N is for Nature love

Taking forward my resolution of letting ‘Fun Mum’ take over this summer and the kids having sufficiently recovered from their respective illnesses, I decided to renew their friendship with nature. 

As a child I was fortunate to have been brought up in a house with a large garden. We had a list of rose varieties at our finger tips. We knew our verbena from phlox. We knew when the seasonals would arrive in all their colourful glory and when they’d be gone leaving behind the zinnias and the cosmos.

We watched our parents preparing flower beds and then budding and grafting. We were brave enough to occasionally go and stir up the absolutely foul smelling compost pot in the far corner of the garden. We were fine with chameleons and lizards roaming around and didn’t have a fit if a spider crawled too close. It is rather sad then, that I have a daughter who upsets the entire dinner table if a moth flies by – a moth for goodness sake – it hardly even likes to be noticed!

Ah well, this is one friendship that just might never happen but I would definitely like my children to see what I see when I’m out among the greens. And so it was, that we set out, drawing kits in hand to get to know Nature. It was already mid morning, way too sunny for much running around but pleasantly cool to sit in the shade. I am glad the kids are at the age when sitting down is a real possibility. They planned to draw but got off to a slow start as they sat around with a ‘What should we draw?’. Soon however they picked out their spots and settled down.

I sat enjoying the quiet (a rare thing with both of them around) with the odd call of the bird or the sound of a wind chime in the breeze. That was one moment I locked away as my ‘happy memory’ to be cherished many times over. It is at moments such as these that I’m glad I am a SAHM and have the flexibility to plan my leisure. 

As I watched them I realised they enjoyed walking out with me. It is I who do not make time often enough. We don’t even need to go anywhere fancy – just around our apartment complex is enough. Occasionally we go to a park and that’s a big treat. H manages to find silly stuff like sticks or weirdly shaped twigs or befriends stray cats while N enjoys picking stones (some of which aren’t stones at all but broken bits of glass or coloured tiles), flowers and pretty fruit. Once H even dug up a butterfly pupa. Here are some pictures from one such trip last year.

After we’d done with the drawing, we collected interesting looking twigs and fashioned a family tree putting up different coloured leaves for different generations.

And we pressed some leaves to be made into cards later on.

N also picked flowers that we floated in a bowl.

Being close to nature works wonderfully for the kids. Here’s why..

– They stay away from mind-numbing TV and endless gaming.

– They learn to listen to silence and enjoy it too.

– Since there are no clear ‘instructions’ on what they are supposed to do, being out in the open comes with all the benefits of free play. They use their imagination and work out what they can do. Believe me they have plenty of ideas.

– They learn to observe and ask questions.

– It helps them grow up into responsible nature loving adults.

So do make time to step out with the kids. Talk about the trees, deconstruct a flower, study a leaf, follow a ladybug, watch the night sky. Don’t have kids? Well go out on your own. Skip the gym and go walk or jog. Take deep breaths, feel the breeze, enjoy the sunshine. It’s fun… and just a few days to go before summer comes by in all her glory.

Linking to ABC Wednesday for the letter N. 

28 Replies to “N is for Nature love”

  1. these are the memories that kids will cherish and live by when they grow up… I often look back on all the happy times I spent with my parents..and even today we always have something to laugh about!

  2. This is so true. My son absolutely adores the outdoors. In our case, we have to deal with being home bound for 6 months of the year- thanks to the snow and the freezing cold in the east coast of USA. So, the 6 (sometimes 5 or even 4) months of summer that we get, we practically LIVE outdoors. Walk, play and even eat outdoors as much as possible. Great post!

  3. Sounds like you'll had a fun time. I loved making cards from flowers and leaves when I was young. My son is also scared of insects (don't blame him, I am too)

    1. We sure did Suzy. I know many people are scared of insects but since my sister and I were so no-nonsense about it I find it odd to see it in my kids.

  4. Hi Tulika,
    It was a beautiful day for you and your lovely kids, if we love nature it is easy for us to develop this love in our children , very good job 🙂

  5. I also used to be always in the garden when I was a kid and spent my time among flowers, moths, butterflies and lizards! Glad your kids are heading in that direction too!

    1. Roshni they've still a long way to go before they actually head there. The wonderful thing is our parents didn't even have to try – it just happened naturally for us. We were a privileged lot.

  6. What a beautiful day Tulika dear:-) With the ones you love and in gorgeous surroundings of nature – best there is:-) All the best to you and your lovely family:-)

  7. I admire the way you have described the day as well as the things that you do, Tulika. Sometimes, I feel woefully inadequate as a mom because I hardly make time to step out with Gy for these things. Most often she is by herself or I am by myself, enjoying Nature. Sigh. I don't know. Life is too weird at times.

    1. I think it is fine either way Shailaja. We never can spend as much time with the kids as we would like to. There is always so much to do. It's just that this time I have decided to consciously make time with them. There's no other way to do it.

  8. I was born in a house with all green surroundings having a garden and too many trees around in a joint family. We hardly had any time for television and most of our times was spent in picking up fruits and flowers from around or creating games on our own. Those days cable was not ubiquitous in Inda. I so wish that parents go out near nature with their children. All the talk about it cartoons, televisions, saas-bahu serials, tabs, iphones and what not!!! Are we doing justice to new lives?

    1. We were fortunate Shesha in the things we didn't have and the opportunities we had. We need to get the kids out more often.

  9. Well done! Nature does impart some magic into us! I feel extraordinarily at ease when I am surrounded by nature than with humans around.

  10. Hi tulika…lovely post…I am doing this with my daughter this summer…its been good for both of us…I agree the flexibility if being a SAHM really helps in doing impromptu activities…happy holidays to you guys

  11. It is indeed a concern these days with urban lifestyles, most children grow up without much appreciation and reverence for nature and her gifts. Reading your account I can see this must have been one wonderful day for all of you, a day spent with Mother Nature. Gathering branches, stones, dry leaves – what lovely and fun activities you all did. Lovely writeup, Tulika!

    1. Thanks Beloo. While love for nature came naturally to us we need to make an effort to instill it in our kids. I need to do this more often.

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