Give them space

What is it to EXPERIENCE Nature?

✨Suppose I walk through a field where wildflowers are blooming. The flowers reveal their colours to me through the eyes - that is the fact I accept as a give. When I then take pleasure in the wonderful display of colours, I am turning the fact into something that concerns me personally - that is, by means of my feelings, I relate the flowers to my own existence. A year later, when I go back to the same field, new flowers are there and they arouse new joy in me. The previous years enjoyment rises up as a memory; it is present in me although the object that prompted it in the first place is gone” Steiner, Theosophy, p23✨

We can get a glimpse here into the wonder and nourishment experiences in nature bring to the inner life of our children. To their view on the world, their perceptions of the changes around them. How children experience everything first time around is so crucial to their perception and experience of it in the future. How can we ensure that experiences are nourishing and positive for children?

~ Allow them physical room, to explore fully, allow them to immerse themselves in their surroundings, to feel their body grounded in the world around them, allow them to take risks to have fun with learning about their new world! Its new everyday for a child they are living moment by moment. How can we enrich and nourish children’s experiences?

~ Allow them time. When they are in a dreamy place, or sitting quietly watching that ladybird or cradling that pine come in their hand, as well meaning adults we want to draw their attention to the physical aspects of these things, where they came from, what they do. Children are already making deep soul connections to these objects and linking them to their experiences in the world that surrounds them. We don’t know what they are wondering - allow them that time to piece the puzzle together slowly, little by little to live IN the world as part of the puzzle and not view it from an outside perspective.

- Repeat experiences, allow them to revisit places year on year - to build a complex wealth of experiences that allows their soul to be filled with joy and knowing.