Children and Nature = Utopia

Children and Nature = Utopia 

Let the children be free; encourage them;

let them run outside when it is raining;

let them remove their shoes when they find a puddle of water;

      and when the grass of the meadows is wet with dew,

let them run on it and trample it with their bare feet;

let them rest peacefully when a tree invites them to sleep beneath

      its shade;

let them shout and laugh when the sun wakes them in the morning.”

              ~ Maria Montessori

                                 

             

                                            Wall Mural by Dr Abe V Rotor

Barangay Greater Lagro QC

“Because children grow up, we think a child's purpose is to grow up. But a child's purpose is to be a child. Nature doesn't disdain what lives only for a day. It pours the whole of itself into the each moment. We don't value the lily less for not being made of flint and built to last. Life's bounty is in its flow, later is too late. Where is the song when it's been sung? The dance when it's been danced?

It's only we humans who want to own the future, too. We persuade ourselves that the universe is modestly employed in unfolding our destination. We note the haphazard chaos of history by the day, by the hour, but there is something wrong with the picture. Where is the unity, the meaning, of nature's highest creation? Surely those millions of little streams of accident and willfulness have their correction in the vast underground river which, without a doubt, is carrying us to the place where we're expected! But there is no such place, that's why it's called utopia.

The death of a child has no more meaning than the death of armies, of nations. Was the child happy while he lived? That is a proper question, the only question. If we can't arrange our own happiness, it's a conceit beyond vulgarity to arrange the happiness of those who come after us.” ― Tom Stoppard, The Coast of Utopia

‘We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”

~Unknown

“Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life. ~John Muir

“I do not miss childhood, but I miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as greater things crumbled. I could not control the world I was in, could not walk away from things or people or moments that hurt, but I took joy in the things that made me happy.” ― Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane

“Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days.” ― Flannery O'Connor, Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose ~

“Encourage your child to have muddy, grassy or sandy feet by the end of each day, that’s the childhood they deserve.” - Penny Whitehouse

“Encourage your kids to look for
nature everywhere you go.
It’s the weed breaking through the pavement,
It’s the leaves forming small
clumps along the side of the road.
It’s the sky at any given time
of the day or night.
It’s the wind doing what it
Likes to your hair.
Look around, it won’t take long to find it.”
~Penny Whitehouse

Sad child?
Nature.
Cranky child?
Nature.
Bored child?
Nature.
You’re welcome
~Penny Whitehouse

I sincerely believe that for the child, and for the parent seeking to guide him, it is not half so important to know as to feel when introducing a young child to the natural world. If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow. The years of early childhood are the time to prepare the soil.” ~Rachel Carson

“Without continuous hands-on experience, it is impossible for children to acquire a deep intuitive understanding of the natural world that is the foundation of sustainable development. ….A critical aspect of the present-day crisis in education is that children are becoming separated from daily experience of the natural world, especially in larger cities.” ~ Robin C. Moore and Herb H. Wong

“Children are born with a sense of wonder and an affinity for nature. Properly cultivated, these values can mature into ecological literacy, and eventually into sustainable patterns of living.” ~Zenobia Barlow

We must teach our children to smell the earth, to taste the rain, to touch the wind, to see things grow, to hear the sun rise and night fall – to care. ~ John Cleal

“When children play in natural spaces, they’re far more likely to invent their own games than in more structured settings – a key factor in becoming self-directed and inventive adults later in life” ~Richard Louv

“Anything you teach in an indoor classroom can be taught outdoors, often in ways that are more enjoyable for children.” ~ Cathy James

“Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.” ~John Lubbock

“It is vital that when educating our children’s brains we do not neglect to educate their hearts by nurturing their compassionate nature.” ~ Dalai Lama

“Looking back, I realize that nurturing curiosity and the instinct to seek solutions are perhaps the most important contributions education can make.” ~Paul Berg

“and when all the wars are over, a butterfly will still be beautiful.”
― Ruskin Bond, Scenes from a Writer's Life

Acknowledgement with thanks: Internet sources of quotations ~