Advocacy

What Are You Staring At?

Jeanna G3 Comments

Back in the day, if you caught someone staring, you’d say, “Take a picture, it’ll last longer!” Now no one looks at each other, and all we do is take pictures. Like thousands of pictures. And I bet 90% of them are of the most mundane things!

In the grocery store the other day, my daughter was taking pictures of the shelves of pickles. I asked her, “Are you afraid you’ll forget this moment? Do you need this documentation for later reference?” She rolled her eyes. “It’s aesthetic, mom.” Aesthetic? I’ll show you aesthetic, child.

The next morning I dragged her out of bed and drove her to a state park. We hiked several miles through the woods to a waterfall. We sat and stared at the flowing water. I interrupted the serenity of the moment and said to her, “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.”

I got a side-eye, but then she whipped out her phone and started taking countless pictures of our natural surroundings. Then, on the hike back to the car, she stared at all the photos she took, and tripped over several tree roots in the process.

Staring is often considered rude, but I say stare away. Stare at the clouds changing shapes. Stare at the ocean waves rolling in. Stare at the sun rays filtering through the canopy of rustling leaves. Stare at the hummingbird hovering over the feeder. Stare at the face of your loved ones. Stare at the moon and the twinkling stars. Stare at a field of wildflowers dancing in harmony. Stare at a horde of fireflies putting on a light show. And once your eyes get tired, take a picture so it’ll last longer.

Nature Walks

Jeanna GLeave a comment

We often had nature walks as a part of our learning experience in elementary school. We’d have a list of critters and plants to hunt for on these walks. 6th grade took it to the next level and we were assigned the Leaf Project. We had to find and identify a ton of different leaves, and put them in an album. It was a lot of work, but it nurtured my love for nature. Also in middle school, I helped to create the recycling team. We were responsible for getting recycling bins into every classroom, and then emptying them every week during homeroom. I’m still very conscious about recycling, reducing, and reusing materials, and not just because Earth Day is every day, but because waste not, want not.

I spend a lot of time outdoors for my job, so I’ll admit that, when my shift is over, I prefer to head inside to a cool, dark place. (FYI: North Carolina is hot.) However, I miss my nature walks. In celebration of Earth Day, I’m going to make a goal of going on two nature walks per month. I go on dog walks every day, but I’m actually going to go to a new trail, a new set of trees, and new body of water to admire and enjoy. And I will whisper two things to my surroundings: 1) thank you and 2) I’m sorry on behalf of of the humans who don’t know better or care more. As a student of kinesiology, I work with the understanding that, if we don’t take care of our bodies, we’ll have no place to live. The same goes for our beautiful, fragile planet.

On my nature walks, I vow to leave my phone in the car. I think Earth Day should have a subtitle: Look Around You Not at Your Phone Day. I also vow to leave the trail better than I find it. I hope more people do the same on Earth Day, and every day.

Molding With Play-Doh

Jeanna G1 Comment

I run summer camps for kids, and we offer the campers Kindness Coins when they exhibit behaviors that are respectful or honest, or if they’re being a good sport, etc. At the end of the week, the kids can spend those coins at the camp store.

This past week, we transported 10 campers from a low-income neighborhood to join in our camp. When it was their time to buy their prizes, one of the boys held up a container of Play-Doh and asked what it was. I about fell over. I answered his question, but he was still confused as to what one does with it. I told him that he can mold it into different shapes and objects. I ended up giving him a few containers of it, because I just couldn’t stand knowing he had never played with Play-Doh before!

My blog posts are intended to help readers rediscover their childhoods, or to create new child-like experiences, but I’d like to add a new intention to the list: encourage my readers to help children live their best lives!

There are kids who have nothing to play with. Play helps us to learn and grow, and to have curiosities about and motivations for the future. And don’t forget how much joy they can bring into our lives! And yes, Christmas is a great time to donate, but kids like toys all the time! Some places to consider: foster homes, day cares, and womens’ shelters, or organizations like The Toy Foundation, Stuffed Animals For Emergencies, or Toys for Tots.

Please consider donating toys. While they are molding little creations from their imaginations, we can feel good about helping to mold our youth into happy little humans.