promote play as a means of educating our children.

Our country cares for our children but promotes the wrong type of education. We assume school and adults are the only way that children learn. We forget that appropriate social interaction, problem solving, empathy and self-control are usually best learned when first established by self directed play.
Also, as a fear driven society, accidents must be avoided at all cost. As a result adults often prevent children from climbing trees, wading in streams, or playing in the dirt without supervision. This is compounded when a kid does go out because there is no one to play with. This not only stunts children's physical, but also "psychological" immune systems. As a result depression, anxiety, suicide and narcissism are rising in our children while empathy, creativity and self-control decline.