I was drawn to it after some very surprising and worrying experiences finding out about nursery/pre-school provision and requirements for the little'un, and experiencing a massive amount of pressure from all quarters with regard to these issues. This isn't the place to go into more detail (though you can see my comments on the discussion board if you join up to it!).
However, listed in one of the Eight Core Principles is
"Children need a deep connection with nature, and they should be able to learn from nature and not merely about it."
.. and that comes within the remit of this blog. I know that many of you spend much time and energy outdoors in nature with grandkids and felt that you would be interested, like me, in this campaign.
Parenting styles and choices are deeply emotive and personal, and need to be respected. For this reason, I hesitated to mention these issues here, as Earth and Tree is a gentle blog about pooling resources, experiences and inspiration in honour of Mother Earth. I would always want to remain apolitical, only posting about campaigns directly related to environmental issues like saving woodland, recycling, carbon footprint and sustainable living which I feel the likeminded souls here might appreciate. But, you know, this IS about the Earth and nothing could be more central than ensuring that the littlies have access to, learn from and can be inspired by nature.
Our little'un is currently doing a fantastic Forest Fun course for ages 3 to 5 run by our excellent local SureStart service. He gets to jump in puddles, build dens, go on bug hunts and do all manner of fantastic things .. but its all up to him, he decides and can go exploring about and finding out freely. With a bit of luck, this new outfit will bring together lots of campaigns and organisations working to the same aims under one umbrella and will help support and inform parents who want to access this kind of experience for their children as well as lobbying government and organising folks on the ground to campaign on their local issues.
4 comments:
This sounds a good thing - my two grandsons are home educatec and they go to Nature Bugs on Thursdays at a local Nature Reserve (they live in East Anglia). It's so important that children should be in touch with the natural world.
Hi Hedgewitch,
How wonderful. I am sure you know that this will get my full support.
My two Grandchildren do all those things but with their Grandmother :)
I am amazed that so many little ones spend most of their childhood inside.
Tku for sharing this information :)
Sounds like a lovely organization. I wish the greatest success to all who spread the joy of nature.
Thanks everyone - sometimes I feel like 'is it me, or has the rest of the world stark-raving mad?!' and its good to know I'm not alone in feeling this way :-)
Hi Rowan, it sounds like East Anglia/Essex is good for this sort of thing then - our little'un's Forest Fun is at an Essex Wildlife Trust nature reserve wood. I'm going to try and look about for similar things for him once this finishes, as its only a six week course.
Hi Cheryl, yes it seems to be accepted as the norm these days - we are out in albeit small garden any day it isn't actually raining, we have our snacks and meals out there, the two of us, and bring out colouring and books and things, as well as actually gardening and running around bothering bugs and getting mucky, lol!
I wasn't brought up in the country, its all new to me to go walking down country lanes and along the coast path etc.. I'm shocked how much everyone uses their cars here, even to go 2 minutes down the road to school and shops and things.
Hi Linda, welcome! You have a lovely blog .. I'm going to enjoy reading more.
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