My mother-in-law made apple pie with Sprout last weekend. But doesn’t it look hilariously angry?
We’ve been running on not much around here, between the start of preschool, potty training, lack of naps, and teething (not all the same kid, obviously). Lately, I’ve been reading about getting kids outside, how to raise kind children, and badass women.
Watching my five-year-old run down a rocky hiking path, I winced. I wanted to say “Be careful!” so badly. But I thought for a second and tweaked it just a bit.
“If you run, you’ll hit loose rocks,” I yelled. “If you don’t like walking down, you can walk sideways, like this,” I added, demonstrating the sidestepping technique.
He slowed down and started walking instead. “But it’s faster to run!” he explained as I caught up to him.
“I know, but you know what happens if you hit a loose rock? Bump bump bump bump,” I said, illustrating the bouncing down a trail with my hand. “That would hurt.”
While I’m not as outdoorsy as some (like these folks who hiked the Grand Canyon with their three-year-old), we’ve brought our little ones on their fair share of outdoors adventures. While I think just being outdoors teaches kids amazing lessons, parenting in the wild has helped me a lot as a mom. Because helicopter parenting is far too restrictive and totally free-range is a little too hands-off, I’m somewhere in-between.
Instead, I see myself in the role of parent as an outdoor guide, like one you have for hiking or rock-climbing. Although I’ve never been a fully licensed guide, I’ve led hikes, belayed climbers on rock-climbing walls, and taught field ecology to elementary and junior high students. You have to be quick-witted, skilled at the Art of Being Prepared for Anything, and well-versed in both first-aid and outdoors skills. Most importantly, you want to bring people on and back from an adventure safely, where they both learn skills and a lot about themselves.
Here’s what I learned that applied to parenting: