Today, we are told, children don't spend enough time in the fresh air. Many of them are addicted to screen on a computer or a TV—they seem to be living in a virtual world. They have lost touch with nature.

    But now 400 organizations in the UK, from playgroups to the National Health Service, are encouraging children to have some “wild time”. They want kids to swap at least 30 minutes of watching TV or playing computer games for time playing outside. Activities such as building dens, climbing trees, rummaging for conkers and playing hide and seek are just some of the things kids can do. Even if they live in a city, they can go on adventures in the garden or the park.

    Children often need a helping hand from mom and dad. They need to be shown what to do and where to go. Andy Simpson from National Health Service says, “We want parents to see what this magical wonder product does for their kids' development, independence and creativity, by giving wild time a go”.

    So despite the complicated world that young people grow up in now, it seems that going back to basics and experiencing “nature's playground” is what modern children need. David Bond from Project Wild Thing says, “We need to make more space for wild time in children's daily routine, freeing this generation of kids to have the sort of experiences that many of us took for granted”.

    This might sound a bit old fashioned to you or maybe, like me, it's made you think about sticking on your boots, getting outdoors and reliving your childhood. There is no age limit on enjoying yourself!

    situation in which they had to observe two circles on a screen.

    At first glance,price-comparison websites are an example of capitalism at its best.But it has caused fierce competition on price and eviscerated profits.Towers Watson,a consultancy,said that "unnecessary" price competition following the rise of comparison sites in Britain had cost insurers ￡1 billion a year.

    Consumers should celebrate that;the firms' losses are their gains.But there is a catch.Comparison sites introduce a new layer of costs,including their own advertising campaigns.In theory,competition in the market for comparison sites ought to keep those costs down.But David Ronayne of Warwick University argues that consumers often lose out from comparison sites.They earn a commission for each shopper who uses them for consumption such as buying insurance.That referral（委托）cost is included in the price the consumer ends up paying.If the increased costs outweigh the saving the comparison enables,consumers end up worse off.

    These worries are not just theoretical.In 2014,Britain's competition regulator found that many comparison sites were using their contracts with retailers（零售商）to ban them from offering lower prices elsewhere.That weakened rivals' incentive（对手的动机）to cut fees,because prices on their site could not fall.By keeping prices similar,the contracts also reduced the incentive for consumers to search on multiple sites,thus helping sites retain their users.

    Weaker incentives to lower commissions mean weaker incentives to lower costs,too.That might explain why comparison websites advertise so heavily,and sometimes offer free gifts to those who use them.In a recent paper,Ben Edelman of Harvard Business School and Julian Wright of the National University of Singapore argue that when a site knows that the prices merchants provide through it will always be the lowest available,it increases investment in attracting customers,safe in the knowledge that the merchants and at last consumers will bear the cost.

    Is there any way to ensure the market for price comparison is competitive?Asking consumers to check multiple websites defeats the point of using them.One solution is to have only one site,but regulate it as a public utility（功用）. Alternatively,the governments could run the site itself.But creating good search and comparison sites may be too hard for them.It is much better to acknowledge that consumers will always have to do some comparison themselves to "keep the system honest".

    Websites that compare the comparison sites can help,although it is easy to see how they could fall prey to the same problems.Any firm with captive users（被动用户）,be it a comparison site a search engine,or a social-media platform,can charge a high price for access to the eyes of its customers.For all their innovation,Internet middlemen are not unlike supermarkets.Shoppers would never imagine that a single store had the lowest price for all the items they need.

    At 27, after serving in World War II, I dreamed of owning a piece of land. So I moved from central Illinois to Shelbina, Missouri, and bought 236 acres for $6,000. The land was situated on a dirt road and was half farmland and half trees, with an old house that had no running water or electricity. Obviously, it was not what you'd call a perfect farm. But it was mine.

    I was alone for the first time in my life, and I found it liberating. My days were filled from dawn until dusk with plowing and planting corn. Dinnertime came and went, and I barely remembered to eat.

    I wouldn't say I was a great success at farming in Missouri. However, when I went to the store to buy some tools, I met a nice woman named Claudette working behind the counter. I also ran into her at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Shelbina each week. I found out later that her manager kept asking her about “that tall boy from Illinois living out in the country in an old house with no water, no electricity and no housekeeper.”

