So, how do we do that? Lets take a few lessons from my childhood and maybe yours too. I grew up playing outside a lot. Though I grew up in an urban environment, I was still encouraged to be outdoors with my friends in the sunshine, playing stick ball, building forts (read old table cloths with holes as windows over old card tables or forts made of refrigerator boxes) and flying on our magic carpets (read old blanket or old carpet remnants) long before anyone knew this Aladdin guy!. My family also went on camping trips and to local beaches when we could. But I didn’t think of myself as an “outdoor kid” at the time. It was just my childhood, it was what we did. Does any of this sound familiar? Maybe you have your own memories of just being outdoors, using the little things to create adventures and spark your imagination. What can those memories offer to you or your children now? How can they help you focus on embracing nature?
Once marriage and children came into the picture, I was very focused on how to continue to embrace being outside. As a couple, we weren’t going to stop being in nature, or stop having adventures, just because we have a child. To be fair, we made a conscious choice as a couple. We knew the benefits, from reading and our own life experiences, of going on great explorations and we wanted our child to have those benefits as well.
Over the years I see that my son, and some of his friends, have learned to be comfortable with nature because they’ve had so much practice. Even now they walk together at the “bay” and scale the rocks along the shore or tackle a downed tree until they can balance on it seemingly endlessly. They really treat nature as their playground and look for chances to be outdoors and just do things together. They seem to be able to see something in nature and turn it into whatever they want. Believe me, we encouraged it and provided the opportunities for it to thrive over the years. And, if your kids are not there yet, fear not as you can encourage it too! If you see a grouping of rocks in the park, maybe its about saying “Doesn’t that rock look like a…” and fill in the blank. Or, “don’t those monkey bars remind you of the space ship we saw at…” Once you start this you’ll realize just how good children are at discovering things. When you are out in nature, the number of possibilities for imagination are endless and the benefits to the health of our mind, body, and emotions bountiful.