Mother Nature Helps Me Be a Better Mother
Mommyhood. It's as consistent as the sunrise. When you feel your passion being enveloped by plating meals or reading Berenstain Bear books, call up a friend and head to a forest. Here are three ways time in nature will help rejuvenate you for your most important work.
1. Nature muffles the decibel level.
A screaming child in the grocery store feels completely different than a screaming child in a field of flowers. It's as if the grass and the clouds swallow some of the noise. The beauty of the surroundings make childhood tantrums seem like so much less of a big deal. Honestly, kids hardly melt down outside anyway. There are so many things to engage them. But even if they do there's considerably less panic to try and make the screaming stop. There aren't eyeballs bugging out of heads as they stare in your direction. In many ways, nature muffles the inevitable loudness of childhood - emotionally and physically.
2. Nature helps keep guilt at bay.
Should we enroll little tyke in sports class, gymnastics, water aerobics, art class, music lessons, ballet, storytelling group, Awana, foreign language, sign language, pre-K, cooking class, or martial arts? How many activities should we enroll little tyke in? How far will little tyke fall behind his/her peer group if we miss a session or we don't provide enough socialization and stimulation through different types of classes? Great news! There is an activity that is (usually) free, easily accessible and provides developmental benefits above and beyond most classes. Just play outside. In fact, here are 100 reasons why it's okay to leave your schedule empty and keep your pocketbook full. Sure, a few activities here or there can be enriching but you can drop the pressure to do it all.
3. Nature offers a few moments of reprieve.
If you head to a park with a friend (and I highly recommend that you do - even if only for safety purposes), then you will probably get to have some adult conversation. Children engage so much better when there aren't toys involved. Nature provides an abundance of materials to play and pretend with. Indoor playdates often involve policing and intervening. Share this action figure. Share that baby doll. Don't knock that block tower over. Let someone else have a turn. Nature provides items in abundance. There are always enough sticks to go around. Kids quickly fall down the tunnel of imagination - which means a mama can usually finish a sentence or maybe even read a chapter of a book. Amazing stuff. Maybe that's how community and childhood was intended to be.
