Natures Way

Yesterday was lovely perfect Spring weather, so we toodled on over to the Arundel Wetlands Centre, hoping to peek at the baby ducks. We were fortunate that despite perfect weather, the centre was not crowded at all! And the kiddo's got to hand feed some 4 day old ducklings.

It's been awhile since we went on an outing as the entire family. Usually our 18  year old stays behind, because, quite honestly, we do tend to go on outings for younger children more oft than not. Before anyone starts to feel sorry for the oldest, keep in mind that he went on MANY outings back when he was the younger age, because a) we had no other children and b) this meant the pocketbook was much fatter!

Now that outings with the entire family are more rare, we appreciate them even more. The youngest kiddo's adore their older brother, and I must admit, he's turned out to be the most amazing young man we could ever hope he would become.  I do wonder what struggles he would still have had we kept him in the school system versus letting him resign at age 9 and adventure life and learning on his own terms and conditions versus a failing institutions.  But, I digress

It was fascinating to watch my children approach social situations in a whole new light. Instead of my youngest three following my every step, taking cues from where I wandered, they were off leading the way, with me left to follow.   We compromised here and there; for example, when Indigo wanted to stop and thoroughly study which ducks were with mates on the larger pond, then stopping to amaze at what appeared to me as just a 'Goose', but apparently was some rare bird she knows from one of her David Attenborough documentaries.  The compromise was that the youngest two siblings stuck with us until ready to move on.  However, once we got to the 'Birdhouse Playground', Cypress and Zephyr quickly made friends and were content to play all day, whilst Indigo was ready to move on to study and observe nature more. Instead of 'making' the youngest come along, or 'making' Indigo stay and play, we split up so Hubby and Derek took Indigo and I stayed with C and Z.

Another dynamic difference I noticed is that Cypress wanted to exchange phone numbers with the friends she made, to set up future playdates. These school children found that as Completely odd, but in our home ed world, children do see it as completely normal to make friends and if you get on well, then to make future play dates.  Well, I see this as normal too! Isn't that how the grownup world works?  No wonder school children are confused when they are released in to the 'real world' where social dynamics suddenly change.  But, I digress.

We enjoyed a fascinating walk around the Wetlands Centre, learning much along the way by simply observing Spring births in action. Indigo, who obsessively watches nature documentaries, was able to explain so much to us we otherwise would be unaware. My two favourite moments I still linger on which is really why I started babbling on this blog today. 

The first, when we saw two Coot parents and their 6 itty-bitty baby coots. Maybe a day or two old. The parents were frantically feeding their children whilst all us Wetlands Centre visitors were endearingly commenting at 'how adorable' they were.  That is, until Indigo began explaining to everyone that only 1 baby coot will survive, because the parents will eventually get so exhausted they will basically peck the other babies to death.  (crowds of parents and small children suddenly disperse to go gaze elsewhere).  The second, when we reached the larger playground, I watched my children run right past the playground and right up to the small concrete ponds. They were fascinated by the water bugs and, thus, more 'nature observing' occurred.  It was a perfect moment for me to take a break so I plopped down on a bench next to another mum whose children also were enjoying the ponds versus playground.  It was a nice, serene moment I went to snap a picture of,  when suddenly Indigo (in her sweet, yet, matter-of-fact voice) declared 'Look, this one is sucking all the blood out of that one'.  Naturally, hubby and I ran over to take even more photo's of the blood-sucking-water-bug, leaving the other mum to quickly whisk her children to the safety of the playground.


I'm glad my children see and experience life in such a realistic way, yet, their childhood is filled with imagination and play. Sure, it sort of keeps them separate from the masses of children who grow up with institutionalised socialisation skills, and from children who grow up spending most their lives studying nature via looking at picture books in classrooms.  But, I think that's okay if my children see nature more realistically and approach socialisation from a more natural perspective.

Graham hand-feeding a Pheasant

Cypress trying too