Posted in General Parenting
A fellow blogger here has a post about an adventure berry picking. Take a read and my comments posted to her blog.
ManicMondayMomma brings up a good point. Too many kids spend their whole life indoors. Some kids never even know the joy of tromping through the woods, finding rocks, and getting wet.
My own childhood was filled with hikes, climbs (we're in Colorado after all) and "explores" as A. A. Milne called them in his Pooh books. It was getting out of the Jeep, climbing up some rocks and seeing what you could see. It was walking back toward the car after sunset and having the hairs of your neck raised by the scream of a mountain lion. It was breathing clean air on top of a 14er and seeing forever in every direction. It was hearing nothing but the wind through the trees, your own breathing, and the soft crunch of pine needles beneath your feet.
My relationship with my wife was born at a mountain retreat. My children should have the experience of being in nature as they grow. I'm going to take my son fishing again today. And by God's grace, he'll continue to realize that there's more to life than the games on the computer and movies on the TV. I guess it takes repeated exposures to help us all realize that homes and electricity and water at the tap are luxuries we take for granted. Additionally, we realize that we miss the experiences like standing on an outcropping over a forest of trees and feeling every breath of the breeze as the trees turn golden in the sunrise. I'm out to teach my kids how to be Wild At Heart, because home schooling doesn't just happen at home.
