Keep childhood wild

Recently, outdoor childhood programs across Colorado have found themselves under increasing scrutiny. Programs where children spend their days hiking trails, learning the phases of the moon, identifying plants and animals, building resilience in changing weather, and developing a relationship with the natural world are being treated as though they represent a threat.

Many parents see something very different.

A generation ago, childhood was largely lived outdoors. Creeks became classrooms. Trees became playgrounds. Seasons became teachers. Children developed confidence not because every risk was removed, but because they learned how to navigate the world around them.

Today, many families are working to reclaim what has been lost.

Colorado is uniquely positioned to support outdoor childhood. Nature-based programs allow children to learn astronomy by watching the moon, ecology by standing beside a creek, and botany by touching the plants around them. They come home curious, confident, and alive.

Yet some of these programs have faced complaints simply because children were outdoors in winter.

Not because children were harmed. Not because parents were uninformed. Simply because they were outside.

The science tells a different story. Research published in Pediatrics found that time in nature is associated with improved physical health, mental health, cognitive development, and overall well-being. The American Academy of Pediatrics similarly recognizes outdoor play as essential to healthy childhood development.

Children do not need less nature. They need more.

They need mud on their boots, snow on their sleeves, and dirt beneath their fingernails. They need opportunities to explore, build confidence, and learn that discomfort is often the pathway to growth.

Allow parents to parent. Allow children to explore.

Allow mentors to mentor and stewards to steward.

Allow nature to do what it has always done—teach.

Hannah Nicholson

Colorado Springs

Putting the Waldo fire to rest

To the person who started the Waldo Canyon fire:

Please turn yourself in. Call the Colorado Springs Police Department right now at (719) 444–7000. Tell the truth about what you did. Then ask all the people you hurt to forgive you. Talk to these people. You will find grace and forgiveness. A heavyweight will be lifted from you. Spend the rest of your life making up for the mistake you made. You might find something else in the process: friendship.

You took so much from so many people. Two people died because of the fire you started. Many more people died in the months after the fire because of the stress, shock and grief related to it. You took valuable things from so many people. This includes the only recording my wife had of her dad’s voice. You took Hospital Bear—my daughter’s favorite stuffed animal. So many of the valuable things you took can seem like nothing, but they were important and valuable.

You have the chance to give something valuable back to us. Tell us your story— how you started the fire, how you felt as it spread, what the fire has taken from you. Give us details about this thing that caused us so much pain.

The community stepped up in so many ways to help us recover. I’m a better man, a better dad, and a better member of the Colorado Springs community because of the many ways family and friends loved me and my family as we recovered from the fire. Dozens and dozens and dozens of strangers blessed us tremendously. We have a much better home today than we had on the morning of June 26, 2012. Thank you, sincerely.

I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to holler at you or lash out at you. It’s time for all of us to put this behind us—you, me, and everyone else. Would you please take a risk and turn yourself in? You have power here. Please use it wisely.

To everyone who was affected by the Waldo Canyon fire, please pray for the person who started it. Forgive him in your heart right now.

I have something else to say to you, and this is harder: Have you ever done something that hurt someone? Would you please confess this to them, ask them to forgive you and do whatever you can to set it right? Write your own letter to the people who hurt you or the person you hurt. Doing this could help you forgive and even bless the person who started the Waldo Canyon fire. Our country and our world need us to admit what we’ve done wrong, receive forgiveness, and act to set things right.

I would love to hear from all of you, to talk to you, hear your story, cry and laugh. Please email me: JimRottenborn@gmail.com.

Jim Rottenborn

Colorado Springs

Priced out of survival

I am a Colorado senior living on a fixed income, and I am absolutely outraged. This year, my Medicare Supplemental insurance premium jumped from $127 to $189 a month. That is a brutal 28.57% increase in a single year. If this rate compounding continues, my monthly premium will skyrocket to over $664 in just five years.

How can senior citizens survive when everyday necessities like groceries and gas already feel like heaping coal on an active fire?

The answer is corporate greed. My plan’s ultimate parent conglomerate CVS Health pulled in a historic $402.1 billion in adjusted operating income. Meanwhile, its CVS Caremark segment generated $190 billion in revenue, yielding $7.2 billion in operating income.

While seniors are forced to choose between medication and groceries, CVS Health CEO David Joyner received a $21.2 million compensation package — a massive 18% increase over the previous year. Aetna President Steve Nelson enjoys a $1 miilion in stock options.

Our corporate-run healthcare system is pricing vulnerable retirees out of survival. I have written to Colorado Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway and our U.S. Senators, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper. we need our regulatory champions to audit these insurance filings, demand accountability, and cap these hikes before Colorado seniors are completely priced out of healthcare.

Marjorie Valin

Colorado Springs