As I was growing up, my friends and I spent endless hours playing in the woods and fields that surrounded our town. We had a huge park with hills, a creek, wishing well, wooded tracks and James Whitcomb Riley's old fishing hole. The park also had a wonderful old swimming pool, as well as basketball and tennis courts. Our backyard which abutted the park had an old wooden stile built to climb over the fence.

And climb we did. We went over that fence and were up and down trees like monkeys and outside from early morning to dusk.

On the other side of town near the local hospital a private citizen had built a marvelous rock garden with a tunnel and waterfall, lots of paths and plenty of places to hide. We played secret agent, pirates and versions of hide and seek in that garden for years. Even today, I can close my eyes and see the top of the cave surrounded by rocks and foliage, and hear the tinkling of the stream that ran to a small waterfall.

Several years ago, one of my high school classmates cleared away the rock garden to build a parking lot for his business. I think he was one of the few kids in our town who never played in that garden.

For family vacations we camped at state parks all over Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan. Many of my best memories are of those trips riding for hours in our old station wagon with my parents and four brothers. Waiting impatiently for the tent to be pitched and campfire lit. My dad liked to take us on night hikes and show us nature after dark. I can still feel the wonder of seeing an owl hooting in the crook of a tree and the flight of bats out of the trees into the night sky. I often think that no one could have had a better childhood than I did.

Kids today don't get these opportunities. They spend more time staring at a tv screen or playing video and computer games than laying on the grass picking out cloud designs in the sky.

During the week of September 24 to 30, parents can remedy the lack of great outdoors for kids. It is national "Take a child outside week." It is the brainchild of Liz Baird, director of school programs for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh.

She claims, "the age-old bond between youth and the natural world has been broken by video games, organized sports and activities, fear of bogeymen and lack of access to opened spaces."

That lack of doing things in the great outdoors can involve a high cost for kids. Research links a lack of outdoor activity to depression, obesity and stress in children. On the other hand, exposure to nature builds self-confidence, fuels creativity and stirs the senses.

According to the nonprofit group Playing for Keeps, unstructured play is down by half from the previous generation. Kids today have 15-28 percent less free time than the generation before. And, they spend 25 percent of that time in front of a tv or computer.

We all have busy, busy lives and little leisure time. But, if we don't teach our kids to love the trees, water, flowers and animals that abound on this earth, who will?

Take a child, grandchildren, friend or neighbor for a hike at the DePauw Nature Center or down a peoples pathway. Take a drive over to Turkey Run, Shades or McCormick's Creek state park. Give a child a chance to revel in the wonder of the woods. Do it the week of September 24 and then keep doing it. They will grow up to thank you.