We must begin where we are.
To me this means that we must find acceptance, or face the truth, that many of our children are lacking access to nature: to the birds busy building nests and feeding their young, to the soils that absorb the rain, to the insects that make one squeamish, and to the millions of stars that quickly put us in our place in the universe.
What I can do right now is to accept these truths that I have seen in our societies:
- Our cities are not typically nature friendly for the young child or their families: commuting distances, manicured lawns & playgrounds and a lack of safe nature spaces are just some of the symptoms.
- Many of our children live very urban lives and do not have genuine experiences of providing their own food and water or building their home.
- In our societies, a hands-on connection with nature is often non-existent, absent even if you were to try to provide this opportunity.
- We have lost touch with the connection between life and how it is tied to the earth.
- Our behaviour is stressing the planet and jeopardizing the happiness of everyone, including plants and animals.
- The child is tomorrow. That means that today, we shape our tomorrow.
In my childhood, nature was intimately connected to every season, and it wove in and out of my day like a thread in a loom. Memories and feelings of this childhood fill my mind still, and are part of every leaf rustle in my ear or blade of grass that I run through my fingers. What I mean to say is, these memories and experiences in early childhood form a part of your life as an adult. It is true that nature experiences when you are young help you feel a sense of place and belonging when you are older.
What does this say about the child’s future, if we have created such a nature-absent vacuum, sucking them from the very source and foundation of human life? To me, it means the child will feel further and further away from nature, and our life source on earth will become an abstract and intangible element outside of themselves. It is the beginning of the separation of self. To me, there is nothing more sad than this. What is healthy, is the feeling of being in nature with ease and understanding, as though you and nature are one, the same entity, expressed in a myriad of beautiful forms.
For me, accepting this truth allows me to begin problem solving, using the tools I have. This has been Montessori education and my understanding of the young child.