Nutty

Holy sabre-toothed squirrel! A mom in Toronto has created a stir by asking her child's school to cut down it's four oak trees to comply with its stated goal to be a "nut free zone." No matter that there has never been a recorded death-by-acorn. Or that it is difficult to crack into an acorn in the first place,  and they are quite bitter to the taste. Or that acorns are not on any list of tree nuts causing anaphylactic shock. This anxious mother wants the trees gone. It seems to be a case of parental anxiety taken to the extreme. We all appreciate now that some children have extreme reactions to certain nuts, and other foods for that matter. But where has this come from?

The reaction online has been immense, and overwhelmingly against this strange request. One online commenter offers:

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair; and
- Maybe it was my fault..

I would add that this parent has lost her Earth Sense, an awareness that outside the bubble of hyper-vigilance this is a good world of trees and grass and streams -- all sources of both danger and wonder.

It was important for us as parents to introduce our three children to the beauty of the natural world, the world we believe God has created. We canoed together into back country where raging thunderstorms had us all scared, and we scrambled along the edge of hills where there were precipitous drops. Our son came home one day as a boy with multiple wasp stings incurred while playing with buddies in the woods. There were always risks, usually minor, weighed out against the value of learning to be active in nature. I thank God that all of them enjoy being outside as adults.

What was your reaction to this story -- you must have heard it by now? Are we losing our ability to appreciate the natural world as we create a different "reality." Should we feel some compassion for the anxious mom, or should she be banned from the "nut-free zone?"

Click and enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FihSyAikRY