Chelsea

7 Simple ways to help your family rediscover nature

It took you a while to get your child dressed and fed in the morning, but you are finally ready to go, and if you hurry just a little, you will make it on time for the puppet show at the library.

Your child, however, seems to be in no rush to get there. They want to look at the flowers from your neighbour’s garden for the fifteenth time this week, pick a slug up and ask it all kinds of questions (and you forgot the disinfecting wipes), and catch every puddle on the way, not just to splash around in it, but to figure out how the sky is inside that puddle, as well as above.

Your level of frustration rises. You explain to your child hurriedly that what they see in the puddle is called a reflection, and gently tug them along, hoping to at least catch the end of the show.

You try so hard to be a great parent and organize learning activities, and it seems impossible to make it all happen smoothly. Why is it so difficult to get from point A to point B with a young child?

The answer is simple: for your child, everything is point B. They are in no rush to get anywhere, because where they are at that moment is exactly where they feel they should be. As adults, we have forgotten to live in the moment, and to truly take in the world around us. For efficiency’s sake, we are planning dinner on the way to the grocery store, we are texting work during story time, reviewing our e-mail while our child is breastfeeding, and saving time anywhere we can.

Over the years, we teach our children to be efficient like us, but with this great time-saving lifestyle, we are robbing ourselves and our children of the amazing experience of being present, of discovering the world around us, and feeling its incredible energy. Our mind is constantly thinking, and we have lost touch with ourselves. This way of life erodes our health and has devastating effects in our children. The solution? Focus on the now, be present. And the easiest and best way to do that is to spend time in nature.

Nature is the perfect environment for children to feel happy. Spending time outside, surrounded by trees, plants, water, flowers, birds, and fresh, clean air, not only improves their immune system, it also significantly reduces stress, inspires creativity, brings peace of mind, and significantly improves school performance at every age.

Although organized activities like the ones at your local library are important, your child is learning just as much on the way there as when they have arrived. In the early years especially, children’s learning experiences take place during these moments. They learn a great deal from jumping in a puddle and figuring out why their boots are suddenly filled with water (much to your chagrin), or from trying to catch a bird before it flies away, or even (sigh) putting both hands in the mud and feeling how squishy and cool it is. A worm or two offer hours of delight and seeing a leaf fall from a tree in a marvelous dance sends your child twirling and squealing with bliss.

It is essential for your child’s heath (and yours), that they spend time outdoors, surrounded by nature at least fifteen minutes every day. It does not have to be an elaborate outing, in fact, the simpler, the better – here are 7 simple ways to help your family rediscover nature.

1. Go for A Walk with No End in Mind

Make it a habit to go for a walk as a family every day for at least fifteen minutes. Don’t think of going to the park, or to the store, just enjoy the walk itself. Younger children will find plenty of entertainment along the way – take the time to listen to them, and ask them open questions, like “I wonder where the rain comes from” or “I wonder where ladybugs sleep”. Don’t rush in with the answer, let your child think about it, and figure it out together. You can bring a little notebook to write down all the questions you came up with and research the answers once you get home.

2. Go for A Family Bike Ride

The wonderful thing about a bike ride is that it helps you spend time as a family, but also allows for time alone. Because it is not always easy to carry a conversation, we each have some time to enjoy silence as well. Having a quiet mind is just as important as having an active one. In fact, research shows that quieting our mind (thinking about nothing) enhances our ability to think and problem-solve when we need it. Bike rides are especially great when children are going through a difficult time, or through adolescence, and need more than ever a connection to both nature and their family.

3. Find Nature Around Your Neighborhood

In Vancouver, we are very fortunate to live in a province where nature is all around us. We can go for hikes, walk along the ocean, or even enjoy nature right in our backyards. If you can, choose a place to live where you are surrounded by nature. If you prefer the city lifestyle, find the areas around your neighborhood where your child can be surrounded by green space, climb trees, have picnics, build forts, observe animals in their natural habitat, or dip their feet in the water.

4. Bring Nature to Your Home

When outside, you can collect insects in small aerated jars or aquariums and build a natural habitat for them at home for a few days. Observe how they live, what they like to eat, and how to care for them. Caterpillars, ants, worms and snails are wonderful to observe! You can also bring flowers and plants inside (with roots), care for them and observe how they grow. Edible plants, like mint, or roots, like carrots, are a wonderful opportunity to teach your child where food comes from and how to grow it.

5. Plant A Garden or A Tree

You can plant a small edible garden at your home, or even a fruit tree, and teach your family to care for it. It is incredibly rewarding for your children to grow their own fruits and vegetables and be able to share them at mealtime with their family. If you do not have the space, there are plenty of community gardens where you can do the same, or you can have something smaller at home, like an herb garden. Flowers are also incredible to watch and nurture. If you pick a flower outside, show your child how the flower keeps drinking water by adding a few drops of food coloring to the water, and watching as the flower turns that color!

6. Add Natural Elements to Your Child’s Play Space

Ensure your child’s outdoor space at home and at school has rocks, branches of all sizes, water, sand, plants, trees, and other natural elements for your child to play with and build with.

7. Get A Family Pet

Nothing teaches children empathy better than having the opportunity to care for a pet. A dog will ensure that your family goes for walks at least twice daily and is eager to give and receive love. If you are not quite ready for that commitment, there are plenty of other options – from cats to caterpillars – that will do the trick. Make sure that your family learns how to care for your new pet before taking one in to ensure you are capable to give the pet the proper care that is needed for a good quality of life.

