Tucked away beside our favorite park is a little field surrounded by tall grass, black raspberry bushes, and, much to the delight of my children, a maze of nature trails blazed by some overzealous parks and rec employee on a riding mower.Our intentions in crossing that field were to check the status of the raspberries. Finding them not quite ripe for the picking, Abby meandered toward the trail, calling it a "tree tunnel" and forging ahead with her adventurous little brother following close behind. We walked for close to an hour, turning whichever way the kids wanted when the trail forked, ducking under branches, and making up names for all the funny looking bugs and plants we saw.
Caleb insisted on stopping every few feet to pick up a new stick, turning to me each time for approval. "Stick!" he would announce excitedly. "Stick! Stick!" Yup, that's a stick, I'd assure him, and we'd hurry on to catch up with his sister.
At one point Abby stopped in the middle of the trail and turned to ask a very important question: "Did God make these trees, Mommy?"
"He sure did," I replied. "Can you find some other things God made?"
She paused again and looked around. "God made those clouds?" I nodded. "God made this bug?" I nodded again. Her confidence sufficiently built up, her questions turned to assertions as she shared what she was discovering with her walking buddy.
"God made this grass, Caleb." He pointed to a flower. "Yep, God made that flower, Caleb." And so it went for the remainder of our walk, Caleb pointing, Abby teaching him in her two-year-old way about our Creator.
We finally found our way back to the park. We were hot, thirsty, sweaty, and I, for one, was greatly encouraged. I see plenty of nature walks in our future.
I think Charlotte would be ever so proud of you!
ReplyDelete"It would be well if we all persons in authority, parents and all who act for parents, could make up our minds that there is no sort of knowledge to be got in these early years so valuable to children as that which they get for themselves of the world they live in. Let them once get touch with Nature, and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life. We were all meant to be naturalists, each in his degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things."
Charlotte Mason
(Vol 1, II, Out-Of-Door Life For The Children, p.61)