A natured childhood
How lucky were we to be born in the 50’s? Growing up in a more innocent world that was less complicated, had less distractions (I remember boredom well!) and for many of us, with easy access to nature. I should add that I had a privileged upbringing – my playgrounds being our acreage tropical garden, white sandy beaches, and weekends in our shack on a river delta, without electricity. Here we swam all day and lived by the setting and rising sun, listening to the sounds of the surrounding African village – the lapping of water as a dug-out canoe paddled by, a crying baby, bleating goats, sporadic laughter. During festivals we slept at night to the sound of a dozen distant drums.
My grandchild lives in a very different world than the one I grew up in. Access to nature is more limited – with development comes bigger cities, apartment living, car domination and the convenience of absolutely everything at our fingertips, including very sophisticated and seductive technology on handy devices.
Give your grandchildren the gift of your own nature-infused childhood experiences.
Share the gift of nature
I realised it’s going to take commitment to give my grandchild a taste of my natured childhood and I have taken Richard Louv’s advice in ‘The Nature Principle’ to heart:
“Or better yet, time for aging boomers to take children for a walk. Our generation still remembers a time when it was considered normal for children to get their hands muddy and feet wet, to lie in the grass and watch the clouds move. There’s no better form of green exercise than passing along to the next generation the gifts of nature that we received”.
What you will also learn from Louv’s insightful book is the wonderful anti-aging and health benefits of spending time in nature. That’s a win-win for you and your off-spring! As a grandparent I also have more free time than I did as a parent. And so I put a weekly morning aside to go into nature with my toddler grand-daughter. Last time, as we returned to the car she said, “That was a lovely adventure!”. Creating precious memories.
Boomer grandparents, this is a call to arms! Give your grandchildren the gift of your own nature-infused childhood experiences. Make your time with them their future memories of being wild and free and cradled in the natural world.
In a bushland park, at the beach, clean river, farm or wilderness…
For a morning, a day or whole weekends…
Regularly…
Can you commit to that?
