprotect the kids as an epidemic. My grandchildren living in San Diego are (trying not to say this judgmentally) victims of this modern mentality that is building a grave basis for their personal life balance and future offspring. If your kid is walking around in the neighborhood at a time that is not connected to school coming and going (most kids are driven to and from school) someone will call the police and the child could be picked up and dropped at your door with a reprimand. Even in my small Colorado town, when my young son showed up at school with a black eye from the handlebar of his bike when he wrecked, Social services was notified by the school of possible child abuse. I would have been summoned by them if it were not for my friend that worked there that just called to get the story. I know we are all frustrated with the inability to attract young vibrant cave enthusiast. The resistance to our efforts really has nothing to do with the kids themselves, it has to do with how they learned to freely connect to the natural world on their own. To learn to risk without a parent saying “Be careful”. I grew up surfing and exploring my great outdoors on the California coast and I nor my siblings can ever remember my folks ever telling us to be careful. Today that would be considered neglect. The article is lengthy but so is trying to solve this problem we have created. If you have grandchildren and are involved in their lives I highly recommend Sampson’s book. Even if you are not involved or do not have children or grandchildren being aware is the first step in creating a solution. Rob Wood _______________________________________________ SWR mailing list s...@caver.net<mailto:s...@caver.net> http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/swr _______________________________________________ This list is provided free as a courtesy of CAVERNET. Remember when you are replying to a message, you are replying to ALL on this list. This a default setting. If you want to reply to the individual sender then click reply, go delete the name out of the To: field and insert who you want to reply to. Of course, you have to know the email address of the person you are wanting to reply to. ________________________________ UT Southwestern Medical Center The future of medicine, today.
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