THE BOX: order
Outside Play:
When a pediatrician assured me that two-year-old John Mark wouldn’t suffer any health effects if I allowed him to choose what and when he wanted to eat, I knew it was time to switch to a wiser doctor. Even with my limited understanding of nutrition, pancakes with Aunt Jemima’s syrup (basically made up of corn syrup + food coloring) couldn’t possibly be good for my wild toddler.
Asking a few friends for recommendations, I found an older, grey haired pediatrician who dished out sound wisdom. It was this doctor who first taught me not only to avoid sugar-filled foods, but also the importance of outside play. He insisted that all children are born with a compelling need to play outside every day, rain or shine!
That worked great while we lived in Santa Cruz. The California beaches beckoned with sunshine year ‘round. I let my boy run and jump and yell at the top of his lungs while his sisters played close by in the warm sand.
Then we moved to Portland.
Where we live, parents can expect 44 inches of rain per year. And worse, only 144 full on, no precipitation days of sunshine. Which leaves what? Two hundred twenty-one days of rain.
Yikes!
Yet as I write this we have just finished teaching an Intentional conference in Glasgow, Scotland. It rained every day we were there, and every day I saw kids outside playing— in the middle of a tightly packed urban core!
Then we drove south to the Lake District of Northern England for a time of rest and refreshing. The little towns that surround Lake Windermere were packed with families on “hill walking holidays” for their children’s mid-term break. The families rambled into cafes for a hot lunch after hiking all morning. Then out they ventured again into late February’s pouring rain to conquer more hills.
I was in awe. I am still in awe!
They actually do this for fun. Taking their kids along with the wisdom passed down from their parents— that the outdoors is good for everyone, but especially for children.
Maybe they’ve latched on to John Muir’s wisdom:
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.’
The families I watched were equipped with warm rainproof gear: hiking boots, special pants to fit over warm clothes underneath, gloves, rain hats. Most of the toddlers were stuffed into down-filled, water-proof jumpsuits, their rosy cheeks and bright smiles beaming (or napping) from their snug perch in the backpack of their parents.
The strangest phenomenon of all is this: I never saw even one child crying or fussing or whining.
Fast forward to home.
Within the first days back, everywhere I went I witnessed demanding, naughty, fussy children. Normal right? Kids act up in public with the express intent to harass their parents.
Maybe not.
Maybe kids act up because we’ve lost sight of the simplest wisdom. Maybe fussy, demanding kids are an unfortunate consequence of parents dragging their children inside when what they really need is a good dose of God’s creation. Maybe they’re fussing because it’s anti-human to breath only inside air.
Maybe, we’re all made by God for a garden— for the Garden.
As Anne Frank wrote in her diary decades ago,
““The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.”
As you think about ways to wrap The Box around you grumpy, aggravated, frustrated little boy or girl, maybe the best help you can offer is a pair of rubber boots with directions to the nearest puddle. And maybe it’s time for you to join your kids for a little of that ‘simple beauty of nature’.
Here’s hoping for all the healing of outside play,
Diane
P.S. Have you seen the outside help your child re-order his attitude? How are you making that work in the midst of winter weather?