Day in the life of a naturalist's child

Rachel Carson once wrote. "For the child. . . it is not half so important to know as to feel. If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow. The years of early childhood are the time to prepare the soil. Once the emotions have been aroused - a sense of the beautiful, the excitement of the new and the unknown, a feeling of sympathy, pity, admiration or love - then we wish for knowledge about the object of our emotional response . . . It is more important to pave the way for a child to want to know than to put him on a diet of facts that he is not ready to assimilate."

I have always aimed to help foster nature connection in my children. There are many reasons why I value nature connection and time spent outdoors. I could write endlessly about this topic but that is for many more blog posts to come. Today I thought I'd like to just share a glimps into an average day here with my children and how rich with nature their lives are.

I often ask myself, what am I attached to here in Western Brisbane? This is a way I can help myself to connect better with nature. I am obviously connected with family and friends here but what else? What about the seasons, the trees, the animals, the landscape, the weather? What gives me a sense of connection to this piece of land I call my home? Only a few years ago, there was not many nature related attachments on my list. Today I have many on that list. Each day I try to help forster these attachments in my children too.

My daughters bedroom window overlooks our pond. We have wire mesh over the pond for safety reasons but it means she can get right up on top of the pond to look. Each night she falls alseep to the different frog calls that come from the pond. I often tell her bedtime stories which I make up about the various animals that live outside her bedroom window at night. Going outside to look in the pond is something she does as soon as she wakes up most days. She is still in PJ's inspecting the pond in this photo.

I have many identification books about the house. They are always out on the table, as I use them each day. I often see the kids flipping through them, looking at pictures, asking me what is that called etc. The first book my daughter starting to bring to me to read, was about ocean animals. It's a hard paged book, with few and simple words but clear photos of whales, seals, sharks and dolphins. I was really surprised to notice that this same book is my sons most loved book also.

It's a daily ritual to find the Tawny Frogmouths roosting about our yard. We have slowly learnt that they favour the Ironbark and Acacia trees. Perhaps because their plumage is most like these trees, they are well camouflaged. They also tend to roost midway down the tree, rather than high in the canopy. Sometimes my daughter gets a thrill to open her blind of a morning and see they have roosted in the Box Bark, which is right outside her window. I'm sure they get a thrill too. We find ourselves always counting them, looking for the three. Lately we are more likely to see two and I wonder if the baby Frogmouth is starting to roost alone occasionally. I also wonder if they are counting us.

During Bush Kindy last year (something I will also blog about), I made up weather charts for the children to take home. It's not something my children use daily, however I like to draw their attention to it occasionally. Brisbane was recently in flood again and we had some severe weather at our house. So the children picked out storm pictures, which was a change from the endless good weather we generally have.

Most days there are drawings and paintings created in our house. Nature is all through my daughters art. Lately there has been a lot of sea animals and she has been asking to visit Underwater World again.

We have spotted Ornate Burrowing Frogs in our pond a lot lately. They are not at all timid but are quite ok with my daughter picking them up. I always encourage my children to handle wildlife. We talk about how to best hold them and how it must feel for that animal. My son is never as keen to hold wildlife but he loves to look while I hold.

Most weeks we walk down the road to the local creek. We pack our bags and head out even in the rain. Due to the severe weather we had this past week, the creek had risen and flooded much of the park. My daughter found this Great Barred Frog, which had a broken leg. We've talked about how animals die and go back into the earth, so she knew to place it somewhere gently and wish it well.

When children become connected to nature, we can expect that a loss of a part of that connection will bring sadness. A favoured part of visiting the local creek, is to build a fairy cove between these Acacia trees. These five trees grew in a circle and at the base, we would build a cove for the fairies to visit. My daughter would leave flowers, moss, special stones etc. During the recent storms all five trees uprooted. She was very sad and stood by the trees for quite some time contemplating the loss. It may seem insignificant compared to the devastating loss the greater flood caused but to a child these special places bring them a sense of belonging. The loss of a special place and how she learns to deal with that loss are important learning processors in a child's life.

 

 

Then new ways of loving and enjoying that special place are discovered. The loss doesn't seem as great. Perhaps a new fairy cove can be discovered elsewhere and a new connection made.

A trip to the creek is never complete, unless we kick off the shoes and wade through the water and puddles. I often initiate jumping like a frog, hunting like a heron or drinking from the edge like a fox.

There are always discoveries in the creek and nearby puddles. This week we have brought home many tadpoles from the puddles that are drying up. We have them in a tank and I'm as excited as the children to eventually see what species they become.

I found this baby Bearded Dragon while I was gardening this week. We were all delighted to hold it and have a good look. I always encourage my children to have a close look and hold wildlife if they would like to. As we look we ask many questions, which prime our curiosities. What would this little fello eat? Wonder why he has long toes? How old do we think it is? What size will it grow to? Wonder if something would eat it? If my children hold an animal, they will learn how timid it is, how quick it moves, how rough it is, how light it is or whatever it is about that animal they notice. They will remember the delight and joy they felt and create a connection to it.  Environmental education cannot come from books, it comes from real connect with nature. Children learn and experience and love by doing, therefore I always encourage a closer look.