Manhood for Amateures: Wilderness of Childhood

I believe the central claim of this essay is the freedom that a child has outdoors.  He says at the end that he excitedly takes his child out so she can explore the outdoors.  But in the sad reality he discovers no other children outside.  He longs for the day that she could experience the same wilderness as he did and create adventures with other kids.  It shows that the experiences of the outdoors have helped him to create an imagination and become a creative writer. I believe that children have lost their appreciation for the outdoors due to over protective parents and new influences that keep hem from going outside.  Parents know of dangers that exist outdoors and children would rather be entertained by video games or tv.

I played outdoors a lot as a child as that was where my friends were.  We would ride bikes around the neighborhood and explore the empty lots and make jumps.  We would run around the yards with plastic guns playing cops and robbers.  I would spend countless hours in the garden playing with my Hot Wheels.  Then as I got older I moved inside and played more video games.  My brother started to play games with me and didn't go outside when he was younger. Although an interesting trend has happened, over the past 2 years video games playing has been minimal as I ride my bikes and kayak and my brother has discovered rock climbing and geocaching.  I find it odd how its more fun to rediscover the outdoors and have fun then to hide inside.