RE: Your child IS your most important crop!
I am so uncomfortable around TVs now! I've never bought one, and we've never had one in our house. We use the Internet for research and for writing, but that's about it AND WE LOVE IT THIS WAY.
My son is very little, but he knows what flowers, ants, and flies are. I love that he is going to grow up with a homestead to explore, not a cache of internet memes to quote.
I worked as an Environmental Educator for years, bringing urban kids on hikes and teaching them the things that the city never did. For many of them, through no fault of their own, they described going outside as "going in the garage." They didn't know about plants, animals, or anything living, really.
The things that your little girl knows as part of daily life were all new discoveries for my students (who were 10-15 years old).
I can't exactly say that I'm surprised at that. We used to live in a an apartment and it was such an excursion to get out anywhere close to nature, I can understand how it could easily disappear from peoples lives.
The reason that we are able to give her this life isn't by luck tho, we have had to WORK OUR ASSES OFF to get here. And I don't take it for granted at all!
Why did you stop working as an environmental Educator? How did you even get into a gig like that? That sounds like a dream!
Keep up the good work with your son! (: Keep it up!
Oh, I hope it was not implied that I was accusing you of taking it for granted! We feel like we had to go through a gauntlet to get out of the city too, and we are SO thankful. And a little tired ;).
I worked in a National Park as an Interpretive Guide for three years (it was an intern position, so it had a time limit) and LOVED it. Because of connections there, I then worked at a Nature Center in Cleveland( that one was a little tougher...I had 50 kids in a classroom at some points!!) I stopped because I moved to a different city, but I can't wait to teach the same things to my kids.
No no not at all (: Wow, that's truly amazing and a great calling that has been put aside more often than I think it should be!
High five for raising children who know nature the way it was intended!
HIGH FIVE INDEED!
So many of those kids broke my heart--after seeing so many poorly raised kids, I just want to raise my own well.
Exactly! You have seen what lazy parenting can do, and you know how to avoid it . The fact that you are concerned already shows so much promise.