Welcome to the Wild and Free podcast, Episode 6.

I'm Ainsley Arment, and I'm here with Tina Engold.

Today we're talking about nature.

In just a little bit, we're going to hear a conversation between Jennifer Pepito and Greta

Eskridge, all about nature study and how to form your own nature group.

So grab a cup of coffee and join us on the front porch.

Let's get started.

Thank you. I'm reading a book by Scott Sampson. Do you know who that is? Yeah, how to raise a wild child.

Yes, have you read that? Yes, I love it. Ainsley. It's like one of my favorite books right now.

I know. I had it, I checked it out from the library, and I should have just bought it because I kept going overdue and I'd keep checking it out because I just didn't want to return it. I know. Yeah, I keep writing notes down about the things

that he said and I am just obsessed with it. I think one of the things that really struck me was

how he talked about he grew up in the 60s and 70s where, you know, the parents just kicked the

kids outdoors and they didn't come back until dinner time. But now fast forward to the 21st century

and think about everything that's changed.

Oh, he was talking about a study that was done and he was saying that kids spend an average,

this is so crazy to me, of four to seven minutes of unstructured outdoor play.

Wow. Can you believe that though? That feels so. Yeah, I know. As a homeschool mom, too, that feels

crazy because my kids have so much unstructured time. But he was saying like some of the reasons

is because of introduction of technology, which is something I know that we like to talk about a lot.

But he was saying that same study says that kids devote seven hours a day to technology. Yes. Yes. I wrote that down to you.

Yeah, which is like, did you really? Yeah. Which, I mean, that includes TV, iPads, all that.

That just blew my mind. Ages 8 to 18, devote an average of seven hours and 38 minutes using

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