How to Raise a Wildling

his is a question I get asked by parents and teachers often. How do I enthuse my child with a love for nature? How can I get my child to enjoy being outside.

These are lots of suggestions I offer; How do we grow a wildling?

- Sharing our own enthusiasm and passion for nature. Our brains mirror (mirror neurons)those around us so our love for nature can be truly infectious for young children.
- Invite children to join you in the every day nature tasks you do. For example watering the plants, picking herbs to cook with and feeding the birds.
- Embrace the mud, the wet and the cold.  Yes children will get muddy but they will wash. If we show our worries or concerns about them getting muddy they will pick up on this.
- Teach children how to get ready for the right weather. If children are cold or wet they will soon change their enthusiasm for being outdoors
- Join in with their play. Point out nature to them and be excited by the child’s innate curiosity in nature.
- Model curiosity in nature and discover the answers together; I wonder why the blue tit is tapping on our bird box?
- Read books about nature together and make links with their experiences.
- Schedule longer periods of free play in nature.

One of the most important ooh to on the list is that we help children to love nature by loving nature ourselves.

What are your attitudes to nature?

My friend went into our garden and came back inside after 5 minutes. “Well I never hear all the birds you hear in your garden" 

I tell her that the longer you sit… the more that you spot. We have to give nature time and not rush it. The longer we sit and give time to nature the more it will reward us with its beauty. We also don’t want to rush our senses either. Tuning into the different sounds of nature and identifying them and then appreciating them takes time.

When I first started writing about finding a sitting spot I used to think that it needed to be somewhere I walked to regularly.

Now being a parent and managing my own business I would find it hard to consistently do this in my own time.

Then I realised that I have so much nature on my doorstep and I can actually think about how I can invite in even more. Now I sit in a corner or my garden each day after I’ve done nursery drop off and before I begin work and if this isn’t possible for one reason or another I will make time to do it on an evening.

I’m finding that doing this each day and just putting the Merlin bird app on my phone while I sit and listen is helping me learn so much about all the different species of bird and other wildlife visiting our space.

When I spot a bullfinch, a redwing, little owl or a meadow pipit (which are all quite rare!) I take great joy in thinking that they’ve actually taken a pause in my garden. They could have chosen anywhere but they picked my space. Isn’t that special.

Let this be a reminder of a prompt to find your very own sitting spot close to you. Even if you live in a city there are many ways we can invite wildlife into our space.

This is one of the areas we look at together in our Rewilding Wanderlust Nature Study Programme.

If we as adults can find the joy in the simple moments of nature children will learn from our enthusiasm and interest.

Rewilding our children actually starts with you!

For more support on getting outdoors check out my online training.

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