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| Ben inspecting the tomato plants in Nana and Papa's garden. |
I try not to limit my son based on my perceptions of what he
can and cannot handle, but…despite my best efforts…I do. More often than I would care to admit.
And...time and again...my kid proves me wrong, exceeding my expectations of his capabilities.
As parents it’s only natural to expose our children to our
personal areas of interest.
Sports fans take their children to baseball games. Athletic parents take their kids rock climbing and
kayaking. Nature lovers take their kids…well…into nature.
My husband and I are not what you would call athletes or nature lovers. My husband is a computer whiz, so he is passing on his love
of technology to Ben. And me, well, I’m sharing my love of books and reading. I’m delighted that he is learning to read independently and sees himself as a writer, proudly placing the books he has written
alongside those by his favorite authors.
Luckily, our kid also has the opportunity to learn from
family members with a variety of interests and talents, many that our different from ours.
During the past month, Ben and I have spent our summer vacation
visiting my childhood home up north. As a
teacher, I’m fortunate that we have time to spend a few weeks of our summer with
family. Since we live half a country
away, I count myself blessed to have this time to reconnect with family.
So much of our time this summer was spent out in nature.
Keep in mind, I am not a nature girl.
I have a brown thumb, I hate the summer heat, and I almost always get eaten alive by mosquitoes. My husband, if possible, hates the outdoors even more than I do.
This summer, however, we discovered something surprising.
Our kid loves nature.
