Disclaimer: I'm not a poet, and I definitely know it.
Today I am thankful, for I grew up in nature. I am thankful for the rich experiences gained, for the lessons learned, the hardships fought. I am grateful I was raised in the constant hum or the grasshoppers, the smell of wildflowers growing untamed, the feel of dewy grass on my uncovered toes. I am thankful for the birds that have shared their songs and the creek that offered the calming melody that, in turn, took away any thoughts or worries.
Today I am also concerned, for my children growing up in a fast-paced system. Childhood is seemingly being taken for granted. Exploration is constantly being monitored and regulated by anxiety-filled adults. The hum of the natural world is often being replaced by engines zooming to get to the next destination at the fastest rate possible. Birds are competing with the sound of the modern world. Their voices are not being heard, their songs are not being learned. The streams are crying, the rives are in search of someone to care. The playgrounds are man-made and children are being pressured to stay within its concrete boundaries. I am concern that children are not given that opportunity to gain those vital experiences within the natural world.
I wrote this while in my feelings a few months back. I started reading the book A Country Called Childhood by Jay Griffiths. It opened my eyes and broke my heart at the same time. I have been aware of the system that has been trying to take over childhood. The widespread media that is seemingly build to scare parents into regulating the freedom of childhood. The standards that some old pinheads in an office decided to write to push our kids into the pressures of schoolwork and learning how to solve algebraic equations before they understand how to comfort a friend in need. The comfort of staying inside heated, technology-filled homes that give us everything we need. Except nature.
Now, like my other blogposts, I'm going to say right now that even though I'm writing this and recognizing the issue, that doesn't mean I'm not completely guilty of being an active contributor to the dilemma. Just last weekend, I was completely content with laying on the couch and cuddling with my boys while watching a marathon of the Avenger movies. Yes, we did take body breaks to go outside or to have dance parties, but I still stayed inside and in front of a screen longer than I would like to admit.
My goals for outdoor play:
Allow my children to not only play, but experience and explore the outdoors, unregulated-untamed
Living more of my own life outdoors
Encourage more of the people and families that I come in contact with to step out of the comfort zone of indoor living
Why I believe outdoor play is important:
If you do not fall in love with nature, you might not be fully equipped to help protect nature (read my Lorax blogpost for my rant on protecting the natural world)
Self-regulation, independence, basically any social-emotional skill there is out there
Health benefits - physical and mental
This past spring, I visited two nature playschools up in Duluth, MN. I fell in love. The areas that surrounded each "school" were both very different - one being on 30 acres of land behind their small indoor space that they used during the mornings to gather and infrequently throughout the day. The other was a small farm-looking area, including chickens, large tires, hammocks, and a campfire area where they each had their own log slice to sit on. It was a smaller outdoor area than the 30-acres, but the teachers told us that they are right next to the state trail and they utilize that daily to allow the children to explore. I could go on and on about both of these organizations and the lovely things that I witnessed but I'll try to keep it short and to the point.
Those children were some of the happiest and caring kids I've ever seen. Now I'm not saying that if your child is inside that they are tainted with evil and there is no help for them besides throwing them into the outdoors, but I'm just telling you what I've observed since I've been in a lot of standard indoor classrooms. In the 30-acre "classroom" there was a trail that the children were allowed to explore, while they walked the trail they had markers that they knew to stop at. This is one example of still having regulations, but each child was able to go at their own pace. If someone wanted to run ahead, they were able to. If another child wanted to snail-crawl and pick up every leaf along the way, they were able to do so. I noticed that these children that were ahead and wanted to go faster were not irritated with having to wait, because they were able to preoccupy themselves at the stopping point, whether it was looking under the closest rock, or keeping the other children honest about moving past the marker.
They know how to keep themselves busy in nature.
I feel like this is one skill that has been lost in all of the fast-paced, man-made entertainment filled world of today. Children (or adults) are not allowed to be bored. They are always kept busy and that in itself can become detrimental to creativity and imagination.
Another experience that I think of within the last few years that allowed me to reflect on the person that I am or that I have become was attending Northland College (here she goes again with another liberal-arts-hippy-dippy reference). Yes, here I go. Why? Because I met some of the most amazing people at that college and even though we all came from way different backgrounds and probably had extremely different interests, when we were all outside playing Oh Deer! or running around campus pretending to be salmon trying to survive the seasons - none of that mattered. No one was thinking about what Brittany said to Ashley yesterday or who's DMs James was trying to slide into on the low. **Because we were in nature, we were having fun, and we were together. Even at the ages of 19-27 (roughly, not including the really non-tradish students) and it being winter weather in Northern Wisco, we had fun. For that hour, we weren't college students, we weren't concerned with midterms or what we had going on that weekend - we were salmon trying to brave the harsh elements in the name of survival.
My time at Northland had also given me the opportunity to experience daily activities in a whole new way (*insert Jasmine singing A Whole New World from Aladdin here*). One early spring afternoon, my Outdoor Ed class was canceled. I was already in Ashland and some of my classmates decided to hike Houghton Falls. I have hiked that mile-long trail multiple times, but I will tell you - none of those hikes lasted as long as the one with my fellow Northlanders. They were into Outdoor Education and I'm not kidding when I say that they were stopping to identify and have a discussion on essentially every plant along the way, completely mesmerized with each one. I loved it. They were like children soaking up the adventure and not just worried about getting to the destination and getting back. I have consciously made more walks (especially with my children) this way because of those wonderful people and how they made me realize that hikes are not just about from getting here to there but how to appreciate what is along the path as I go.
Whether it be kayaking, camping, hiking, biking, or just simply being outside playing in the woods, I hope to give my children more experiences in nature so that they can grow up in love with the world around them.
Now the goal of this post is not to shame parents or even to preach. I believe it's an opportunity to self-reflect and continue to grow as not only a parent or a guardian, but as a human being. At this point, I could discuss all of my experiences as a child that grew up in the outdoors and how it has affected my thoughts and morals, but I think I covered what I needed to in my not-so-poem up top.
Now it's time for self-reflection, I want you to ask yourself these questions and if you would like to continue this discussion, shoot me a message/email/phone call - or I'm always 1000% down for a conversation with some coffee:
What are your favorite memories of childhood play (specifically do they take place indoors or outdoors)?
What lessons did you learn from any of those types of play?
Do your own children (or children around you) play that way?
Do you want to encourage more nature-based play around you or just relearn how to experience yourself?
Some of my favorite memories over the last few years.