A quick snapshot poem this week:
It’s not often these days that I get to take my children to a park, or to the beach, or to anywhere with wide open spaces close to nature. Their days are so heavily scheduled: school and homework and after-school activities, and even weekends are filled with commitments. It’s only on school holidays that they really get freedom and space, and even then they’re usually chaperoned, with me fussing about making sure that their sunscreen is reapplied every two hours and that they’re wearing their hats …
I’ve kept them safe, but they don’t have much freedom.
I lament that they’ve missed out on idle time in green spaces. On things like walking home in the rain, and wading through long grass, and climbing trees. We’ve taken them camping and bushwalking, and tried to inject nature into their lives, but it’s sad that we have to consciously schedule this ‘green’ time when once it was a natural part of a child’s day.
If I had my time over, it’s one thing I’d do differently—I wouldn’t schedule my kids’ lives anywhere near as much, and I don’t think they’d miss out on a thing.
This is very true Louise. I think as they get older they over-schedule their own lives too. When mine were little their father worked away quite a lot during the week so he’d make the effort to take them out to a park/beach/bike park every weekend. I would never go with them because I saw it as ‘me time’. I wish I had accompanied them more now. My time with them was spent driving to basketball/piano/dance/soccer/cricket usually in a stressed out cranky mood.
I know, I know, Pinky. We want to give them a taste of everything so they don’t miss out, but in doing so, they miss out on ‘downtime’. I must say, I have had some of the best conversations with my kids in the car, but I’ve had equally good conversations walking with them. Moving their legs seems to get their tongues going, too …
Oh, Louise, you did the best you could do and did what everyone else was doing. Don’t be so hard on yourself. I was one of the lucky kids who played outdoors every day, (hopscotch, jump rope, roller skating, ice skating, ciimbing trees, just plain running). And in the winter with snowball fights and building forts. I had a wonderful, free,green outdoor childhood. I feel sorry for the kids today with Mom and Dad hanging over them every minute. It would have embarrassed me. We didn’t have sun screen, helmuts, elbow and knee pads and I never knew a child that was seriously injured or died. I think the pendulum swung too far. But like I said you did the best you could and for that you can be proud. Your children are smart, talented and obviously well behaved. Somewhere there is a middle ground.
I know what you’re saying, Betty, and the pendulum has probably swung too far. I’ve been too much of a ‘hovering’ mum, I think, and rather overprotective, which has kept my kids safe but not allowed them a lot of freedom.
The other thing that I worry about is how out of touch with nature we are these days. We spend so much time indoors because it’s cold in winter, or too hot in summer, and the windows are shut because of the air-conditioning. I drive my kids most places because we’re so busy there’s no time to walk and they don’t get to experience the changing of the seasons like we did. Even fruit is available all year round …
Just a little lament of mine …