Out of the Woods: Today's Kids Can't See the Forest for the MTV (Text Response)

            In the article Out of the Woods: “Today’s Kids Can’t See the Forest for the MTV,” Joel Achenbach argues that children are staying indoors too much and are alienating themselves from nature. He argues that kids need to go wild and get in touch with their inner animal. He wrote this article based on his opinion of how kids played outside all the time when he was a kid, compared to now a days. We have to practically beg our kids with something to get them outside. He also doesn’t support his topic with any real statistics from the past to the present, but I still think that anyone reading this article would agree with what he was saying. I believe that people would agree with his side of the argument because his audience is the parents of children.  In this article Joel clearly states that “Ultimately it’s our fault as parents, that we’ve let our kids get so soft and indoorsy.” When parents read this article it automatically makes them think of the good ole days when they were kids and they had no choice but to play outside. Although Joel Achenbach does not use concrete facts, his examples throughout the article make his argument solid and successful. Some of his examples include how kids now have the option to watch MTV all day or spend all day on the computer or Xbox, accusing technology. He also gives examples on how parents are overprotecting their kids, filling their heads with the idea that the outdoor world is dangerous. This article is successful in making us believe our kids are lazy because his examples are persuasive and straight to the point. It leaves you thinking after you read it, if your kids are in touch with their wild animal.