One Summer when I was pregnant with my middle child, pictured below, I took my oldest to Sea World almost every day. We didn’t have a huge budget and they offered a monthly payment plan that allowed us to get season passes, which we only used in the Summer, primarily to go swimming at the water park, that is all we did. All we could afford to do, or so I thought.
Fast forward to two years later, we no longer lived near Sea World, and I admit that I’ve struggled with entertaining my now, three young children. I found myself taking them to daily Target trips for a small toy just to get them out of the house, or God forbid, Hobby Lobby where I could bribe them with an over priced piece of chocolate, only to have them wrangled in a tiny cart busting at the seams to get out and break something.
My mama guilt sank in hard. These are the years of fun for them, of sight and touch and I’d somehow let that all get away from me.
I had become complacent in my parenting, and I’d forgotten about the joy of raising them! More to come on that topic.
But, today we did something simple, something free.
We visited our local Garden Center, a real live outdoor Garden Center and it was under my nose the entire time! And they LOVED it!
I had forgotten that E V E R Y Thing is NEW to them, every color, all the smells, all these amazing plants and textures, all brand new to my little ones.
What a sense of wonder it must be to experience everything for the very first time! How amazing is it that I get to watch my very own children experience all of these first?
Pretty awesome I’d say.
This year we will be searching out new places, unusual places where children can learn and experience things first hand.
The smell of dirt and the new texture of leaves between tiny fingers. This is all a sensory experience for them.
Learning gentle touches and that plants have feelings and are real living things is all part of the experience.
I’ll admit I did invest five dollars on some succulents, for my littles, but also for mama, I’m working on my green thumb.
