The day I saw my physician’s assistant a couple weeks ago was an awesome fall day.  While sitting in the examination room, I took the liberty of lifting the blinds to look down into the blazing branches of a sugar maple that had a height exceeding that of the three-floor clinic.  Almost immediately I saw a couple tiny kinglets really busy combing the branches for bugs (could not see the male close-up so don’t know if they were golden-crowned or ruby crowned).  Again I wondered just how much such creatures of God are regaled by the creation’s beauty.

Musing thus, I was almost irritated that the PA didn’t make me wait more than ten minutes!  When she came in, she noted that I was actually using the windows for their real purpose–looking outside.  So we got to talking about the outdoors, and I told her about my new work at RBC as a nature writer and about our aim to help parents and grandparents get the kids outdoors.  Having five kids in her blended family, she commented on how hard it was to get them away from the TV and toys.  “But,” she, said, “I’m the family outdoor Nazi.  When I’m home they go out!”  “Good for you,” I remarked.

I believe it’s a good goal to work at having your kids or grandkids experience the outdoors almost every day of the year.  The weather outside may even be “frightful” but the kids can find it delightful. “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these” parents and caregivers from getting their kids outdoors at least once each day!  That doesn’t mean just running them from the house to the car.  It means getting out and deliberately examining what’s happening in the creation.  It’s important to make your children or grandchildren aware of what’s going on in the natural world every day: windy or calm, sunny or cloudy, wet or dry, hot or cold, humid or arid, where the sun and moon are, what the birds are doing, what the natural sounds and scents are.  Be bold, dress the kids appropriately, and go out and experience rain, fog, snow—even blizzard-force winds (dressed for it and close to safety, of course). Sometimes in the winter, I get my warmest gear on and go sit outside in a powerful snowstorm for as long as I can take it.  John Muir did this in a Sierra windstorm—up in a tall tree.  Nearly killed him, but he DID get to feel what it was like to be a Douglas fir in a mountain windstorm

There’s a new item listed on the menu at the top of the home page: “Wonder Kids.” Check it out.  I’ve placed a number of ideas there for things to do with kids outdoors to help them experience the wonder of creation.  Soon we’ll have a comments box there for you to share your own ideas and experiences.  I’d love to have you recommend this feature to the parents and grandparents you know—to help them get the kids outdoors or to share what they do with the WOC community.

See you outdoors!

Dean