    Claudette and her sister soon visited my farm and put up some curtains. To show my appreciation, I took Claudette out for a ride in my truck. We married in 1954 and have now been together for more than 62 years!

    I later sold the Missouri farm for a $3,500 profit and bought 40 acres in Illinois. For many reasons, buying the Missouri farm was a good idea. I will always cherish memories of owning the farm and meeting my beloved.

    There are excellent reasons for anyone to seek out the optimistic. Optimists experience better health outcomes, live longer and are more satisfied with their relationships. Optimism enables people to hold on in the face of difficulty, while pessimism leaves them depressed and even expecting failure.

    I want that hopeful, optimistic outlook for my children. But many times we may feel pessimistic. The result of negativity makes me worry that my kids' future will be uncertain. Fortunately, research suggests ways to help our children grow up with an optimistic attitude and maintain a happier outlook ourselves.

    Humanity has improved by many measures, but that success has become the water in which we swim, and like fish, we take the water for granted. While we fail to notice the positive, our brains naturally emphasize on the negative. With practice, we can help our brains to give the good stuff equal weight. Dr. Hanson's advice: when you hear a great story or achieve something in your own life, deliberately rest your mind on that experience and stay with it. Sink into that feeling as it sinks into you. Describe what you're doing to your kids, and encourage them to dwell on their joys and pleasures as well.

    Following the "big scary" news can leave us feeling helpless. Find something in your area that makes you feel hopeful, and make it a part of your family life. Researchers found that when people with a pessimistic outlook use positive language to describe situations they find upsetting, their feelings about the situation become more positive. That's something we can try at home.

    Raising optimistic kids is hard because it demands that parents abandon the pessimistic perspective that's the easiest response to pessimistic times. Put your energy into making sure you and your family are a part of the world around you. That might mean simply joining and being part of local clubs that feed our natural human need for connection (not of the digital kind).

How to Start a Garden in 2024?

Gardening is a powerful outlet for creativity, enabling you to surround yourself with beauty. It can provide homegrown food for your family, keep you in touch with nature and is also an invaluable form of exercise. In short, gardening is beneficial to both body and soul. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

It all starts with good soil.

Whatever you're growing, fertile soil is the key. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. It promotes root development, supplying nutrients for plant growth.

Grow vegetables that keep on giving.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}, choose ones you can harvest more than once. Lettuce and basil are quick and easy to grow. They'll replace their leaves every time you cut them. Vegetables like these mean continuous harvests, which is huge for keeping spirits high.

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Some plants will grow tall and some will grow closer to the ground. Tall plants will shade shorter plants and prevent them getting needed sunshine. Also, give little seedlings plenty of room to stretch and grow. If they grow too close together, don't be afraid to thin seedlings.

Save money with seeds and cuttings.

Buying all of your plants from the garden center is expensive. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Reach out to friends and family who garden and ask them to share spare seeds with you. Also check to see if they have any plants you can take cuttings from. It takes longer than buying young plants, but it is definitely more satisfying and you will learn so much.

As the school year barely(刚刚) starts in Denver, French teacher Melanie is filled with worry that her students are always absent-minded. Yet, the problem isn't messaging, enjoying video games or delivering notes. Surprisingly, the problem is about the ongoing heat wave in Denver.

"Today was a little bit hot, so I noticed that kids were very sleepy and they had to get up to drink water quite often." said Melanie, who works at Denver East High School. "If you lose too much water, you have to keep going to the water fountain, which can take away from their classroom experience." While nodding off in class on a warm day may seem acceptable for average teens, Melanie's observation carries a bigger result than dry lips.

There have been quite a few media reports about teachers noticing that students were not able to focus on hotter days," said RJisung Park, a researcher. "Does a hotter climate during the school year actually affect the rate of learning?" The drop in academic achievements couldn't be explained by hotter weekends or hotter summers, but the trend was connected to higher temperatures on school days alone.

The connection between lost learning and a greater number of hot days is one more example of how climate change is already affecting our lives, and it's an alarm bell for what we stand to lose in the future.

Humans still have time to lessen the global warming. Without any important changes in the next 10 years, the globe will be trapped in heat waves that might be too much for human beings.