Kids and Nature I believe that children need nature and that nature needs kids to be in it in order for our world to survive.

People will occasionally tell me that they can’t connect with nature because they live in the city.  They view nature as something far away that they will have to travel to explore.

They couldn’t be more wrong.

My little girl is three months old and I’ve noticed that when I take her outside, she calms down and listens to the birds, enjoying the world around her.  She’s connecting with nature in our own backyard.

If you want to go a little further afield, visit a park and have a picnic, let your kids go biking or even float down whatever body of water is available.

There are always opportunities for connecting with nature close to home.

Why not share your favourites in the comments and I will try to remember to do a post about everything that you come up with.

One of the great joys of a Canadian winter is sledding down a hill.  As a child, I remember ripping down hills that were taller than I was and laughing all the way (as the song goes).  I remember Crazy Carpets, giants disks and a whole bunch of other things.  They were awesome.  Sure, one time, when I was going down a hill on a giant tube it launched me into the air and winded me when I landed, but I was back up the hill shortly afterwards and there was no lifetime damage.  The worst accidents that I ever saw were broken bones and one concussion (and that was an adult).  Why?  Because people knew where to sled, we increased our comfort level to a place where we were happy and didn’t go beyond it.  It was part of learning about our own risk management and risk tolerance. It was fun and it was important learning.

Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/welsnet

So, I was shocked today to learn that many municipalities have banned sledding or are considering banning it.  Hamilton has banned it in city parks since 2001, Toronto and Calgary only allow it on designated hills and a number of cities in the US are following Hamilton’s lead and banning it outright.  This makes me really angry.  I can understand publishing the safety risks of sledding or suggesting that people wear a helmet.  I even get the idea that some hills are just too dangerous for sledding – like this one in a parking lot – but an outright ban makes not sense at all and gives the idea that sledding is somehow more dangerous than skiing or snowboarding.

With that in mind, I am proposing that we make this Sunday, January 11th, the first annual “go sledding day.”  I’m not suggesting that you break the law of course, but find a hill (here is a great resource for that) and go sledding with your kids.  If you’d like, tweet or instagram your fun with the hashtag #gosledding (I was going to suggest #takebackthehill, but it turns out that’s a political hashtag).  It would be fantastic to see the internet full of people having fun out there this weekend.

Photo courtesy of Pierce (https://www.flickr.com/photos/qwrrty/)

I think that one of the greatest things about living in Calgary is that it’s a big city AND I can have a campfire in my backyard. There is nothing nicer than the end of a hard day at work, sitting around the fire.

But why have I only limited it to the summer months?

Last weekend, I started on what I’m going to call my “make peace with winter” backyard. I lit a campfire, my son played in the snow for about an hour and a half, and it started building a snow heat reflector around the fire (really, it will be more of a wind break). The idea is that I will be able to sit outside in all weather, read a book and have a nice fire and be warm. It worked quite nicely yesterday, and it was -20 or lower for the whole time I was out there.

We’ll be having a lot more winter this year, so we’re going to have a lot more winter campfires too!

It was really cloudy last night, so I couldn’t ponder the stars as I went on my evening walk. That gave me some time to think about winter clothing for kids. While I was researching my last blog post, I came across a lot of school policies for a kid who comes to school without lunch. They were all a variation of “if your kid arrives without lunch, we will make sure they get one.” In some cases, the school would have a fee to the parents for the lunch for this service.

What I didn’t see what “if your kid comes without a jacket (mitts, hat, etc) we will make sure they get one.” Obviously, this would be complicated, but if governments were serious about the outdoors as a wellness activity and as something that promotes learning, they would fund such a thing. Schools could have a materials manager who looked after clothing and other equipment (like computers, desk, snowshoes, etc). Parents would still be responsible for being the primary provider of proper outdoor clothing but, if your kid comes without mitts, we’ll make sure they get them.

So, it’s currently – 28 with the windchill here in Calgary.  That means that, if school were running, the local school board would cancel recess.  The theory is that it’s too cold to do anything and too dangerous to let kids outside.  Instead, kids are allowed to run around the gym, play computer games, read or play other games.  This means that the kids lose the opportunity to burn off some energy, gain the calming benefits of nature and get some valuable exercise.  It would be far better if we adopted the old Norwegian custom of “no bad weather, only bad clothing.”  This is a country where people embrace winter – it’s no wonder that they dominate Cross Country Skiing at the Olympics!  It does mean that we’re going to have to think a little bit differently about what our kids go to school in though.  Jeans and t-shirt, while stylish, aren’t going to stay stylist very long if your kids freeze in them.

My $5 balaclava came in handy today!

Here’s a great video from Active Kids Club that shows how people should get dressed during the winter (and, go figure, Kari, who runs the site, is originally from Norway). It’s a great place to start.  I would add that you can find most of the clothing at places cheaper than the high end stores – Costco sells Merino Wool Socks and underwear, lots of places sell fleece and high end gear can be found cheaply on eBay – I paid nearly $500 for a jacket like this one 15 years ago and now it can be found for under $20. Patagonia even has a partnership with them to encourage people to buy used.

I was out for ages today – dressed well, I even got a bit too hot at one point. That meant that I was able to take some photographs, get some exercise and really enjoy the day.  I couldn’t have done that if I’d stayed inside!