Lori, John, Christy, and Michelle Cranford came up today to help get ready for the Foraging Walk. They completely kicked butt, we are about 90% ready for folks to come hang out and enjoy the farm next weekend.
Scot and Brenda came over to scope things out and get a feel for the place. I can't believe they had never been here before!
As we were walking and talking, I was remembering a book I read this year, "The Last Child In The Woods, Saving Our Children From Nature Deficit Disorder" by Richard Louv.
Louv posits that adults who care about the environment were invariably children who built tree houses. The idea is that children who created houses in the woods truly had the freedom to enjoy nature in an unstructured, non regulated way. Wow! He also says that fear has played into the sequestering of our children with TV and electronics.
Raising my own young'uns, when they would get grouchy or start bickering, I would send them outside. Instant cure. I'm not sure you can still send kids outside. Seems like their worlds are pretty wrapped up in their phones and tablets and such. Plus... I'm not sure that would even be considered good parenting, or even adequate parenting.
We've had septic tank issues this winter and spring. My children got it fixed for me as a Mother's Day gift !
It has killed me for Caius and Theodore not to be able to play freely in the yard here. When you're two, climbing and running and jumping and falling and getting up and doing it all over again are the most important things, you know !
It struck me today that I would really love to give "wild" to children. Not camp. Not classes. Not structure.
The wild that happens when someone says "you young'uns get out from underfoot and go outside and play" and you have to go use your imagination to amuse yourself.
I want to just be the Mamaw sitting on the porch snapping beans and watching kids discover the world. How do you get that ? Are those times gone for good?
I sure hope not. I hope we will see a pendulum swing as we begin to realize that screen time does not a healthy child make.
Anyway... y'all come out next Saturday and bring the kids. Let's all take an opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors.