10 Great Books for Kinesthetic Kiddos

Okay...confession time.

My daughter does not like to read.

There, I've said it.

She likes to be read to at bed time while she teeters on the edge of sleep, and she loves looking at pictures in books and going to the library (more to do puppet shows and puzzles than to look at books, to be sure). I am told that she enjoys story time at school, too. But since she was very, very small she simply will not sit through an entire story.

Long before entering motherhood, I collected children's books. I loved going through the children's section in used book stores and garage sales, finding volumes that had a "good message". I imagined that my future children would sit at my knee, listening to these stories and absorbing the humane messages they presented. Reality proved to be much different, with Bess refusing to sit through even the first page of any book, and Harry only interested in books about things with wheels.

Over time, I've started to change my ideas about the purpose of children's literature. No longer did I see it as yet another opportunity to immerse my children in my values. Now I see it is a chance to expose them to the written word, to different ideas, and to visual aesthetics. Note that I do still take pains to ensure that the books we choose at least do not contain unwanted images, and I do try to find books with diverse characters - I haven't completely abandoned my ideals!

For my little kinesthetic learner I have started looking for books that encourage movement, which have been surprisingly hard to come by. Here are ten of my favorites, though:

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont, Illustrated by David Catrow

This is a really cute story/song about a child who loves to paint anything and everything. Children can sing along with the book and point to the different body parts as they get painted by the mischievous little artist.

Ballerina Flying by Alexa Brandenberg

Anything ballerina is a sure winner in my house. This one is great because kids can practice the various ballet postures and steps along with the ballerina in the story. The opportunity to dress in pink frills while doing it is a plus.

Clap Your Hands by Lorinda Bryan Cauley

This is a fun book with lots of movements for children to follow along with. The text of the book is very lyrical and easy to read.

Wiggle by Doreen Cronin, Illustrated by Scott Menchin

Love Doreen Cronin! Doesn't that cover kind of say it all? Also look for Bounce and Stretch by this author/illustrator team.

Handsigns: A Sign Language Alphabet by Kathleen Fain

This book isn't a story, but the alphabet illustrations are lovely and each one is accompanied by the sign for that letter. This is a great book for introducing children to the American Sign Language alphabet.

Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming, Illustrated by G. Brian Karas

This is a fun story about a farmer who keeps building higher and higher walls to keep the bunnies out of his garden, but of course they outsmart him in the end. Children can hop and munch with the rabbits and build with the farmer.

In the Small, Small Pond by Denise Fleming

In this book, young readers can waddle like geese, doze like turtles, and twirl like whirligigs as they follow along with the story of the residents of a nearby pond. Also look for In the Tall, Tall Grass by the same author.

Shake My Sillies Out by Raffi, Illustrated by David Allender

How can you go wrong with a book that asks you to shake your sillies out and wiggle your waggles away?

How Can You Dance? by Rick Walton, Illustrated by Ana Lopez-Escriva

This book asks readers to use their bodies in unusual ways with questions such as: How can you dance if you can't move your knees? How can you dance when you're mad as a bee?

If You're Happy and You Know It (Jungle Edition) by James Warhola

This book by the nephew of Andy Warhol has colorful, friendly illustrations and a whole new repertoire for If You're Happy and You Know It, including stomp like and elephant, roar like a lion, and laugh like a hyena.

I am a scholar-turned-mother/activist who is interested in sustainable living and social justice. I have published a number of articles and given presentations internationally on the topics of voluntary simplicity and humane parenting. Learn more at my website www.beautifulfriendships.net.

Shifting the Paradigm

I recently finished reading Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier. I'm not usually a novel reader, but I am trying to expand my literary horizons and it was recommended to me by a trusted friend, so I decided to give it a try.

It is the story of Mary Anning, a working-class girl from England who (true story, dramatized for the purposes of the novel) found the first complete fossil specimens that led scientists to begin to consider the idea of extinction and evolution in the nineteenth century. I had read a children's book about Mary Anning a couple of years ago, so it was interesting to read a more adult rendition of her life.

