One of the issues that I bump up against frequently in my program is the problem with liability. I wasn’t kidding earlier when I said that we have large boulders on one of our playgrounds that the children are not allowed to go near, much less climb on. Nature and natural features are something that is often seen as a danger. Victoria, you may know who Johanna Booth-Miner is? She directs a school located a ways up in New Hampshire that is very nature based, and she is fond of saying Keep children as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible. She is quite the advocate for getting kids out in nature and learning how to take appropriate risks. But while my program may support this idea in principle, there is a much different mindset when it comes to practice. Here’s an example: all of our preschool classrooms will be going on a field trip to a farm within the next month, where they have tapped a maple tree and will offer a taste of the sap to each child. We have had to get a signed permission form for each child that clearly states whether or not the child can taste the sap. Not syrup; sap. When challenged, our director shrugs and says it’s necessary in these times. I think about taking my class on a trip to walk in a forest area, where the children would be encouraged to get off the designated pathways and go look at nature up close, and I think, What if something happens? What if they go to turn over a log and a swarm of bees flies out and… or a frightened chipmunk attacks? I never used to think this way! I was the last teacher to succumb to the dictate that nobody goes on the rocks on the playground. I had my kids climbing on those rocks (under my supervision, of course) while other teachers shook their heads and murmured how I was going to get in trouble. I miss the good old days when nature was a friend!!