Response to Leshy
That is such a good point too. It really doesn't need us to go far to be in the green world.
My two were trailed from one end of the country to the other. It's a beautiful world out there, it's their world, they ought to be part of it
I'm lucky, I have both a garden and the woodlands right outside it, but even just children walking to school and seeing the changing seasons is a connection.
Ever watched a baby in a pram (or in a carrier on an adult) under trees ? the baby is incredibly calm and big eyed and contentedly fascinated watching the leaves move. They fall asleep so peacefully there too.
I worked a Summer with a mixed group of able/less physically able children. We built dens, lit fires, cooked lunch, made things from willow, clay, etc.,
We all went home filthy, happy, beautifully tired out
(adults too!) We lifted one little boy, (he'd never walk or talk, but a happy natured child) out of his wheelchair and laid him with his 'friend' inside one of the willow dens we'd built. The children had threaded through everything from rushes and grasses to dockens and daisies into the rods to create low walls. The inside was shady in the heat, but fresh, green smelling, and quite lovely.
His Mum was in tears later when she thanked us. He'd never had something like that before, never even lain on the grass before. He smiled all that day, slept right through the night, and was awake and obviously determined he was going back the next. Another child walked in callipers so determined that he wouldn't sit in his wheelchair to get to the site. It took him three times as long, and two adults holding his hands the entire time, but he did it. His Mum said he was exhausted, but he loved those few weeks, that it did more for him than all the physiotherapy and specialist tutors in helping him be just a little boy playing outdoors.
We only tried to give the boys, and the others, the same experience we were trying to give all of the children, and we hadn't realised that it was something so very special. All of the children had a great Summer
and as an adult who had never worked with children with such challenging issues before, I found it both incredibly rewarding and heartening. We learned things and ways of showing and teaching that we would never, ever have thought of.
How do you describe a yellow dye to a blind child ? (we dyed wool and made felt with them too)….the colour is how the Sun feels
I think denying ourselves contact with the natural world is unhealthy…..even on days when I ache and the computer's siren call of beep/new mail is echoing
M