One of the things that struck me most about the book was the characters' understandings of the broad implications of Mary's finds. Up until that time, at least in Europe among Christian people, it was thought that the world was just two thousand years old and the Bible was a historical text describing the creation of the world in seven, twenty-four hour days. Finding the remains of creatures that no longer existed was a huge blow to the accepted order of things, because it implied that some creatures had become extinct - did God make a mistake when He created them? Why would he do that? It also implied that the world was much, much older than had previously been thought. Accepting these new ideas took a huge leap of faith and logic and did not come easily.

From the perspective of this twenty-first century blogger, the paradigm shift that occurred as a result of these finds is obvious, and happened quite quickly. Very few people today still believe in the Bible as a literal text, and though some people still cling to creationism it is no longer a scientifically-accepted explanation for the beginnings of the Universe. However, from the perspective of a nineteenth-century English peasant who was picking up curiosities on the beach after a storm, these realizations must have completely rocked her world to the core. Everything she believed, everything she thought she knew to be true, completely upended.

It just makes you think how quickly paradigm shifts really take place, even though they don't seem to be quick when you're in the middle of them. I believe we are at that point now on our planet, where a shift is taking place from consumerism to sustainability. It seems to be frustratingly slow, but really, it is happening fast enough, faster than we think.

I am a scholar-turned-mother/activist who is interested in sustainable living and social justice. I have published a number of articles and given presentations internationally on the topics of voluntary simplicity and humane parenting. Learn more at my website www.beautifulfriendships.net.

BooksBooksBooksBooks!!!!

As my readers know, I love books. LOVE them. I had a library built to house them in my house. I still have boxes of them in the attic, even after filling all the shelves in my library. I use them as decorations, as furniture, as friends, as escape...I cannot fully express my love for books. Like, my list of my greatest loves in my life would do like this: my kids, my husband, and then tied for third would be my mom, grandmother, sister, and my books. Okay, maybe books would be fourth, but it would be close. ;)

I like to own my books, because I like to loan the ones that move me to other people - to set them free, as it were. However, I have come to realize that not only is this expensive, but it is not exactly green. There are many things about the publishing industry - paper, printing, distribution - that give me pause. I started trying to buy books used, but that's still expensive. Now, I try to take them out of the library, and then only buy them if I really feel that they are a necessary addition to my personal collection. Luckily, the reference librarians in town here are just lovely, and don't seem to mind tracking down obscure titles from libraries three states away. So far.

Anyway....I just came across a website for a company called Better World Books, and I am in love with them! They sell new and used books (with no shipping charge) and donate a portion of their proceeds to high-impact education and literacy organizations around the world, such as Books for Africa, Invisible Children, Room to Read and Worldfund. They sponsor book drives and collect used books, saving them from landfills and turning them into money for literacy projects. I love it!

Book Review - Aaaarrgghh! Spider! by Lydia Monks

Aaaarrgghh! Spider! by Lydia Monks


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is Bess' current favorite book. She is always very concerned about the bugs who find their way into our house, and now she ushers them all "back to their families" with an "out you go"! She loves the spiderweb page and has been spending a lot of time recently trying to find dew be-sparkled webs in the morning. Very, very cute book.

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Book Review - A Child's Good Morning Book by Margaret Wise Brown and Karen Katz

A Child's Good Morning Book by Margaret Wise Brown


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
My kids love Karen Katz books, and though this one is a little more wordy than what I would usually read to my little one (it's written by Margaret Wise Brown, you know, Goodnight Moon, Runaway Bunny) I think that the cheerful illustrations will hold his interest, especially with all the animals in the story who require sound effects - roosters, birds, horses, sheep, and buzzy bees. Lucky for all those animals that they live on such a pristine farm and can greet the morning with such cheer!

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Book Review - My Nose, Your Nose by Melanie Walsh

My Nose, Your Nose by Melanie Walsh


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is another one of those books that's kind of contrived - I prefer when authors point out things like differences among people in a more organic way instead of cramming it down your throat. That said, this was a really cute book pointing out how people are the same and different. I like that is very simple and could be easily read to a very young child - it could almost be a board book (though my little guy is into eating books these days, so I probably won't get too close to him with my copy from the library!).

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Book Review - Sleep, Sleep, Sleep: A Lullaby for Little Ones Around te World by Nancy Van Laan

Sleep, Sleep, Sleep: A Lullaby for Little Ones Around the World by Nancy Van Laan


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I SO love this book - it may be my all-time favorite children's book to date. I don't normally like books in this style because it feels kind of, oh, I don't know...artificial. Look at how all the *other* people live, you know? But this one I love, for a lot of reasons. One is that I really love the illustrations - simple, vibrant, clear. The text is rhythmic and poetic, a perfect bedtime story. I love that the North American mother is a Navajo, not a suburban mom. I love that it includes non-human mothers as well, showing children that it isn't just us bipeds who have important, loving family relationships. There are moms in the book babywearing and co-sleeping, taking a nap outside under a tree, and a community of women cooking together while they presumably share the child-rearing responsibilities. This one was a great find.

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Book Review - Somewhere Today: A Book of Peace by Shelley Moore Thomas

Somewhere Today: A Book of Peace by Shelley Moore Thomas


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A children's book of Random Acts of Kindness, this quick read lists all kinds of simple things kids (and adults!) can do to make the world a better place. Being a friend, learning new things, fixing our toys instead of throwing them away - all great lessons for those big and small!

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Book Review: Girls Hold Up This World by Jada Pinkett-Smith

Girls Hold Up This World by Jada Pinkett-Smith


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I got this one when I was pregnant with my daughter over four years ago, and it's still one of my favorites. "Girls hold up this world with a strength that's all their own..." The photos are beautiful and diverse, the text is lyrical and powerful, a great addition to any little girl's library!

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Book Review: That's What Friends Are For by Florence Parry Heide and Sylvia VanClief

That's What Friends Are For by Florence Parry Heide


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Elephant has a problem - he hurt his leg and can't go visit his cousin. Some of his forest friends have advice for him, but unfortunately none of them can help him with his problem. Finally (!) the opossum comes by and reminds elephant's friends what being a friend is all about. It's not about giving advice - "Friends are to help."

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Chick Lit

Okay, I hate to be that mom, though I'm kind of getting used to it. You know, the mom who complains to the librarian that the books she uses for the "Family" theme story time do not include any single-parent, same-sex parent, or any other non-traditional families? She's me.

Another mother from Bess' school recommended a book to me called Silent Kay and the Dragon by Larry Dane Brimner. I got it out of the library yesterday, and - I guess I'll start with the part where I am checking out the book and the librarian seems shocked that I am checking out a DRAGON book for my DAUGHTER. Ah, the country life...

Now, the main character's name is Kay, and she's on the cover, so clearly it's a "girl book". But here's my question: why Silent Kay? Why not Mighty Kay or Clever Kay? Why is the title character Silent?

And then I read the book. I guess the point is that dragons who seem scary at first can really be helpful and kind, but Silent Kay is kind of bumbling. She doesn't realize that her shoelaces are tied together, and trips and falls - but luckily the dragon is there to untie the laces and save her before they share a nice, civilized cup of tea. Even when the dragon slayer IS a girl, she still can't actually manage to be a heroine. She still needs someone to come to her rescue.

Maybe I should have a t-shirt made up to wear to the library so at least the staff knows what they're up against when I come in: "Yeah, I'm that mom". Or maybe they all already know...

Book Review - Three Cups of Tea

Okay, so maybe this book is one that is beyond review. It seems that I am the last person I know to have read it, so most people have already formed their own opinions of it. That said, I loved it so much that I still feel the need to comment.

For anyone who hasn't read Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace....One School at a Time, and without spoiling the ending for you, the gist of the story is this: a mountaineer, Greg Mortenson, gets lost in Pakistan after failing to summit K2, the second-highest mountain in the world after Everest, but the most difficult to climb according to most. While being cared for in an extremely remote Pakistani village, he sees that the children have no school but instead do their lessons in the dirt on top of a hill with no teacher. He promises to return and build a school for them. And he does.

This book has it all. I love stories about people who participate in mountain climbing and other "extreme" sports, because I'm fascinated by people who push their bodies to their limits. I love to read books that teach me things I didn't know before, such as the lesson in central Asian politics and culture that I received from reading this one. And of course I love stories about people who find ways to make a difference - and boy, did he! Not only did he change the lives of countless young individuals, Greg Mortenson is (arguably) a one-man anti-terrorism squad, one that is probably more effective than any other. Some other reviewers have complained about the near hero-worship of Mortenson by the co-author of this book, journalist David Oliver Relin, but personally I wasn't bothered by it at all. Relin is frank about his devotion to Mortenson and his cause in the introduction - and quite any adulation doesn't seem to have gone to Dr. Greg's head, and seems pretty well-deserved at any rate.

