Woven into My Life
Entering back into the field of ECE to work alongside the children and educators was a daunting challenge within the second phase of the Lawson Foundation Project. An important clue was revealed to me. Perhaps it is my age and a little snippet of wisdom has developed? Regardless, in my encounters with the children, educators, the outdoor play space and sometimes, the parents, I felt joy, despair, exhaustion, amusement, frustration, and wonder. Sometimes this all happened in one day and sometimes, only briefly. However, the children never disappoint. Their curiosity and zest for life lifts me up without fail. Building relationship with children is an art. I was happy that I am still an artist with some skills left in this domain. The children embrace me easily, willingly and it is they who remind me how the outdoors is ‘woven’ within me.
Woven?
I grew up in a small town full of immigrants. My parents immigrated from Southern Italy, along with many of our relatives. While I only have one sister, I have 25 first cousins!! When I think back to my upbringing, what I remember most is playing outdoors - with my cousins, my sister, and our friends. We played in every season, using our imaginations.
Is this unique? I think not. However, the connection I still have to the outdoors has been fostered by my upbringing and culture. Besides playing outdoors, my big, loud, funny, Italian family did a lot outside. Fall is the harvest season, so off my parents went to get tomatoes for canning. Grapes were ordered to make wine. Sausage also had to be made ready, just in case we didn’t have enough food over the winter! While I joke about this, it stems from real life scenarios that my parents encountered in Italy. Slaughtering a large pig in the fall meant plenty of food over the winter months when meat was scarce.
Children were included in the fall harvest, as well as, gathering and preparing food across all the seasons. I did not see it as work, instead it was fun. My parents and relatives would tell stories about their childhoods and all the adventures, trials, and tribulations of growing up in post war Italy.
I recently interviewed my mom about her childhood and how she played in the outdoors. This interview with my ‘Ma’ reminds
me that children do not need ‘toys’ to be happy. Children are happiest when they have freedom to choose, to create, to problem solve, and to imagine. The community that surrounds children offers them the opportunities to play and learn.
What does this all mean?
Loris Malaguzzi (1920-1994) once said, “The environment should act as an aquarium which reflects the ideas, ethics, attitudes and culture of the people who live in it. This is what we are working towards.” Reggio.
Children will reveal their ideas if the adults are open and curious. The children remind me that my curiosity is still alive, my playfulness and silliness awakened. Learning need not be so serious or seen as a task to accomplish. The children prompt me again and again that they simply need an environment that allows for trial and error, exploration, and adventure. The outdoors supplies all of this and then some, but it also requires a community of people who support outdoor pedagogy.
Luckily, I have found such a community within this research project. I am supported by this community of practice which has expanded over these past 2 years. I am excited to see how the next phases of the research unfold and for the new learning I will embrace.
