30 May 2017

LET THEM EXPLORE FOR THEY ARE ADVENTURERS


Growing up with an animal mad Nan and a Nan who used to take us out every Wednesday of half terms and school holidays, I have always spent a lot of time outdoors having fun whilst growing up.
Something I always vowed to do when I became a parent was to make sure my kids got outside as much as possible and to explore.
For now we're not world travellers, although I'd love to see more of the world, I am a homesie kinda girl who loves everything about home life. It's all about a bear hunt in the woods and coming home to a cup of yorkshire brew and roast dinner or stew.





When I became a Mum I noticed that if I spent too much time indoors or too many days hibernating that I'd become a recluse and I'd be super anxious and unmotivated. This meant that I needed to push myself to get up, get dressed and go out; rain or shine.
Having this mind set means that literally no matter what the weather is doing, we get out the house and go on adventures. Sometimes we have a few set backs and we spend a week in the house and I feel awful for it. 

Yesterday I took the kids out with Brad in the pouring rain to explore our favourite woods. I've mentioned this spot numerous times in my blog posts and vlogs in the past. These woods are where we filmed our pregnancy announcement and took Iris when she was a newborn for a walk.
There's something so special about these woods and I just adore them. They make me feel instantly happy and no matter what the weather - I just love being down there. There's so many places to explore and I love being there.

Lucas starts forest school in September and I'm so excited for him. Lucas adores being outside, he's super active. He's totally full of energy and is hard to handle if cooped up inside for too long. He loves being in the garden, looking at bugs, looking and smelling the flowers and playing with stones and mud. I have never known a pre-school so amazing and I'm so excited for him to join. He'll be spending the day outside everyday, three days a week. He'll be using compost loos, climbing trees, roasting veg and marshmallows on an open fire, exploring lots of different nature areas and learning the dangers for himself too. Rain, shine, snow, he'll be outside! It's perfect. He'll certainly start sleeping better; I hope anyway.

Moving on from Lucas, we're encouraging Iris to adore the outside too as it's just as important. You hear the phrases "I'm sure my daughter should have been born a boy" as she's covered in mud or a boy walking round covered in dirt and hearing "Boys will be boys"... This is something we steer away from as it totally angers me. There is nothing more frustrating then gender stereotyping a child in this way. I would love for Iris to be as adventurous as Lucas is. Then again she may just not like it and that's okay too. 
As for now Iris adores the outside, she loves playing with flowers and sand. Iris is very much like me, she loves the beach, Lucas loves it all but is more of a woods person. 

I grew up playing in rivers in the forest in my pants, climbing trees, running in and out of the sea down on the beach, playing in a paddling pool in my Nan and Grandad's garden, building dens, fairy gardens, mud pies, riding horses, mucking out the stables, walking my Nan's dog Barney with her and I even rode a cow, called Ruby, at 6 months old. I was adventurous and loved getting mucky and I hope this is the memories I can create for my children too.

I want to keep them away from the Xbox's and Playstations for as long as possible, I want them to interact with the outside world, branch away from headsets and play pooh sticks, feed the ducks, search for acorns, use their imagination and explore.
The day that Lucas and Iris no longer sing "We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one" but replace it with "We've got to find somewhere to hide, be careful not to get our team mates" whilst playing a game on the Xbox will be one that hurts my heart a lot.

For me I wish I could keep them little and adventurous forever. Keep their imaginations as beautiful as they are at the moment. For now I'll let them explore for they are adventurers.