I got the children's version of the book, Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg and Three Cups of Tea from the library, and love it. The illustrations are paper collages, and are colorful and beautiful. The story is simple, told from the perspective of the Korphe school children who take their lessons at the first school Moretenson built. There are photographs of the children, of Mortenson, and of Pakistan at the end. There is also a young adult version of Three Cups of Tea that I plan on checking out.

Mortenson co-founded the Central Asia Institute with Dr. Jean Horney in 1996 to promote community education for the children (especially girls) of Pakistan and Afghanistan. In addition to building schools, the CAI also has built women's vocational centers and water projects, and offers scholarships to graduates of CAI schools who want to continue their studies. Pennies for Peace is a project of the CAI, through which children can collect their pennies, which are nearly worthless here in the US but are valuable in central Asia, and donate them to help fund more CAI projects. I look forward to helping to start a P4P project at Bess' school in the fall!

Humane Parents Read

One of the main tenets of Humane Education and Humane Parenting is to find accurate information, to continue to educate yourself on issues of importance. Staying on top of current thought on human rights, environmentalism, animal protection, cultural issues and consumerism can be overwhelming and somewhat depressing. Add to that the sheer volume and range of ideas on parenting and you've got yourself a tall order.

In order to facilitate discussion, I have created a virtual book club called Humane Parents READ on Good Reads. Please stop over and join the discussion. This month's book is EcoKids: Raising Children Who Care for the Earth by Dan Chiras.

Book Review - More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want

As a parent educator, I find the topic of [over]population a bit touchy. Though some people choose to build their families through adoption, most (including me) do so by procreating. The topic of how many people is enough, or too many, is not likely to find a very objective ear among the people I most often talk to. I also think that the urge to have biological children is strong and compelling, and difficult to deny.

On the other hand, I have often found it curious that the largest families I know also often make the smallest collective impact on our planet. They raise much if not most of their own food, they tend to consume fewer resources out of choice and necessity, they travel less...they just seem to live more simply and sustainably.

It seems obvious that the more people who live on this planet, the more pressure we will put on the system in many, many ways. However, it is not just a question of how many people, but also how they live, that impacts this equation. The resources required to support one average American person could easily support over three dozen people in some of the poorer countries in Africa. As the 2 billion plus people in India and China begin to have access to luxuries that we in the US have come to consider necessities...well, I don't know what will happen, but it's not going to be part of the solution when with respect to the problem of global scarcity. Population and consumption are intimately and inextricably linked.

Most of the books I've read on the topic of population take a gloom-and-doom position - that the current trends in population that could top out at nine or ten billion (or, according to some sources, more) in the next few decades, will lead to global famine and war. That may be true, but since people are not likely to stop having sex, and are not likely to stop having babies, what can we do?

More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want by Robert Engelman is a refreshingly hopeful examination of the issue of population that is written for the general reader. According to Engelman, if given choices about when and how often to bear children, women will choose to have smaller families, particularly during times of scarcity. He argues that human numbers were held fairly constant for most of our history through a combination of folk methods of birth control and (unfortunately) high death rates. However, once choices about family size became political and/or religious, combined with the ability of science to help people live longer, our numbers surged and we haven't looked back.

In order to stem the tide of population growth, Engelman proposes that we simply need to put choices about childbearing into the hands of those most equipped to make them - families, specifically women - through reproductive health counseling, widespread and affordable access to reliable birth control, and availability of abortion when necessary. Will this stop the runaway growth of the human species in time to avoid disaster? Maybe; maybe not. But, current strategies are clearly not doing the trick, and as as the author states in his cleverly-titled chapter "Zen and the Art of Population Maintenance", "the safe and healthy reproductive habits [reproductive health workers] promote do create conditions out of which population stability tends to arise (179)."

As an interesting aside, Engelman suggests that the current prohibition against co-sleeping with infants came from a time when birth control and abortion were unavailable and infantacide was the only real option for women looking to control their family sizes. These women began to "accidentally" overlay their babies during sleep, leading the Church to forbid co-sleeping, an attitude that continues today in many industrialized cultures. Hmmmmm....

