Barriers and a Shortened Childhood (Sobel, 2011, Wild Play)

Sobel describes the following barriers for children spending time outside ...or having a "shortened childhood":

-"timesickness" : "the feeling that there's never enough time" for parents (p.23)
- Bogeyman Syndrome: parents' disproportional fear of risk for their children  as a result of "the rampant media-ization of our lives" (p,24) 
- Electronic diversions (p.24)
- two working parents (p.25)
- Schools increasingly high academic standards at earlier ages (p.25)
- Organized sports starting earlier in childhood (p.25)

A shortened childhood is of deep concern for Sobel. He prescribes to a long childhood of play as having a built in evolutionary purposes... (p.29)

To explain his feelings around the benefits of a slow childhood, Sobel quotes Henry David Thoreau: "The more slowly tress grow at first, the sounder they are at the core" (p.28)

To counter the severing effects of these barriers on the child-nature relationship/bond, Sobel turns to the role of parents in setting limitations as well as "providing alternatives that engage children deeply" (p.25)

To provide these alternatives Sobel suggests prioritizing outdoor play and he develops a framework that is age appropriate for engaging children outdoors that can be accessed as a kind of 'trail map' for parents to follow (Sobel, p.26-28)

"...making sure that the alternative magic of the natural world has enough chances to work on them and take hold during those early years" (p.25)

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