Activities for connecting with your kids and the more-than-human while schools are closed (or anytime!)
Hi folks, I know many of us are staying home as much as possible right now, and many of your kiddos have school closures for the foreseeable future.
As we enter into this liminal space of possible self-quarantine, not knowing what lies on the other side, and surrendering to the ways we need to adjust and flow, I want to remind all of us (myself included), that while seeing and touching and being close to our human loved ones is such a fundamental part of human-ness, perhaps this time of separation can give us the chance to focus on the other beings around us that are ready and willing to connect.
Yes, it’s so important to use our technology for staying in touch, checking in, and being social with our loved ones. Thank you technology, how lucky we are if we have access to your systems!
But as people, we have never truly been in a bubble of only humans connecting with humans. We have ALWAYS had relationships with the more-than-human. We see this today in the way we love our pets or our houseplants or our gardens. I want to offer the perspective that everything living, inside and outside your door, is there waiting to meet you.
Let’s take walks outside, and really meet the tree at the end of our driveways. See if you can open and feel into the presence of the being in front of you. Imagine it’s, well, a person you’re meeting for the first time, because in a way, it is. You could sit with it, talk with it, sing with it. Smell the bark, see how the roots are spreading through the ground, put your ear against the trunk and listen. See if you can keep your mind from jumping to conclusions about who this tree is. Let the tree tell you who they are.
Don’t worry about feeling silly- trees like that sort of thing. We all secretly want to be seen, known, and loved for who we are.
And kids like that sort of thing! Who knows, your child may already be on a first name basis with that tree. You could ask them and find out.
In the hopes of encouraging our connection to the world around us, along with offering just a little support to the parents who are taking on a lot of extra childcare during this unprecedented time, I’m going to be posting one activity per day designed to give you something to do with your kids, help you feel held by your place, and hopefully a little less alone.
We are not alone! Even when we can’t reach our people as easily as we’d like. We have the more-than-human world around us, just waiting to keep us company.