Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
– Albert Einstein
Last weekend I volunteered at a community triathlon sponsored by The Boy Scouts of America. It was held at Castaic Lake in the Santa Clarita Valley. The lake has a beautiful recreation area with swimming, playgrounds, hiking, biking, water crafting, nature, grass, you name it. Sounds like a perfect place to play and explore for the whole family. As I was waiting for the race to start I was taking in the scenery and saw something that almost brought me to tears. I saw three children maybe ages 3, 5, and 7 laying on a blanket under a tree down by the lake's edge....watching a DVD on their DVD player. I screamed in my head and instinctively wanted to through the DVD player in the lake, slap the mother on the wrist, and then teach the kids that when we are outdoors we can imagine and play anything our minds can think of. With all the technology we are surrounded with we forget that children need play as part of their healthy development. I understand we all need a break and pop on the TV for the kids or let them play a video game as reward time, but it's so easy to forget how we were raised. No DVDs, no computers, no cell phones, just plain old good imagination.
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