A couple of weeks ago we went on a short trip camping with a few folk from church. It has been the first year a quite a few where we had done no camping at all.
And I realised how much I had missed it!
Missed the freshness of an outdoor breakfast, the boiling of water for a cup of hot coffee…the lingering over nothing and the kids running free…for me that was the part I realised I had missed the most. For them, camping brings freedom. Behind the field where we pitched was a woodland. Few adults entered; it was mainly the domain of the kids and when anyone asked where a child was the answer usually came ‘…in the woods’.
I have no idea what they did or the games they played. I have no idea of the precarious trees they climbed or holes they dug. All I saw were flashes of children running every so often, through the trees, in their woodland wonderland. Their forest school. Their freedom adventure.
They felt free and swept up in the spirit of adventure.
No time keeping other than a sprint back to the tent to get some food.
And they didn’t want to come home…and when we did, they asked when we could go back.
So with whatever you have, no matter how basic the supplies…with every bone in my body I would implore you to parcel them up and take them into the wild for a day or two. Free them from the structure and pressure of all that the world lays on their wee shoulders and let them roam.
Let them be adventurers.
Let them be free.
