In response to the April 9 article written by Kay Soldier, I have to comment on her feelings that there is a generation of children being raised without knowing how to “dig up worms, go fishing, much around in puddles, catch polliwogs or watch the caterpillar make its cocoon” because she has obviously not met my two boys.

My boys, ages 11 and 4, spend countless hours in the outdoors on our five-acre property. They keep themselves busy by exploring our woods; watching things float down our stream; finding and identifying animal tracks; catching garter snakes (we

have kept a couple long enough to watch it feed and shed its skin). They have collected caterpillars from milkweed plants to watch them cocoon and turn into beautiful monarch butterflies; caught and nurtured polliwogs and watched as God’s creation changed into frogs; spent a summer season watching hornets build a nest outside the kitchen window; and passed many, many hours just romping in the yard playing with our German shepherd.

In defense of other families I personally know who let their kids get “icky” on a regular basis, not all of us are lazy inside playing video games and the like. My family takes regular walks, finds new hiking trails to conquer (last year we did Cadillac Mountain), plays baseball in our back yard, visits playgrounds, bikes together, swims in lakes, body surfs in the ocean waves and downhill skis or sleds in the winter.

We are often doing these things with other families with kids. Yup, even in these times, there are families who enjoy being outside and aren’t afraid of getting a little dirty. We are not a lost generation.

Kristy Eichler

Lyman

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