Daily walking

For a long time I have wanted to get into the habit of taking a walk everyday. I always have some excuse, generally a lack of time. And sometimes that it is too hard to walk with the kids. When we started "school" one of the first things I implemented was a daily walk. The kids and I go out and walk "the triangle," a small area in our neighborhood where, oddly, three streets come together to make a triangle. It is a block from our house, and 3 blocks for the triangle, then a block back to our house. We are certainly not breaking any distance records, but the kids can walk it all on their own, no strollers are required, and we get out of the house each day. We have occasionally been able to make the walk a bit longer, too. The best part, though, are the spontaneous lessons that happen as we walk, and the conversations we get to have.

Tonight, Kiddo and I walked farther than the triangle. It was just the two of us, and we walked at sunset. The beauty of walking hand in hand with a child while you stop and use your five senses to explore the rock at the edge of the path, to touch it, smell it, look closely at it, listen to it, and pretend to taste it, cannot be matched by anything else. And as we walked by houses with kitchen lights on and looked in at the school age children and their parents looking distressed as they bent over the nights homework, I was filled with gratitude for the opportunity I have been given to learn beside my child.

Yes, daily walking is a time of spontaneous lessons for all of us.