The benefits of spending time in nature each day are life-long, not only for your child, but also for you. Research shows that spending time in nature decreases depression, anxiety and fatigue, and increases the ability to focus, as well as improve creative thinking and clarity of mind. Next time you are going somewhere, leave a few minutes earlier and take the time to enjoy the journey. Your child will be delighted, and you will welcome this peaceful change of pace.

by Chelsea

10 Ways to help your child be an excellent reader

Reading is one of the most important habits to instill in a child. It will increase their vocabulary, which will directly improve their performance at school. Reading will also expand their knowledge in every other area and open their minds to so many possibilities! Because children mainly learn the technical phonetic combinations at school where they focus on the practical side of reading, the love of reading is best fostered at home, and supported by you, the parent. Remember to focus on fostering a love of literature, and many other aspects of reading. In general, and especially when children reach elementary school, the focus is on knowing how to read, not loving to read.

When children are little, take the time to read to them every night, and delight in the stories you discover together. To make that time even more special, here are 10 tips you can use:

1. Take the Time to Look at The Images Together

Instead of just reading the words in the book, look at the images with your child and see what they tell you. This will teach your child to look for cues in the images that tell them what is about to happen in the book. Using this strategy will help your child increase their vocabulary by helping them “guess” what a new word means, just by understanding its context. This is one of the main reasons why children’s books are illustrated.

2. Use Different Voices for Different Characters in a Book

By making a special voice for the ogre of the story, then for the little girl he meets, and all the other characters, you help your child imagine the story, making it come to life! Once your child begins to read, even when they are not reading aloud, they will, in turn, adopt the habit of giving book characters their own voice, their own life. This will greatly increase their reading comprehension skills, foster their love of reading, and expand their imagination and creative thinking skills.

3. Follow with Your Finger

If your child is just learning to read or is an inexperienced reader, it helps when you follow with your finger as you tell the story. This will show them that, in the English language, we read from left to right. It will also help your child discover that every word you are reading is there, on the book, and once your child is beginning to read, they will start visually recognizing whole words. This is like watching a movie with subtitles. You don’t need to read the subtitles if you understand the language, but you tend to want to read them anyway.

4. After Reading TO Your Child, Read WITH Your Child

When your child is beginning to read alone, make this a great bonding experience by spending time with them while they read. Many parents put a lot of effort into teaching their children to read. They read to them every night until they learn to do it alone. As soon as their child learns to read on their own, parents usually stop reading to them, expecting their child to read on their own instead. Even though your child can now read, they will miss that time with you and will not feel as excited or enthusiastic about reading once you are no longer part of that special shared time.

My recommendation would be to continue sharing that special time with your child. You can take turns reading books to each-other (you can read one evening and your child can read the following evening), or take turns reading one page each, or even each reading your own book together when your child is older.

My sons are now adults, but we always had the habit of reading together in the evening. We would sit in the living room and each bring our book to read. Sometimes we would read the same book together – our favorite was an atlas of the world. We would choose which places we wanted to visit, and share what we learned.

Choosing a time to read as a family (or just you and your child if you can’t get everyone on board) shows your child that you love reading, and that you value it.

5. Go Out with Your Child to Buy A Special Book

Make it a time you spend together, just the two of you. Take your child to the bookstore and tell them you would like to buy them a book; one that they choose. Bookstores have a special feeling to them and are wonderful places to spend time looking around. Your child will love the experience so much that they will remember that happy day each time they read their new book at home.

I understand that buying a book is not in everyone’s budget, but fortunately, you can share a similar experience by taking your child to the library and choosing a book to borrow! The idea is to spend the time together in an activity that values reading.

6. Reference the Stories You Read Together

Casually in your conversations, refer to the stories you read together with comments such as “It’s like that rabbit that we read about in that story, remember? When he couldn’t get out of his home?”. This will help your child make their reading experience more valuable and relatable and learn to enrich their personal life with the things they learned about, or just experienced through the book.

7. Write A Special Message

When giving your child a book as a gift, write a special message on the inside, sharing with them how much you look forward to sharing this book with them, or how proud you are that they are reading so much or so well. This will strengthen the bond between the two of you and make the habit of reading even more enjoyable for them.

When my son was born, my sister bought her favorite book for him. She wrote a message inside, telling him she hoped he would love the book as much as she did when she was little. What a treasure for your child to have your family’s favourite books in their collection, all with a personal dedication!

8. Read in Front of Your Child

Children learn by example. Take the time to cozy up and read at home every so often, a book that you really enjoy reading, or even the newspaper. Children will see reading as a part of life and will tend to do the same. If you enjoy reading, they will learn to enjoy reading just by watching you.

9. Share Your Books with Them

During dinner time, or at any time throughout the day, share the things you read about in your books or the newspaper (using common sense of course) by saying things like “This book really made be think about…” or “I loved reading the part where this happened, it reminded me of …”. When sharing with your family about something you read, preface it by saying “I read today that …” so your children see other positive examples of how reading enriches your life.

10. Read Your Children’s Books

I will never forget the day my then-10-year-old son, having just finished reading a 400-page novel, passed it to me and said, “You should read it mom. I’m sure you’ll love it. It has a really emotional part in it.” I was bursting with pride that he was so enthralled in his novel, but what I realized that day was that our bond was so strong, and we had spent so many years reading together and talking about our books, that he knew which books would appeal to me. I could see the confidence in him that reading created, knowing that he was now reading books that were more complex, not simple picture books or children’s stories, and that he felt they were mature enough that he could recommend them to me.

Literacy is the most important skill. Take the time to foster it at home in a way that will make it fun and appealing to your child, so they will enjoy a lifetime of reading and literacy.

As published in NY Metro Parent December 2016.

Harry Potter

by Chelsea