It is no surprise to see the children’s hunger to be outside after the egregious confinements of the Covid pandemic. For decades, expert leaders in every field have been unanimous in their counsel to ensure children have as much time as possible outdoors – and that means roaming freely, not just in learning groups. It is our job, as caregivers to ensure environments in which they are able to do so. You may note that our playground was developed after months of planning, and contains many carefully designed activities for exploration.
Many websites give guidance if you’d like to prepare such an environment at home. But of course also valuable are trips to the beach, to our beautiful parks, such as the local Redwood Park, to our mountains or lakes, to anywhere they can run and explore and test their strengths and balance and be creative. And please, please, please take those masks off your young children, especially outdoors! They create much more harm than good, notably the inhibition to communicate meaningfully and learn empathy. To be healthy, all of us, but especially young people, require free breathing of fresh air, sunshine and strenuous exercise.
-Kristin
