Wisdom from a Wild Child: Part 3
By Louie Garramone
@theworldiswild
theworldiswild.com
I believe we are all born a little wild.
You’ve heard a thousand stories from parents who are committed to raising the family on outdoor adventure. But what about their kids’ perspectives? In his series “Wisdom from a Wild Child,” Louie Garramone turns to the kids, and asks them why they love being raised wild.
“At the end of the day, I always ask my son what his favorite part of the day was. One day while climbing a mountain he called out to me and said, ‘Mom, when you ask me what my favorite part of my day was . . . this is it. Right now. Breathing in the mountain air with you.’ ”
— Felicia, mother of Noah, age 12
(Mom’s) Instagram: @ashorty2love
“I always ask my daughter what she likes about going on adventures, what her favorite adventure has been, or what she wants to do on our next adventure. The response I get is, ‘I don’t like walking, I don’t like paddling,’ and I feel discouraged. But when I take her out, despite her protests, I don’t see any of that negativity—all I see is pure enjoyment about being outside and exploring new places. On our last mini-adventure, I asked her if she wanted to go for a hike with me, and she said yes. Then she complained all the way there: ‘I don’t want to walk; it’s too tiring.’
When we got out of the truck she didn’t walk, she ran. We ran all around our local provincial park. We stomped in puddles, we ran through fields. We spent a lot of time climbing all over two huge Gary Oak trees which had fallen down last winter. She closed her eyes all the way back to the truck and made it back stumbling and listening to my clues to stay on the trail ‘go left!’ ‘go right!’. I’m going to say she loves being outside, exploring new places and moving her body, she just won’t admit it.”
—Sarah, Mother of Molly, age 4
“When we are outside on adventures we get to run and play on everything and it won’t break or make mom crazy.”
—Eli, age 8
(Mom’s) Instagram: @born.from.my.heart
