Step Out of the Vice and into a More Peaceful Self
Step out of the vice and observe the miracle of the monarch migration.
Garden encounters are the best way to get a child out of doors and away from the black screens that dominate their modern lives. Take “It” to the garden: getting your kids to step outside is much easier than you think.
You can take anything to the garden, whether it be the weight of the day or the joys. And once you step outside and take a closer look the world just changes. Perspectives lift to a higher level. Life just becomes lighter.
It’s a known fact that if you get a kid to step outside and take a closer look, whether it be in a garden or any natural space, stress hormones decrease, and they find clarity with themselves and the world. As a parent or caregiver, chances are yours might too.
Children are more likely to show empathy for those around them if they are able to take a closer look, whether it be in recognizing the inherent abilities of a specific type of bee, or the structure of a leaf or flower. Perhaps they can better recognize gifts unique to each human being.
A tree, plant, flower, bug does not have anything negative to say, no opinions. It just is in all its glory. And they are all something to marvel at – parallel to that miracle which is a child. To step outdoors into the garden is to experience the wonder of existence.
When you place a child in a garden they breathe, grow, and express curiosity right alongside that which is miraculous – side by side developing the way nature intended. They learn to live amongst diversity and adversity as witness and through experience.
With all of the electronic distractions and types of black screens at our fingertips these days, making a garden readily available to children is something adults have to initiate.
When given the option of a square of green turf or the dopamine hits that come from an i-Pad, you know which one will win. But if you plant that same space with natural diversity: native flowers, herbs, vegetables, allow the real world to come (and oh, it will come! birds, insects, etc.), then point out all those new variables to the child, joining them in their experience, eventually that black screen will become less interesting. Less engaging.
The lights from a black screen will fade as they become less refreshing than discovering a “baby ladybug.” Or seeing a daddy cardinal offer seed to its scrappy fledgling at the bird feeder. Or watching a song sparrow splash about as it bathes itself in a small pool offered, feathers all a-poof. Learning how to identify butterfly eggs on your host plants. Then witnessing those caterpillars grow. And their metamorphosis!
And then you can have conversations about what you see and do. Incorporate STEM topics into it, like the capillary action of a plant, or how a bird flaps its wings. The structure of a bird feather. With the natural world, the possibilities are endless, and you can only make more connections with your child that will last a lifetime.
So get those kids into the garden. Get them to take those first steps outside and take that closer look.
Step out of the vice and observe the miracle of the monarch migration.
For our family, fall in Texas means returning monarchs and seed head harvests with the kids. Its the time of year when life reawakens. It is also a time of planting for monarch’s return.
Dear little butterfly, thank you for sharing your life’s journey with my children.
With the start of the school year and all the birthdays we celebrate in class, I was brainstorming an alternative to unnecessarily sweet, and allergy-risky treats in the classroom. What could be a fun activity for students and leave a lasting impact on their generation (and the school itself)?
I was just driving my eldest home from ballet class yesterday evening when we passed a large patch of these on the roadside, and I wondered to myself, is this native? Oh how badly I wanted to just pull over (on this road with barely a shoulder) and snap a photo to ID it.
“I don’t know if people realize how important it is for people like me to be able to learn how to live in the world again, because trees are forgiving. The grass doesn’t judge you. The grass doesn’t care how squirrelly you seem to be that day. It doesn’t care. When I first started this, I’m like, oh, come on, seriously? Going outside is going to help what, really? But, amazingly so, it does help.” – Vercincia Vinzant as interviewed by Cat Wise for the PBS News Hour
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