“Oh yeah, it’s Tree Tuesday!” quoted Kid 2 as we got ready for a day of Camp Mom. All three kids loved climbing and fruit-harvesting in the fig trees of Marana Heritage River Park during our second week of summer vacation, so they were game for a new location in the third week. Sweetwater Wetlands was on the itinerary. We went, the ants out-competed my kids in tree-climbing on the cottonwoods, and we agreed that the cattails were actually the coolest thing to play with there.
In the absence of most day camp and social options this strange COVID-19 summer, and out of a visceral need on my part for some order to our days, this mom dons a teacher/counselor hat for a couple hours each morning. Some days we explore local parks – the tree theme serving a double purpose of enjoying nature and steering the kids away from the playground structures. Some days we make or bake something at home. I tried “Work Wednesday” to get some potentially paying projects done with the kids in tow… it’s now “Water Wednesday”, and playing with the hose in the backyard last week helped us all get along much better.
How many working parents are in your home, and how are you each doing with the kids home too? Much as I love to blog and to plan and – seems like a dream now – to lead actual classes, it was a reasonable choice at the beginning of Summer 2020 for me to put Nature to You on pause and devote more attention to my kids. We’re doing OK, with afternoon help from my husband, Minecraft, and daycare for the littlest to make even “OK” possible. Some trying situations have included the kids’ unwillingness to share nature with ants, Kid 1’s resistance to wearing masks, constant battles over couch cushions inside, and the heat and tired-of-each-other-ness making us too crabby to play even freeze tag nicely outside. I share these tidbits as a reality check against the also-true bright spots I like to photograph.
Below is a gallery of summer activities that have helped my kids and me connect with nature and with each other, even as the world of COVID-19 and school uncertainty swirls around us. Camp Mom lessons learned of managing kids both inside and out will also help ground my expectations when public Nature to You lessons resume.
