Wilding Your Child
Connecting Deeply with Nature this Summer
Get the bug for nature!
There’s a lot of talk about ‘wilding’ just now; the beauty of letting Nature take over an urban or over-manicured outdoor space. What about ‘wilding’ our children too? Allowing Nature to fill a part of every day, inviting your child to feel its thrill and inspiration; finding this in rivers, in the night sky, in insect life, in a shower of rain, in glimpses of wildlife, or just in going barefoot.
Why? Because the UK’s Raising the Nation (Play Commission) says our children are growing up ‘sedentary, scrolling and alone’ due to a dramatic decline in play. The panelof experts, after a year investigating play and childhood in England, called this ‘theleast happy generation’ we have on record. In schools in the Global West, we see an epidemic of anxiety and depression among our under-18s.
The positive impact of outdoor activities
However, from our school colonias, we know children and young adults happily forego mobiles and social media if we provide them with irresistible outdoor group activities. Jonathan Haidt (The Anxious Generation) writes about the experience of American summer camps, ‘Young people attend fully to each other, forming friendships and engaging in slightly risky and exciting outdoor activities that bond them together.’ Some ideas to help you ‘wild’ your child, and in the long term, to raise what Haidt terms ‘anti-fragile’ children; young people who are bold but wise risk-takers, moving through their world with confidence and curiosity.
Great ideas for wilding your child
1. A wonderfully simple checklist: 50 Things to Do Before You’re 11 ¾. Your child can tick them off. Aim for at least one per day before school begins again in September!
2. Local ideas in the Garraf area, for those not travelling this summer
Pick blackberries and eat them! Along the Riera in Ribes, best in August.
Sketch the moon every night and plot its waxing and waning.
Visit a local farm such as Can Pere to see the goats and make cheese or help collect the honey.
Meet the goats at Can Pere
Go on a night UV walk: see wildlife / insect / plant life at night & reveal its bioluminescence. Buy a Darkbeam UV torch (£9.99 on Amazon) and see fungi and snails in all their UV glory.
Go horse-riding at Tikkota, Canyelles , or just visit their lovely refuge / hospital for abandoned horses.
Go for a moonlit night walk on a country path with an adult but no torch- and discover your night sight.
See and hear the peacocks sing at dusk at the lovely abandoned Masía dels
Carçs on the road from school to Sant Pere: Link to Google Maps
Do the dramatic cliff walk along the sea from Sitges to Vilanova.
Stargazing: use an app to spot and identify the various stars, constellations, and even planets. Also, check the radar to see if there are any comets or stellar activity to look out for.
Camp in the garden for a night.
Make a picnic and take it to the woods to eat (Garraf natural park).
Make a den / shelter in the woods out of fallen trees and sticks.
Have an insect hunt: take magnifying glasses and find as many different insect as possible.
Outdoor movie night: set up a projector screen / a white sheet in the garden to make your own natural cinema!
Visit the archeological site at Vilanova and book a digging experience for children / teens.
Go crabbing at the Terramar Beach (and throw them back in).
Go snorkelling and see the fish close up- Terramar and Aiguadolç Beaches.
Go kayaking at Terramar / Aiguadolç Beach.
Go up into the Garraf natural park near Sitges / Ribes and follow some of the footpaths, collecting pine cones and fallen sticks to create a natural sculpture.
Spot local birds: hoopoes, swallows, swifts, birds of prey, and draw / photograph them.
Pick shells on the beach and make a mobile / necklace /collage.
Enjoy wilding your child - and yourself!
Audrey Reeder
Headteacher
