Wonder, Wanawi, and the World of Children

 

                                              Illustration from On the Trapline

1 Teach me, God, to wonder, teach me, God, to see;

let your world of beauty capture me.

Praise to you be given, love for you be lived,

life be celebrated, joy you give.

                                                              Voices United 299

We're blessed that over the next few days we'll spend time with our four grandchildren. The oldest two will be with us and we're hoping that we can get out in our canoe. All of them enjoy time outside and unstructured play, exploring and goofing around. 

Yesterday I listened to a segment of CBC Radio's The Current with this intro: 

This summer, some parents are opting out of the packed schedules, the summer camps, and little leagues and instead are saying yes to slower days at home. Amil Niazi, a columnist for The Cut, shares how she’s embracing an unscheduled, unstructured summer — sometimes called “kidrotting.” And child psychologist Janine Hubbard explains why letting kids be bored might actually be good for them.

The "kidrotting" moniker is tongue-in-cheek, although composting is a good idea. It was really about the pressure on children and parents to be participants in the Summer Camp Industrial Complex that oppressively structures the summer for a lot of families. Our grandkids do enjoy their summer programs and thrive in them. I'm glad, though, that there is plenty of wiggle room for creativiy and randomness and even boredom. One interviewed mom has decided to give her children more free range opportunities, the way she enjoyed summers as a child, although with restrictions on screen time. 

I do wish that the canonical gospels told us more about Jesus' childhood, with only Luke sharing a story of him going AWOL during the annual pilgrimage from Nazareth to Jerusalem and back. There is also the Infancy Gospel of Thomas with stories about Jesus' childhood, including incidents like molding clay birds that come to life, cursing a boy who disrupts his play, and striking dead a man who bumped into him. Yikes! We can appreciate why this one didn't make the cut for the New Testament but at least he gets to be a boy, albeit one with a dangerous temper. 

I also came upon a Globe and Mail opinion piece by Indigenous writer David A. Robertson,  a two-time Governor-General’s Literary Award winner. He offers: 

My father’s first language was Swampy Cree. I’ve been working to learn the language, word by word. In one of the picture books I’ve authored, On the Trapline, there is a Cree word on every page. One of them is wanawī, which in English means “go outside.” It’s not an order, it’s a teaching. It’s one that frankly all of us should learn and practise, not just our kids.

Is encouraging children and grandchildren to be "bewildered outsiders" (my personal goal) a spiritual practice? I would like to think so, at any age, for the benefit of body, mind and soul. Wanawi!