Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I was SO excited to read this book. I grew-up playing outside (camping, hiking, swimming, snowshoeing, etc) and currently live in the middle of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Our son is 2 and playing outside -letting him be wild and free- is a priority. Sadly, this was less about the simple importance and benefits of fresh air and outside play (year around, regardless of the weather), and all about this author's apparent disdain for us lowly Americans. One example (of many) was when she was ticketed for allowing her children to swim in an unauthorized are of a nature preserve (because of health hazards and the risk of e.coli infection due to manure from an upstream farm). Here's how the author summarizes her victimization: "Over the next few weeks, I went through something akin to a mourning process. At first, there was denial. How could this possibly happen to me? After all, I was known as the town's local environmentalist and resident health nut, who had helped start a farmer's market, organized litter pickups, promoted recycling, and done Eart Day presentations at the elementary school...My "crunchy"-parenting credentials were solid. Yet now I stood accused of the bizarre crime of harming nature by letting my children wade in an agricultural cesspool....Then came anger." The author goes on for pages about this perceived wrong. So instead of being a source of open-minded encouragement and guidance for parents that maybe haven't been raised outside, but are looking to change that for their children - this is more of a vanity piece. A "look how great I am" book. All 255 pages. So disappointing. So snooty. A term rhyming with "smouche tag" comes to mind. Save your money - just go play outside with your sweet, precious and wild babies - do it as often as you can and that's about it.