The book Last Child in the Woods would be a great book for any parent to read. Richard Louv brings up many good points on how to help your children be ready for the future and happy today. He goes on, at length, trying to argue against the evils of the world. The only problem when this is that EVERYTHING else but unscheduled time in nature is wrong. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with loving the outdoors and spending your free time there but not everyone is the same. Some people love sitting next to a warm fire and reading a book or going down to the pool hall to relax with their friends. Some people have allergies that make unscheduled fun nature time sound more like congested and dizzy, sick time. Now I understand that he is trying to get our children outside and there is nothing wrong with that. Being independent and social are key things in a growing child’s life. However, there is one thing that really bugs me about this book. He has no counter-examples. His persuasion seems great when you hear stories of kids with substance problems leaving Alaska with the drive to be an environmental lawyer but there is much more to this kind of story. I went to a wilderness therapeutic program and I know the kids who leave those programs. I watched many kids go home with nothing but anger and deceit in their souls and who learned nothing else but how to survive with nothing. Nature always teaches but sometimes it would be better to let a child find its own course then to throw them into the woods and tell them what to feel and how to act. A key factor in gaining wisdom through nature is to let it happen naturally.