Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

We didn’t have official resolutions this year but what I do have might be an unpopular wish for my children.

I wish to raise a wild child.  

Barring completely failing out of school, I don’t strive for my child to have the highest grades. I want my children to be free-thinkers, to be tinkerers, adventurous in their creations and inventions.

On New Year’s Day, in below zero weather, the boys and I got dressed and went to a nearby park. It has been our annual tradition to go to a nature area of some kind to start the new year. I’m glad the kids are still at an age where they are not complaining too much about going outdoors in freezing weather. Perhaps we have been doing this often enough that it’s been indoctrinated into their minds. Success!

During our new year’s day walk N climbs a fallen tree and slides down it multiple times. He says to me, “Mommy, look, it’s nature’s playground!” I hope his sense of awe and appreciation and ability to play like this lasts forever. My eldest, L, meanwhile has found a log and is carrying it on his shoulders in front of me. Later, we find some rocks and see how far we can throw them across the frozen pond. I can still hear the traffic on the road nearby, but for that moment, we are in our own world.

If the first day of the year is any indication of what 2018 will be for us, it will be a good year.