I am not sure I can buy your vast conspiracy theory to keep kids from playing in the woods as we did... I would suspect laziness or fear are the reasons. Easier to have them watch a video than take them outside, and little ones are no longer allowed to roam the neighborhood any more for fear of creeps.
A friend who lives in the city brings her 9 year old daughter over sometimes, and I always make a point of letting her ride my horse, climb on the hay, poke ant-hills and get dirty. And I wave off her mother that would inadvertantly turn her into a wallflower. When we all went walking I told the girl about a cool clearing I have in my woods that I call the "witch's circle" (It is just a grassy clearing with a fire pit in the center that was there when I moved in) I told her to run down the path a ways and check it out. Her eyes got all big and she got all excited to go look! - Her mother would not let her run up ahead and explore it alone! Made her stay back with us! - Parents are so afraid these days that kids are missing out.
Well, if I ever have kids, they shall play in the woods!
I do too, it is kind of on topic, Legolas was always going on about it.
" Easier to have them watch a video than take them outside, and little ones are no longer allowed to roam the neighborhood any more for fear of creeps.
You're probably right, but I still think it plays into the hands of the left, whom I do regard as conspiratorial, that is I think they are not always honest about their motives.
Sounds like you are good for your friend's daughter, I don't think the mother may have had much independence as a child?
My brothers and I grew up on a farm in a very rural area. Our parents passed on a while ago, but we still have the place and I still spend time in the woods. There's lots of wildlife there, usually the best times to see it are early evening, just before dark, or sunrise, when all the animals wake up and start moving around.