I am seven years old sitting at the edge of the small fish pond that is snuggled up against the slope of the side yard. I'm staring intently at a small toad that sits flat and stationary upon a dark green lily pad, urging it to move with my mind.

10 minutes earlier the toad had been my pet, captive, inside of a faded blue Rubbermaid storage container until I noticed he had stopped moving and felt hard to the touch. The sun had dried him up. I rushed him to the pond as fast as I could, failing to understand that toads do not live in the water or particularly enjoy hanging out on lily pads. But I doused him with algae skinned water anyway and waited.

He still hadn't moved, whether from actual dehydration or the fear of being placed on a floating leaf in the middle of the pond, I'll never know, but the guilt was spinning in my stomach. I decided to do the only thing I thought could save his life. I'd seen it done on TV; how hard could it be? I picked him up and promptly inserted his head into my mouth and attempted to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on his bumpy toad face.

After a few seconds, I took him out and placed him back on the lily pad.Then he hopped away.

At least, that's how I remember it. At the time, I was convinced that my mouth-to-mouth skills had saved that toad's life, but in reality he was probably just happy to be alive.

At this point, you're probably asking yourself why you're reading about a weird girl who put a toad in her mouth. Well, I'm sharing this story because spending my childhood letting tree frogs hang off of my glasses, searching for crayfish in shallow creeks and collecting woolly bear caterpillars in Altoids tins made me the person I am today. Nature - animals, trees, and dirt - taught me about the importance and fragility of life and the way in which all things are connected. It worries me that children today may be foregoing opportunities for learning and experience by staying inside and watching television or playing video games.

Don't get me wrong, I am as much a Netflix aficionado as the next person and I don't spend enough time appreciating nature anymore. It gets hard to find the time to take walks through the woods or lift up rocks to look for salamanders when you're an adult going to school full-time or working. That is why it is so essential for our children to be able to have these experiences and enjoy them while they have the opportunity.

We all know how much the earth is struggling right now. It's become pretty hard to ignore all of the damage humans have done and are doing to it. We need to make sure that nature is still available to future generations. By encouraging children growing up now to play outside, we are cultivating an appreciation for nature that will blossom into if not environmental activism, at least ecological awareness.

According to Jon Henley, a writer for "The Guardian," in a 2010 article, "64% of kids today, you played outside less than once a week, or were one of the 28% who haven't been on a country walk in the last year, the 21% who've never been to a farm and the 20% who have never once climbed a tree." These statistics worry me because they illustrate a growing distance between children and nature that will transform into an even greater distance between adults and the environment.

Part of the reason for this disconnect from nature is the growing prevalence of television, video games and the internet. Not being bored used to mean spending time outdoors searching for various activities to pass the time. Now, entertainment comes easily in the form of electronic devices that are always handy inside the home.

This can be easily avoided by simply encouraging your children to spend time outdoors and leave the electronics behind; however, Henley provides us with statistics on yet another issue, "The distance our kids stray from home on their own has shrunk by 90% since the 70s; 43% of adults think a child shouldn't play outdoors unsupervised until the age of 14." There is no doubt that times have changed, whether it be from an actual increase in crime or growing parental fears. I was lucky to grow up on a private road with acres of land to roam in. Other kids don't have that opportunity, but, let's face it, isn't giving your son or daughter the opportunity to learn something hands-on from nature worth spending a few hours outside with them a day? If you don't have the land available to you, there are plenty of parks available. You might even learn something yourself.

Now, I'm not telling you to let your kid put a toad in his/her mouth (although, I turned out okay), but it is very important that we don't unintentionally deny the right of children to experience nature by letting them ignore all of its opportunities.