Outdoor Schools

I love the rain. But only when I'm inside a cozy room, reading a book.

No. That's not true. I love rain when I'm standing in the middle of a green mountain forest. I love rain when I'm drinking hot coffee somewhere with a friend. I love rain when it's loud and bright after a hot summer day. I do love the rain.

But I can't imagine going to school....in the rain.

I watched a video today about preschools in Northern Norway, where the children go to school nearly all day, all year round, outside. These children are some of the toughest, strongest children I've seen. These children are exploring their environment in the rain, the snow, the sun, the ice, and loving it. For the most part.

The woman who runs these schools is brilliant. She has such adept, intelligent ideas on children and the major issues with education these days, and I can only imagine she is a force to be reckoned with. As she so wonderfully says, "There's no such thing as bad weather. There are only bad clothes."

There are people out there who would object, I'm sure, saying that in some way or another this is torture to a child. But the thing is, the children love it. And their activities allow for some of the best motor development to be seen. The children walk through different terrains of all kinds, including a rocky beach down to the water. It's been found that children who engage in walking on different terrains like this have better developed motor skills, better coordination and better balance than children who play on smooth, artificial playground surfaces.

Perhaps one of the things I really took out of this short documentary, though, was the tribute to the idea of danger that we are constantly pressing on our children. Everything is dangerous. I hear mothers always saying, 'Don't do that! It's dangerous!' But for a child, 'dangerous' is a very abstract concept. What is dangerous? They don't understand. Children need to go out and learn how to develop their motor skills (both large and fine). We need to let our children take chances and develop themselves, motivate themselves through stretching their limits. It's scary, and I understand that, but if you never give your child a chance, they will never be able to learn.



Until the next time...