 What is it that we value and want to pass on to our children? What lasting impressions from childhood do we want our children to carry forth within their hearts and minds as they grow and change? What is worthwhile sharing with our children?
These are questions I first asked myself as a young parent, and later as a teacher, along with the hundreds more that surfaced as I began to understand and appreciate the scope of nurturing and educating children.
One keeps tugging at me. I want children to experience nature's beauties; to stay connected to the outdoors as places of awe, wonder and magic - places where they can explore, discover and experience beauty, inspiration and peace. I want children to have an ongoing relationship with the natural world as a friend, ally, and hopefully, steward.
Every day at our school we play and learn in the middle of a redwood forest where hawks circle and perch in treetops and deer roam freely. I take my students hiking in all kinds of weather as an integral part of our time together. I want them to know that those prickly thistles we avoid touching can easily be made into a healthy soup; and that the special acorns we find, play with and turn into a thousand different art projects, are exquisite representations of the power and affirmation of the blueprint in each of us to grow into Ourselves.
 So we go outside together. We touch the smooth madrone bark and hug the largest oaks we can find. We listen to the wind make different sounds through different kind of leaves.
The seasons have their own beauties to share and lessons to teach as we notice which trees stay green and which lose their leaves. They see the interdependence we have with nature as the foods we plant are picked and eaten - corn in fall, squash in winter, raspberries in summer. They learn about the cycles of the year and their place in that seasonal turning. We learn the difference between tan oaks and scrub oaks and the names of wild grasses growing around us. Just being in nature sparks our creative imaginations and leads to inner and outer discoveries.
 Children must test their youthful strength through swinging, climbing, running, digging and gathering, even as they head outdoors to sketch and write, to catch pollywogs, observe newts and learn the difference between deer and raccoon prints.
Nowhere else is there such evidence of magic and mystery as in those precious and tender, and oh, so fleeting years when we share nature revealed in all her myriad forms. We learn how to be still and quiet, how to listen and appreciate the much larger world of which we are an integral part. It is this connection I hope to inspire in each of the children passing through my arms.
We feel our place in the Grand Scheme of things, however humble, as we gaze into night sky after night sky through the years. We make friends with tiny creatures and move them from harm's way when we discover them on country roads and forest paths. A deep love is born that remains alive and vital from having given ourselves the gift of opening our hearts to the unknown and to the awe and beauty that nature offers at every step. All we need to do is go outside.
Sarojani Rohan, mother of Dov ("01), co-founded Mount Madonna School's Preschool/Kindergarten program with husband Premdas Rohan in 1981. Program Director since 1995, she also continues to teach in the classroom. |
Blogs
|
RSS
This is such a great time of year for going outdoors, although this can be said for most days in our lovely climate. Being outside lifts our spirits and rewards us for working hard in school, jobs and the house. Given a choice, I'll take beaches and given a choice, my daughter chooses mountains. Fortunately 
