Friday, July 19, 2013

Maintaining a Sense of Wonder



Today I watched as a delicate, white feather- probably a down feather- drifted in the breeze and then caught ahold of a leaf from a tree. The feather clung to the leaf with all its might for quite some time, until it eventually continued its graceful descent. I was mesmerized by this feather for some reason; much in the same way that my young daughter will examine a found object carefully for long periods of time. She, like me, has a sense of wonder about her. For her, it is natural and simply a part of being a child- but for me it has been nurtured over time. Growing up, my siblings and I were encouraged to play outside as much as the weather and general safety allowed- Rain, snow, and night fall did not stop us- We blazed trails through the narrow greenbelts that separated the houses in my grandmother’s neighborhood and splashed in muddy puddles after summer showers. We collected bones on gravel roads, petrified wood in dried up creek beds, and rocks on the playground. We watched tadpoles, collected from a nearby stream, grow into frogs and then released them; and we rolled down grassy hills till we made ourselves sick. My parents are not biologists, or even environmentalists. They are both business people that simply believed that it was best for us to have freedom in our play. They did not overly worry about the always present possibility of harm, but taught us to be safe and use good judgment.  That is all we really can do, isn’t it? What did all of this version of parenting result in?- Three children, all now adults, that care immensely about the natural world; people that understand that everything is connected and nothing is to be taken for granted; and most importantly, three individuals that continue to have that beautiful, natural sense of wonder about the world that is so often lost after childhood.
Rachel Carson spoke in depth about this “sense of wonder” and its importance. She stated that it is not the teaching of the natural world that is important, but the feeling of it. One must develop a healthy relationship with other living things in order to ultimately appreciate, value, and protect them. Filling a child’s head with facts and figures will only bore them and help detach them from what is wild. This is where the traditional education system fails our kids. Rather than focusing on experiential learning, we like to show slideshows, videos, and textbooks. We remove the wonder, and replace it with monotony. Fortunately, education is reforming in our country thanks to dedicated teachers, unique public charter schools, and the creation of innovative private schools.
I grew up in major cities, and still managed to do everything I mentioned at the start of this article. While I got to go to my grandparent’s farm on the weekends, I was mostly an urban dweller. Creeks, flood easements, drainage ditches, and vacant lots- these are all present in almost any city. Do yourself, our planet, and your children a favor- get outside!

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