I cherish my childhood memories. I am sure most of us who have had "regular" childhoods, would feel the same way about theirs. And what is it that I so cherish? It would have to be the freedom, the blissful lack of adult interference while with friends, the lack of toys which forced us outdoors and the consequent exposure to nature. Climbing trees, feeding little pups and kittens, making sand castles, collecting stones, deliberately splashing about in puddles, getting soaked in the rains, making our own play dough with mud and water, getting creative with bits of twigs, cloth and papers...the fun was endless.
When I see kids today, I feel saddened by the acute lack of any of these experiences in their everyday lives. Sometimes I meet parents in the playground who yell at their kids for playing in the sand/mud! How truly tragic!
A few days ago, I had the opportunity to read Maria Montessori's, "The Absorbent Mind". I haven't yet had the leisure to read it cover to cover, but from the little that I read, my takeaway was this: staying close to nature is the best way to nurture. Nature has provided for every conceivable need of man and animals, but we forget that in our greed. The best and most expensive things in the world- be it clothes, food or toys-ironically are the ones that reach closest to giving you a "natural" feel. So when nature has already provided us with the best possible resources, why look elsewhere? Why try so hard to replicate (and invariably fail at) something that already exists in its most perfect form? Parents willingly spend thousands to buy their child the best sand play box, yet when the child picks up some sand at the playground they rush to "protect" the child. Now children are constantly supervised, by parents, maids and teachers- the more you supervise/interfere, the more "involved" you are. So they are effectively never free from adult interference, never free to explore their environment by themselves. I never realized how interfering I was until influenced by Montessori's book, I put to test some of her principles. I was amazed at how much my son could do on his own, without my "help" (excruciating as it was to watch him struggle) and how pleasantly quiet the house felt- no whines, no raised voices and no tantrums (they don't call it the "terrible twos" for nothing!). And not one of my experiments involved his toys. Not one.
So now I am going to record these "moments" when they happen. This one was truly a light bulb moment for me!
