We have recently returned from spending a few days on the beach and whenever we go I come back with the same feeling that I like the mountain more, which does not offer water (unless you find lakes and rivers) but much more visual variety, more tranquility and more areas to explore. It is true that children have a good time at the beach, and there are parks there, but just as I am not a fan of the beach, I am not a fan of the parks either.
Parks are another example of canned fun, a kind of piece of artificial mountain, created by us, to bring children a little bit of nature: trees, soil on the ground, grassy areas, wooden swings, but all limited, with children queuing to be a while in one of them and in an environment surrounded by fences. Come on, I firmly believe that we should go less to the parks and more to the mountain and now I will tell you why.
The parks, that mountain of iron and wood
Going to the park is a benefit for children because it helps them psychomotor level. They go up, down, roll, turn and do everything having fun. It is that little corner in the city destined for children to burn a little of that overflowing energy they have, ideal for day to day. But the weekend, or the days that there may be an escape, we should flee from them because, after all, it is still a shabby emulation of nature in which many children must enjoy in turns, at which time conflicts arise because of the "do not slip", "wait, you still do not touch" and "do not hit the baby, he goes before."
But isn't it positive that they learn to respect shifts?
Yes, of course it is positive. Since we go to the park we can take the opportunity to teach children many things:
- Do not steal: you cannot take the toys away from other children.
- To respect the shifts: it is not your turn, get behind.
- To take care of the little ones: be careful, it is smaller.
- To climb the slide from bottom to top only when there is no one trying to get off.
- To know what that sharing is: you don't leave your toy, okay, but keep in mind that the other children won't want to leave theirs.
But hey, a child goes to the park to have fun. They spend the day harassed by school norms and it is assumed that the leisure time should be fun without having to wait waiting for others to finish or limiting yourself to what each swing offers. That is, in a park you can do many things, but the swings are always the same and what they offer does not vary. Once you know them, there are no more mysteries to solve or investigate. In addition, if there are no children, they can explore it and play in a thousand ways, but if there are many children the freedom is less, the slide goes up the stairs, the house goes up where it goes up, and not climbing the walls, etc.
In addition, everything a child learns on a social level is very good, if the parents are there to promote these norms, but what if they are not? Because I watch that my children do not slip, but it touches the noses that while I explain to mine that they should respect the shifts, other children constantly sneak in because nobody has explained to them that they are not alone. I talked about this a while ago and it may have happened to you, when I asked this question: To what extent do we have to educate the children of others in the park?
Why forest, why mountain, why nature
We have already explained the pros and cons of a park, and now it's time to defend my position in favor of the mountains and nature. What is the difference between a park and the mountain? Well, everything. They differ in practically everything. In the mountains and the forest the extension of land is much, but much greater. There are unevenness, roads, land, grass, plants, trees, rivers, lakes, streams, stones, etc. Hundreds of items to play with and hundreds of recesses to discover. There is no limit to exploration and, if there is one area, another is sought, since there is no nature.
That at the level of possibilities, which are many, if we compare the rest, then imagine: do not queue, do not wait. There is a tree for each child and you no longer have to watch another child slip into them and best of all, the mountain is alive and "mobile". You can't build a swing in a park, but you can build on the mountain with branches, leaves, stones and whatever you can think of. That's where each child's imagination comes in, the desire to do something and their ability to associate with other children to, together, devise something much greater. Come on, what we call teamwork.
"My son is bored on the mountain"
What happens when a child is used to playing easily? Well, if you take it to the mountain, you get bored. Of course, they are used to directed fun, either by us, either by other adults in extracurricular schools, or by the same structure where they have fun (the park, as I say, has many limits) and they don't know what to do. It is hard to break with that and that is where we can help them to open the mind that we have collaborated so much in closing them.
We have to give you the first ideas, something like "this mound seems difficult to climb, but surely from above I see you smaller", "this creek does not let me pass to the other side, but I could make a bridge", "I of small climbed trees "," what I want to step on barefoot grass, and water ... ", etc.
I do not know, let's say it is to give them some ideas so that then they start to turn the matter around, inventing games, crafts, trying possible things and impossible things, all in a place that, curiously, has been there for years and centuries. The world as it would be if man did not cover it with gray walls and barriers. The freedom of a place to enjoy and that must also be respected.
I know that you can't go during the week, of course, but what about the weekend? They do not charge entrance and you can go as many times as you want, being as long as you want. You can even take the food and enjoy a day in the mountains walking, playing, running, inventing. Can you ask for more?
Photos | Thinkstock
In Babies and more | Playgrounds, how should they be ?, Babies under 3 months: beach or mountain ?, Summer with children in the mountains: a world of fun
