I have been trying to increase the time the kids spend outdoors for a long time now. In the spring and fall it is pretty easy if I think to kick them out, but in Summer and Winter I find it very hard.
Around here it is still Summer, so getting them to stay outdoors without a pool is pretty hard.
Most days sending them outside is met with initial enthusiasm then they walk out the door and remember how hot it is. after 5 minutes they whine to come in, and after 10 then look soaked with sweat and I give in and let them in.
I try for early morning or late evening, and they get plenty of bug bites in return.
Sigh, I really can't win.
A few weeks ago I decided to try and make it to the park one day a week. Our local park is rather heavily shaded and not to terrible on the bug front (especially if you are not there at sun up or sun down) I avoided learning when the local homeschool park days were because I wanted my kids to actually spend a bit of time in nature, rather than with friends. Nothing against friends; love having them over. Just that isn't the goal.
So today was yet another attempt. We actually made it outside about 9:30. After a short stint at the swings we spent some time at the pond, which is the least shady part of the park. We sweltered for a few minutes looking across the pond and learning about the measuring poles stuck in their to keep track of the depth. We saw one squirrel, no pond dwellers. Then we took a shady walk, we saw a dog on a leash. Friendly black thing.
Did I mention this nature thing is way harder than just sending kids outside?
I think we learned more about the locations of trash cans at the park than anything really nature related. While the paths were cleaner than many other trips, they still held plenty of wrappers, cans and bottles that needed picked up.
I think my children are destined to spend their lives only knowing nature from books and cages :(.
No comments:
Post a Comment