The past few weeks have been extra busy. We celebrated my parents anniversary, my birthday, Mother’s Day, and my youngest’s first Holy Communion all while finishing up the end of the semester writing and grading. When there are so many celebrations at once, I find it hard to really be engrossed in them. I’m just constantly thinking of what has to be done next. Right now, that “next” is my son’s elementary school graduation. I didn’t think that it would be a big deal, but it is, and I’m sad about it. He will be going into middle school next year as a sixth grader, but supposedly he will be the last year of sixth graders to enter middle school. After his year, middle school will be from 7-8th grade rather than 6-8th.

I know I can’t keep my kids little forever, but I am trying to keep them as innocent as possible for as long as possible, and middle school is such a hard time. I’m not sure if I’m more upset about the rush to grow up or about the different structure once kids go to middle and high school. There is no recess or time to play and so much is computer based learning. I know at least in younger grades, paper and pencil is used more than screens. But in middle and high school so much is dependent on these screens that show, study after study, that it’s bad for everyone’s brains, especially children’s.

Maybe I’m delaying the inevitable, but I’ve been trying, really really hard to teach some things at home. I’ve limited screen time and am holding off on smartphones for as long as possible. I’ve filled the house with books and crafts. I’ve given them science kits and they help me in the garden.

I’m trying to keep the kids outside, learning about nature. When I was a kid, I went on walks with my grandmother and I learned so much without realizing it. She used to show me edible plants and berries, and what was NOT edible. I didn’t even realize I retained any of that until, when I was showing the kids that you could eat mulberries, that those leaves are from wild strawberries and not poison ivy, and that we could propagate a plant stub, they asked me how I knew any of it. I just knew from my walks.

So I’m hoping we can keep walking and keep learning outside. We walked a lot more during lock down, but I am trying to bring that habit back to us. Now that May is here, there’s a lot more to see and learn about. We recently walked to the lake in our neighborhood and saw lots of things to learn about. The kids saw tadpoles swimming by and goose with a speckled white neck. We couldn’t decide whether it was an adolescent or maybe just an example of biodiversity. We also saw a swan being territorial with a family of geese. The swan came up to bully the geese away. Mamma spread her wings to shield her babies and Dad lured the swan upstream. They talked about it for a while afterwards and decided they are not fans of swans, no matter how pretty they are.

Just from a walk they saw first hand examples of the life cycle, biodiversity, and how one species will protect its space while another protects its family. And maybe (hopefully) in the future, when they need to de-stress, instead of deciding to scroll they might choose a walk.