It feels like summer is already here. This weekend our family enjoyed many moments outdoors – for me this is the best antidote to screen-time. At least two snakes were spotted – slithering among rocks at our house and at friends’. Awesome. The first yummy strawberries ripened in our little garden, and the boys delighted in picking every berry that was ready to eat. Absolutely, purely delicious fun. One of my sons, who learned to swing last June, taught his brother how to get himself going on the swing in our backyard. Excellent! And the two boys swung together on a lovely bench swing hanging from a tree and overlooking a pond. We were visiting friends and toasting marshmallows for s’mores – again, delicious and fun.
This blog began in May 0f 2009, and since then, I have been on the computer more than I ever have before. It often strikes me as ironic, that in my efforts to encourage imaginative play, and to help families and children reduce screen-time, I have increased my own screen-time. Yuck. I am trying to do more connecting and sharing of ideas and information through Twitter and Facebook – and doing so has actually helped me cut down on my time online. I was worried about adding them to the Empowered by Play networking plan, in that they might increase my time spent in front of the screen, but thankfully the opposite has proven to be true.
Nature. That’s where you’ll find me, whenever possible. Right in my own yard, usually – where the bird feeders, breezes, flowers and general green-ness help me relax. This weekend in the backyard, I even spied two spirited fox kits playing and wrestling while their mom watched nearby. Very cool. It reminded me of Bill Crain’s piece about the need for play being innate. Clearly, for these young fox kits, it is. And for my kids, too. In fact, my son just came up and asked me to play – so I’ll be signing off.
Here’s to playing outside, finding snakes, swinging in the breeze and picking ripe strawberries!
