My son is a “country” kid. Being in a rural community gives him lots of opportunities. Really, you might ask….. Yes! He doesn’t go to fancy sports camps it is true. But he runs outside, explores the forest, digs in the earth. He doesn’t go to a fancy science camp. He doesn’t need to, because mother nature is his text book and laboratory. He doesn’t visit fancy art museums, he finds his own inner muse and creates art himself. He doesn’t go to the movies but once or twice a year, but he can tell tales that Hollywood would pay for.
My child does not go without, as some might view it. My child is blessed by his rural life. He knows his neighbors, he loves the land, he cares for the world around him and he creates and gives back to the world he lives in. He will be the first to think of others and do what he can to help.
An example of this….. There was an oil spill on a local river a few years back. My son begged to volunteer (he was four) to help wildlife that was effected. He asked me to drive him to stores to collect donations for the Humane Society for the pets that were being brought there because like their humans they were forced from their homes. He was four!!! His heart hurt for the world and he wanted to make it better.
My child reads above his grade level because there are books everywhere in our home. My child is curious not to know the names of the latest fad cartoon, but the life cycle of a Darkling beetle. My child can make homemade bread. He knows how to bottle feed a lamb. He knows things, important things, about life and his world. He begs for things like chickens and chemistry sets. For me that is amazing. Most kids his age beg to go to concerts and for new technology. He does use a computer (very well, too well.) Don’t get me wrong, he is a kid, he begs for toys too!
So why am I telling you all of this? Not because I have the world’s greatest child…. Far from it some days. I tell you all of this because being a “country” kid in my opinion is a blessing. They learn to do more with less. They understand where their food comes from and how close we are connected to the land. They aren’t as tainted by the big bad world. I want him to stare at the stars in amazement and wonder about migrating birds. Childhood is such a precious fleeting thing and I want my child to have his as long as possible.
Great post, Mindie!
Thank you Meredith!
Love this!! My kids are absolutely country kids also. They have played for hours with a stick tied with a string to a snow shovel… No, I have no idea what they were doing, but they drug it all over our 7 acres and back again for hours! Lol! I think it is such a blessing that they are outside, playing and learning everyday! Great post!
Hey if it kept them busy for hours, who cares right! LOL
PS- he is adorable!! 🙂
Aww thanks…I think he is kind of cute, but then I am his mom LOL
LOve this. I grew up this way as my parents had 80 acres and eventually 160 acres, mostly farmland. Some woods and I would roam them for hours all by myself. Course 40 yrs. ago the world was safer. Such a wonderful way to raise kids. we didn't have much land but our kids grew up without all the technology that was available at that time. Great photos. Deb
We don't live on much land but we take advantage of public lands, state parks and the like.
Mindie, you have a homeschooling heart.
Awww thank you for saying so 🙂
I so agree with this post. We are a farming family and homeschooled all four of our children. Our youngest, Olivia is a senior this year and they've spent years working on the farm and in the greenhouse seeing science in life. They've played in the mud and ran in the fields, danced in the rain and worked with the wind in snow on their face and the summer sun on their back. So again I agree, the child born on a farm in born in the best classroom life has to offer. Thanks for the reminder!
Oh Kelly I wish I could home school my boys but my hubby is against it. So I try with every experience to give them more so they will be ahead of their peers LOL Just because I can't officially do it doesn't me you can't do it every moment of their lives anyways 🙂
Mindie – Thanks for sharing. I agree with you 100% that a country kid has the best life. The lessons from living that life are something kids can't get anywhere else!
Ah Gretchen if we could bottle it, we would be rich! LOL
Couldn't agree with you more. Wish our boy had grown up in the country. But better late than never, right? Your son has a big heart. So glad you are able to nurture it in ways that are meaningful to him. Enjoy…
Awww Thank you!
Hey Mindie. I love this post…again. 😉 Thanks for sharing at the HomeAcre Hop and come back and see us this week. http://everythinghomewithcarol.com/self-sufficient-homeacre-hop/
I love this and I agree completely! I grew up in the country and moved to the city and thought I was hot stuff but when I had my own children I couldn't wait to get back to the country and give them what I had. It is a beautiful way to spend a childhood!
I tried to run from the country LOL But it is home and like you said, a beautiful way to spend childhood.
Thanks so much for reposting this in your 2013 favorites! I have pinned it to my "children" board on Pinterest. Love, a mom wishing she lived on farm!
Aww thanks. That means a lot to me.