Every Child’s Right
After a telephone call from a dear friend of mine, informing me that there are some wondrous frozen waves down in the Beach(es) here in Toronto, it only took a moment's thinking to decide that it was something that I had to show Huxley.
This was what we found:
Then this is what Huxley did.
We where there from about 4:30 pm until 5:45 pm. There was one other dad with two little ones (probably about 3 and 4 years old), some adults and with/out dogs. Am I strange to think it odd that the beach wasn't crowded with parents and children trying to see this transformed beach? I am not judging others, I know that for many people we probably under-book Huxley with after-school activities.
When I first told Huxley that we would go to see the ice-waves, he wasn't excited, he actually asked me if instead we could go skating. I shared with him my last experience of this phenomenon was about 23 years ago, during my first winter here in Toronto. He didn't say much, except to ask if we would be able to touch the waves. I said we would have to see how safe it was.
Immediately upon our arrival on the beach he was mesmerized. My little boy that can hardly contain himself and has words on his lips almost constantly was overcome with a deep quiet and solace. He was awed, so was I. The beauty of this landscape, has something outerwordly to it. Huxley became one with it, and yet he let me lead (another thing that his strong personality doesn't often grant me).
Living in this big city, yet reading your many blogs and watching your children grow up close to the land often has me wistful. I feel that I am not giving Huxley enough of what he needs. It is a real effort to muster up the energy on a weekday to zoom around after school. 3:30 is when school is out, dinner should be by 6, so including cooking time of about 1 hour, that means we have but one-and-a-half hours to do something meaningful. Generally I have been working all day at the studio and am looking forward to just coming home, making him a snack, sitting down in front of the computer and quickly checking my e-mail to see if there is anything business related that needs tending too before the end of the day. All to often, this quick time at the computer turns into that precious hour and a half and I begin cooking dinner guilty of not having given that time to him.
Today I feel that I have made up for some of these days, and am also inspired of trying to think of more little outings like this. I think it is his right, as it should be all children's rights to experience the natural world around them at all times during the year, especially when Mother Nature has given us a particularly wonderful gift — like frozen waves.
Have you been outside in nature today? What did it take for you to make it happen? I would love to hear from you
Love these pictures. What a magical scenery at the beach in Toronto. Huxley looks very happy at this marvelous playground. I’ve visited Toronto only in the summer and love the city. We moved to the country side when our daughter was 2 after having spent a few years in Barcelona. Now, we are always surrounded by nature and it takes 10 minutes to get away from traffic. I personally miss the city, but see clearly the benefits of living in a quiet place while our daughter is young.
I know to well the feeling of “squeezing” computer time into the afternoon whens I should really do something interesting with my child. She’s 8 and loves to read which helps, but still. It does get much easier when they’re a bit older.
Good to know, I’m not the only one.
Have a great weekend!
Kathrin… thanks for the compliments on the pictures.. Toronto is a wonderful city to live in, but the temperature differences are often 70 degrees Celsius between the summer heat of 40 Celsius with the humidity to almost minus 30 Celsius with the windchill. We have little pockets of nature hidden away, but it is not always easy to get there. My husband grew up very lonely in the country, and he now can’t fathom the idea to every move there again… Für mich, mit meiner schweizerischen Kindheit ist es sowiso unmöglich etwas ähnliches zu einem Dorf hier zu finden… Ich war gerade mal 30 minute per Zug von Zürich weg, aber das war ja sooo weit weg.. und die Wälder und Spazierwege die wir um unser Drof herum hatten, die gibt es hier leider einfach nicht. Dafür gehen wir immer gerne auf den Bruce Trail zum “wandern” im Sommer, nur fährt man halt mindestens ne Stunde um da hin zu kommen… und das ist dann in der Nähe… grins…