Some of My Favorite Books

I am packing up for my trip to Vancouver to give my Humane Parenting 101 workshop sponsored by the Marpole Oakridge Family Place. I decided to bring some of my favorite humane parenting books for participants to leaf through during breaks. The ones I decided to bring include:

Trails, Tails & Tidepools in Pails by Nursery Nature Walks - This is an incredible book of nature-based activities for young kids, and what I most love about it is how respectful all the activities are. If you pick up a rock, put it back; you can look at bugs, but don't touch them. This is, hands down, my favorite activity book.

The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, A Woman, and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods by Julia Butterfly Hill - I like this one because it's a compelling story and she is such an inspirational person, but also because I think we all need to be reminded sometimes of the Power of One.

Free the Children: A Young Man Fights Against Child Labor and Proves that Children Can Change the World by Craig Kielburger - Another story about the Power of One, and in this case of a young person. Plus, he's Canadian, so I thought it particularly apropos. (In fact, many young activists are Canadian, come to think of it - they must be doing something right north of the border!)

Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood by Susan Linn - An important examination of the effect our consumer culture has on children, I think this is a must read for parents who want to educate themselves about the ways in which corporations are looking to subvert us and reach our children.

Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Activities to Do in the Garden by Sharon Lovejoy - Okay, I'm on a huge gardening kick these days, but this is another really great resource for respectful outdoor activities that can be done with children.

Material World: A Global Family Portrait by Peter Menzel - This book is, quite possibly, the most powerful thing I've ever read. A picture is worth, in this case, a million words.

Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect by David W. Orr - I love this book because it takes some really complicated subject matter and makes it understandable, while clearly synthesizing a wide range of ideas into one coherent work.

Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D. - I think NVC is one of the key ways that we can become better people, better parents, and better activists. Anyone who wants to change the world needs to know how to communicate clearly, compassionately, and without judgement, and this book is a great start.

Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things by John C. Ryan and Alan Thein Durning - There is a lot packed into this tiny book. A quick read, this book helps get you thinking about the "backstory" of everything in your life from an environmental, cultural, human rights, and animal welfare perspective.

Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education by David Sobel - This is one of the most important books written about environmental education, in my humble opinion. Another really quick read, it is chock full of ideas about how we can effectively inspire reverence for nature in our children.

Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees - I talk a lot about the concept of EF in my presentations, and I think it is a really useful and powerful metaphor that helps us to consider how we impact the planet and all her inhabitants. I would be remiss if I didn't include this one on my list.

Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times by Zoe Weil - Well, it's simply THE book about Humane Parenting, and should be a part of every parent's personal collection to be referred to frequently and loaned out often.

Great New Kids' Books!

I've been absent from the bloggosphere for a few days, our family was in Connecticut to celebrate with my sister. She graduated from Southern Connecticut State University with her M.S. in biology, and got a job with the Nature Conservancy monitoring plover nesting sites. Yay for her!

Anyway, I'm working on getting some photos of our trip together, but for today I wanted to share a new book series I found while browsing in a bookstore up there. Green Start is a series of board books for little ones that are printed with soy ink on 98% post-consumer recycled materials. We got In the Garden since we're pretty garden-centric these days, but other titles include One Tree, The Five Senses, and Baby Animals. The illustrations are adorable and include kids of all colors. There is even a Parent Page at the end with organic gardening tips, directions on how to grow tomato plants, and recipes for a fresh fruit smoothie and applesauce. I highly recommend these books - suggest them to your local librarian as a great addition to their collection.

Humane Parenting Cures ADHD?

It's been several years now since I read Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. In this book, Louv argues that many children who appear to suffer from Attention Deficit - Hyperactivity Disorder simply suffer from not having enough unstructured playtime outside. He cites studies suggesting that we can alleviate, if not cure, the symptoms of ADHD by giving children time in nature.

