Pitchforks and Plastic Prongs
My son love aminals. Monkeys and elephants are his favourites (and dinosaurs – not sure if they count). He sees them on TV, reads about them in books, and cuddles up to their stuffing-filled likenesses.
Except for a few pets of family and friends, Q’s exposure to living animals has been restricted to those in cages, behinds bars & fences, and within pens with low walls.
Recently, I realised just how little exposure he got to country living and decided that I wanted to share with him some of the experiences I cherished most as a child – spending time at a farm with the animals and having pretty much free rein to explore.
Last week while visiting my Dad in my hometown, I took Q to the farm I used to frequent as a kid. My brother, sister-in-law, and their 4 kids (under 5) joined us!
We arrived at the farm at feeding time – the barn was full of sheep and lambs clamouring for food and making a LOT of noise. A lot. The farmer’s grandchildren were there – both of whom were under 4… (in case you’re counting, that is 7 children under 5).
As we were adjusting to the smells and sounds of the barn, the farmer’s 23 month old grandson grabbed a pitchfork of hay and started walking around with it. All us city-folk looked at each other and I wondered when someone was going to rush over, grab it from him, and tell him how unsafe it was and that he should not touch it. No one did. He wandered around with it like he did it everyday… and I realised that he probably did! It struck me. Here was a boy 2 months younger than my son wielding a pitchfork in a barn, and Q doesn’t even have metal prongs on his cutlery!
I took a mental step back and considered the different ways people live. What works for one lifestyle and family isn’t necessarily right for another. It gave me some perspective and made me wonder if I wasn’t giving Q enough credit to fend for himself and take some risks. At dinner that night, I gave him a metal fork – and you know what? No eyes were lost and no flesh was stabbed.
After we’d had enough of the barn, we went outside where the tractors were! Q got to sit in them all by himself – and he hasn’t stopped talking about it since.
Our trip to the farm was refreshing – quite possibly the best day of Q’s life. As often as I can, I am going to take Q to the farm. Although he won’t make it there as often as I did when I was a kid, I hope the experiences stay with him and give him perspective as he moves through his life.
It took a pitchfork to make me realise that plastic prongs might be extreme.
How much rein were you given when you were a kid?
How much rein do you give your children?
April 10th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
I’m glad Q had a good day at the farm. I too would have been like, he’s got a pitchfork. My son (you know him well) has been using a regular adult fork for a while, he just couldn’t “stab” food with the plastic ones. But I agree, I wonder if sometimes we don’t give our kids enough credit to figure things out on their own… We need to let them have some more “freedom”.