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A review by sindri_inn_arsaeli
Outdoor Kids in an Inside World by Steven Rinella
2.0
Here's the TL:DR good take away: get to nature at eye level. If you are looking "up" at nature, putting it on a pedestal of purity and remoteness, it feels unattainable, and seems pointless to try to reach. If you're looking "down" on nature, it seems dirty, brutal, and dangerous, and should be avoided at all cost. Meet nature at eye level, understanding that you are also a part of it, allowing you to interact with nature as you are able, and where you are.
That much is good.
But I've read plenty from this sub genre of non fiction, the parenting books about getting kids outside. Most have a very similar mentality, with each their own way of saying the same thing. Many find their focus in the basic idea of Wonder, something kids still naturally have plenty of, and need only an adult to pose a quick question, or answer one for the kids, to keep them in love with the natural world. (a favorite of mine was How To Raise A Wild Child, by Dr. Scott Sampson, of Dinosaur Train fame.) Rinella has included some moments of wonder provides by his children, but his own focus feels like it falls into his own called out trap of looking down on nature. Yes, he takes his kids out to get good and dirty all the time. But while his focus on consuming nature is more extreme than some people can probably handle, (he eats something unconventional in I'm pretty sure every chapter,) it's his flippancy with health and safety that is entirely off-putting. This is a way of looking down on nature by assuming he and his family must be invincible against "mere" nature because he himself already knows so much. His example camping trip, where he proudly explained his dedication to under-packing, was telling. He admits that he didn't prepare for the weather, which turned both drenching wet (possibly unexpected), but also dangerously cold, and at the same time seems to be sulking that his wife insisted that for the SAFETY of the family they leave their frozen mud site early. He admits early in the book that a lack of preparation led to both himself and his young son contracting Lyme's disease, (yes, to be fair, which can still get past the best preparations,) but then he turns around and talks about deliberately exposing his then three year old (while inexplicably naked for some reason????) to the force of an approaching hurricane just to show the child what it feels like.
Rinella himself mentions an approach which I really do espouse and appreciate: allowing kids to do some dangerous things cautiously. But this is for climbing on whatever tree or rock, setting a hook or hunting with safety direction from an adult, canoeing in rapids with helmet and life jacket. Rinella constantly pushes the line of what seems like appropriate caution towards outright disdain for the potential danger, without acknowledging the risks. Clearly it's working for him so far, but it feels far less inclusive and appealing to readers who are looking to books like this because they DON'T have that outdoorsy background.
That much is good.
But I've read plenty from this sub genre of non fiction, the parenting books about getting kids outside. Most have a very similar mentality, with each their own way of saying the same thing. Many find their focus in the basic idea of Wonder, something kids still naturally have plenty of, and need only an adult to pose a quick question, or answer one for the kids, to keep them in love with the natural world. (a favorite of mine was How To Raise A Wild Child, by Dr. Scott Sampson, of Dinosaur Train fame.) Rinella has included some moments of wonder provides by his children, but his own focus feels like it falls into his own called out trap of looking down on nature. Yes, he takes his kids out to get good and dirty all the time. But while his focus on consuming nature is more extreme than some people can probably handle, (he eats something unconventional in I'm pretty sure every chapter,) it's his flippancy with health and safety that is entirely off-putting. This is a way of looking down on nature by assuming he and his family must be invincible against "mere" nature because he himself already knows so much. His example camping trip, where he proudly explained his dedication to under-packing, was telling. He admits that he didn't prepare for the weather, which turned both drenching wet (possibly unexpected), but also dangerously cold, and at the same time seems to be sulking that his wife insisted that for the SAFETY of the family they leave their frozen mud site early. He admits early in the book that a lack of preparation led to both himself and his young son contracting Lyme's disease, (yes, to be fair, which can still get past the best preparations,) but then he turns around and talks about deliberately exposing his then three year old (while inexplicably naked for some reason????) to the force of an approaching hurricane just to show the child what it feels like.
Rinella himself mentions an approach which I really do espouse and appreciate: allowing kids to do some dangerous things cautiously. But this is for climbing on whatever tree or rock, setting a hook or hunting with safety direction from an adult, canoeing in rapids with helmet and life jacket. Rinella constantly pushes the line of what seems like appropriate caution towards outright disdain for the potential danger, without acknowledging the risks. Clearly it's working for him so far, but it feels far less inclusive and appealing to readers who are looking to books like this because they DON'T have that outdoorsy background.