Show notes
What if one of the most useful things you can give a child is a bigger comfort zone? At Earth Native Wilderness School, David Scott sees what happens when kids spend a day outdoors: getting wet, building forts, learning to use tools safely, identifying trees through games, and discovering that they can handle more than they thought.David's route here was anything but straight. As a child, he tagged along on his father's search-and-rescue calls in Colorado. As a teenager, he helped at the scene of a mountain plane crash. He went on to serve six years in the Army Military Police Corps, including a deployment to Guantanamo Bay. Then a chance movie screening during a travel delay led him to a wilderness survival school—and eventually to founding Earth Native with his wife Mikki in his hometown of Austin.Tab and David talk about childhood in a world of screens and instant answers. David worries about risks parents cannot fully see yet. Instead of stopping at screen limits, he describes experiences that make children curious and capable: a rainy day they get through, a fire they learn to tend, a game that teaches them to recognize plants before they realize they're studying anything. He calls that approach “invisible school.”The conversation also gets practical. What does age-appropriate risk look like when knives and fire are involved? How do you teach a child to try something difficult without treating them as fragile? Where does an outdoor program fit alongside public school, private school, or homeschooling? David is clear that Earth Native supplements academic education; it does not replace it. The school offers programs from forest preschool through adult survival classes, including an intensive that ends with a five-day trip using limited gear.For David, the real payoff is not the survival skill itself. It is the moment someone realizes, “I can handle this.”CHAPTERS00:00 Innate survival skills in children00:46 Meet David and Earth Native Wilderness School05:50 Growing up outdoors09:45 Search and rescue as a kid15:05 Joining the Army Military Police16:40 Working at Guantanamo Bay18:12 Thirteen days on, one day off20:20 The movie that changed his career23:05 Becoming a wilderness survival instructor27:30 Building Earth Native Wilderness School35:20 Kids, social media, and screen time39:00 What screens may be doing to children44:30 Risk, parenting, and the unknown49:00 Getting kids back outside56:30 Survival skills and self-reliance1:02:45 Homeschooling and alternative education1:06:25 Where Earth Native fits into education1:10:40 What survival training teaches adults1:16:30 Why kids need challenge1:21:00 Why kids are drawn to fire, forts, and the wildFIND DAVID SCOTTEarth Native Wilderness School: https://www.earthnativeschool.com/David's bio: https://www.earthnativeschool.com/staff-biosInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/earth_native/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@earthnativewildernessschoolBird Feathers: A Guide to North American Species: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Bird-Feathers/S-David-Scott/9780811736183SPLITTING HAIRS WITH TAB SALSMANPodcast: https://splittinghairspodcast.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tabcutshairPodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/splittinghairspod/Tab's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tabcutshair/