Since childhood I have lamented that there was no new frontier to be discovered. No new land beyond the horizon to be charted or unspoiled continent to explore. We've done a great job of spoiling and conquering and have left very few stones unturned when it comes to exploration. As a child, my favorite days were spent exploring the woods, creeks, abandoned properties, train trestles, back roads and ponds of south Georgia, always via bike. I think that I was always looking for snakes or some sort of child-sized danger. I'm thankful that my parents gave me almost total freedom to slog through swamps, trespass willy nilly, and step into a world of my own design. After a long (hot) morning of exploring you'd find me either at the library, in the cool dim stacks or at the club, playing Marco Polo in the pool or Spades around a table under the shade of an umbrella, probably drinking a grape Fanta and eating peanut butter crackers. Sometimes I'd hit tennis balls on the backboard. At the end of the day I'd roll my swim suit into my towel and pedal home with stories to tell, along a trail that I had made myself.

I'm so thankful that cell phones didn't exist and that kids weren't yet a casualty to fear and the need to schedule and achieve. I got to experience pure freedom and to do the things that sang to my soul. My parents let me be and they themselves weren't being 'influenced' to interfere with my childhood. I don't think we can even imagine that these days. 

There's no ‘moral of the story' here. I've just been pondering how lucky my generation was and how unlucky the current generation is to be raised with ever-present screens. If you love a child, make sure you keep them from screens. If you love a teen, consider giving them the gift of time. Time to unplug and explore, time to chart their own path in the proverbial woods…free of a nagging and negative world. A gap year perhaps. To me, travel and nature are the last great frontiers. Thank goodness, we all get to discover new places and cultures. We each get to discover Italy and Paris, the coast of Maine or the steep mountain trail, and we get to discover ourselves along the way. 

That's all I've got right now. If you are still thinking about a gap year for this-coming fall, you aren't alone, but we need to get busy! :) If you are thinking about next fall or spring, then let's get started. More people than ever are choosing a gap year.

UPDATE ON WHAT THE CHILD OF A GAP YEAR CONSULTANT IS DOING!

People often fear that a kid who takes a gap year might never come home. I'm here to confirm that it can happen. If you recall, middle child did three semesters abroad in Seville, Florence, and Argentina through a VERY COOL program. He fell in love with the Spanish language and, a year later, is still in Argentina. He is learning the language full-time and has great friends, an apartment and has started a language exchange with kids from all over south America. He created a plan to pay for this all himself and is more purpose-driven than he's ever been. During his gap time he has completed his freshman and sophomore year of college credits, with plans to finish. His gap year(s) opened up a new world that he never would have witnessed any other way.