When I Was a Kid

Today's post is written by our Executive Director, Jason Meyer. He writes from a parent's perspective about the importance of children developing a sense of wonder by spending time in nature.

When I was a kid, I rode the bus to school. I didn’t walk five miles uphill both ways in three feet of snow…bare foot. And no matter what my Dad told me, I don’t really believe he did either. He usually told me this as he was pointing out some lesson I had just learned about how hard life was.  And last night, as I was helping one of my own children learn about life, I actually caught myself saying, “When I was a kid, I walked to school….”

And in saying that, I learned another valuable lesson from Dad. No matter how much I try not to, I find myself becoming more and more like him on a daily basis. I haven’t gone as far as chaining the trailer to the gas meter so nobody would steal it and then driving off, but I’ve come to realize that somehow someway I will wreak havoc of that magnitude unintentionally, too. In spending about half of my life with the man, I learned that saying “I’ll never be like that,” only makes it more likely to happen.

While I cruise through life (just waiting for the day that the gas meter drags along behind me), I can’t help but think about what my kids are learning from me. My wife and I have made some pretty deliberate decisions to “bring them up right” – like choosing to live out in the country where the type of education that our children receive will include things like where the wood for our stove that heats the house comes from or why the tadpoles they put in the wading pool with all of that mud didn’t survive the winter. 

For an outdoorsman, though, I find myself overly worried about the kids when they are outside. “Don’t climb that high.” “That’s enough of that playing by the stinging nettle patch.” “Stop throwing dirt into the air.” Sheesh. I must be the most fun dad in the world, huh?

Against my better wishes, they continue to practice civil disobedience of my laws out of earshot. In many ways they are growing up wild and free, no matter how much I inadvertently try to squelch that by “providing guidance.” They know where the blackberry patches are.  Two of the three have poison ivy right now. They all have bumps and scratches from falling out of trees and they’ve had leeches from the creek in some pretty interesting places. They climb up and down the rock pile in their bare feet. They carry dirt from the garden around under their fingernails. They have even figured out that sunscreen makes pretty good hair gel. 

 

When I really think about it, though, I don’t want them to be like me – always worrying about what COULD happen. I love that they have little fear about the adventure that awaits behind the potting shed. The unfortunate thing about all of this is that in today’s world, children who have these types of experiences are abnormal. Ok, the KIDS aren’t abnormal, but their experiences are. 

I want to see a world where children are encouraged to play, to explore, to develop their own philosophies about the world before society tells them what’s “appropriate” and what’s not. I love to see children running, digging, looking under rocks and logs, and smelling the flowers. Unfortunately for them, these explorations are stifled because they MIGHT get hurt, or worse yet….DIRTY. 

Here’s the thing – we all have a lot to learn from our kids. And you don’t need to live out in the country to learn these lessons. You can do it right here in the heart of Lansing at Fenner Nature Center. Whether you are exploring the park with just your family or they are enrolled in one of our nature day camps or the Fenner Field School, these lessons are underfoot. And if you listen closely enough to what your kids are saying while they are here, you’ll remember what it was like to WONDER about things – I mean really really wonder. And wondering is a lesson we could all stand to re-learn.