Nature Connection and Easy Bedtime

Along with my friends and fellow guides Scott Davidson and Lindsey Mitchell, I went with a group of parents and sixth-grade students from a local charter school for a day of nature connection at Abbott's Lagoon in Pt. Reyes National Seashore. I learned about Abbott's Lagoon from Scott, who is an expert tracker. It's a perfect place for semi-supervised fun and for getting involved with a wide variety of tracks of many species...the wind-packed sandy substrate is idea and holds tracks well, and there are many to hold. Bobcat, coyote, otter, deer, fox, various bird species, amphibians, mice... the landscape offers many detailed stories in a way that is much easier to read than in forest or just about any other environment. 

There were about two kids per adult, which gave us a great opportunity to do some mentoring with the parents...with the focus being how to mentor the children. The mentoring strategy we use has as a main goal strengthening the child's connection with those things that capture her imagination. We follow these natural "child passions" by noticing what the child is interested in, joining with that child by getting interested ourselves, and then asking questions that deepen curiosity and hone observational skills. There is very little emphasis on giving answers or dispensing knowledge. Simply dispensing a fact with the voice of an expert can actually extinguish the sense of wonder that is at the heart of nature connection. So we begin with easy questions, such as "what do you notice about how it looks?" and then move into more difficult "edge" questions--questions that take the child just beyond the edge of what is obvious or what they already know. We may ask, "How do think these shells got here?" and support the child's thinking process when they realize we are a couple of hundred yards from high tide line. Coming to a "correct" conclusion is less important that engaging in inquiry. Leaving questions unanswered (but alive!) is a part of the fun. 

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Another part of this way of mentoring is for adults to share their own questions, to be excited and full of wonder themselves, and to join in the fun right alongside the kids. Adults have full permission to not know the answers! And, just as importantly, to be silly and inquisitive and to get playful covered in sand and dirt. I was delighted to see one 50-something woman freely cartwheeling along the dunes while two girls ran along nearby.

So while Scott and Lindsey were in circle with the kids I held council with the parents nearby. We discussed this approach to mentoring; it only required about 10 minutes. By then the kids were ready to explore. So each adult tagged along with a couple of kids and let them explore. 

I was with two boys who wandered down to the edge of the lagoon. A coyote had left a long line of tracks along the water's edge. I wondered aloud where that coyote was going and soon we were involved in following its story. The tracks led to a mouse town, a place where there were lots of tiny rodent tracks and holes in the sand. What happened here? we wondered. Another pair of boys joined us for 10 minutes as their wander intersected our own. Later I left the two boys I was with as they were puzzling over the mysterious appearance of an old rusty railroad spike near a large driftwood log. I came across two girls and a mom who had created a magnificent sculpture out of found objects, and populated it with ladybugs gathered from nearby grasses.  

Nature connection has so many positive benefits. Some of them are immediately obvious: the smiles, the laughter, the fun, moments of pure concentrated focus, excited stories about what was seen, heads bent together over some small discovery... the list is endless. 

Here's an email one of the moms sent the day after:
I have been wondering if you and Scott would be interested in leading a boys' council group. I was re-reading nature and the human soul and thinking about ways that my son and his friends could receive more of what they are needing as they embark on adolescence.  Also, most of the fathers have not been initiated in any significant way and therefore are in unfamiliar terrain. They want to be there for their kids, but don't really have ideas of how to guide them through something they have not experienced.  A group that met monthly could begin with the boys and gradually bring the dads in who are willing. My husband was convinced the night of the Pt. Reyes day when our son fell asleep without going through the usual resistance and unwinding...he really needs to be out exploring with other boys like that.  I think if I were to gather info and present it to the other families that they would also be eager to participate....Yes. Yes. Yes.