Recently, the topic of ADHD, its causes, and its cures has come up a lot in my reading. One book I'm working my way through, and enjoying immensely, right now is Awakening Children's Minds: How Parents and Teachers Can Make a Difference by Laura E. Berk. In this book, the author states that "the current trend to give preschoolers stimulants to calm their behavior may, in large measure, be due to a reduced tolerance for child-rearing stress in parents who lead increasingly busy, demanding lives", that "impatient, inattentive, inconsistent parenting promotes demandingness, anger, and poor emothional control in both ADHD and symptom-free children", and further, that "if nondisabled children are denied the support system for bringing behavior under the control of thought, they will exhibit disorganized, unruly tendencies that can - in a world in which ADHD has achieved great notoriety - be mistaken for the disorder (page 174)."

In a recent article entitled "Can Lack of Sleep Cause ADHD?" by Danielle Wood, states that "a new study shows that lack of sleep can cause more than just sluggish brains: sleep deprived students are at higher risk of developing the behavioral symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)." And why is this such a problem? Because "American children are increasingly over stimulated and overscheduled. They get an average of one hour less sleep than they did just 30 years ago."

In the reading I've been doing for the Healthy Children, Healthy Planet discussion course, there is a piece called "Food for Thought" by Nathaniel Mead, originally published in East West in September/October 1991. In this article, he quotes Dr. C. Keith Conners, director of Duke University's Center for Attention Deficit Disorders in Children and author of Feeding the Brain: How Foods Affect Children (2001): "Foods can enhance problem-solving ability, optimize alertness, and improve mood and behavior in normal children. Contrarily, foods can also impair children whose behavior and learning are already in trouble from other causes, hampering their efforts to concentrate and maintain self-control."

So, then - what does all this mean? On the face of it, one could come away with the conclusion that no one really knows what causes, or cures, ADHD or symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity. However, upon closer examination, the answer is clear.

Make sure your children spend time outside engaging with your natural surroundings. Slow down and take time together as a family. Practice positive parenting. Live a simple lifestyle. Feed your family a healthy, whole foods diet low in processed, energy-intensive foods and wasteful packaging.

In other words, be a humane parent!

Not a Toilet Paper Tube

On Monday we had our daytime meeting for the Holistic Moms Network, and the theme was REUSE, in honor of Earth Day. The idea was to just take stuff from around the house and see what we could make with it. The kids made all kinds of things - pretty boxes for their treasures, bracelets from cardboard, and, of course, monoculars from toilet paper tubes.

The inspiration for this activity was Antoinette Portis' books Not a Box and Not a Stick, which are our favorites around here. Bess especially likes them because the simple, repetitive text and minimalist drawings make it easy for her to "read" the book herself. I like how the cover of Not a Box is made of brown cardboard - like a box. Very clever! I've often thought that a really fun spin off of these books for older kids would be to just pick something, anything from around the house and make up your own book by thinking of as many uses for it as you can. You know, like Not a String, Not a Cup, Not a Chair, whatever. If you try it, let me know how it goes.

Humane Parenting Curriculum

I am reading a book right now on Ideology Diffusion Theory called Communicating Nature: How We Create and Understand Environmental Messages by Julia B. Corbett. The book includes a short quiz on page 20 to help readers determine their degree of environmental literacy. I've seen several different versions of this type of quiz, but this time I read it and it struck me - what an interesting way to set a "curriculum" for humane parenting, trying to answer all these questions with your child!

1. Trace the water you drink from its source to your faucet.


2. What stage is the moon in right now?


3. What was the total precipitation in your area last year?


4. Name two native, edible plants in your region. Name two native grasses in this area.


5. From what direction do winter storms generally come in your region?


6. Where does your garbage go?


7. How long is the growing season where you live?


8. When do the deer (or other ungulates) rut here, and when are their young born?


9. Name five resident birds in this area. Name five birds that migrate from this area.


10. What primary ecological event or process influenced the landform here? What's the evidence?


11. From where you are sitting right now, which direction is north?


12. What spring wildflowers (not human planted) are consistently among the first to bloom here?

How did you do?

Enrichment

I had two blissful, quiet hours to myself today while Bess was out with her dad and Harry took a nap. I spent them finishing The Scientist in the Crib: Minds, Brains, and How Children Learn by Alison Gopnik, Andrew N. Meltzoff and Patricia K. Kuhl. It was pretty good - as a recovering neuroscientist, I was intrigued by the research they described regarding how babies learn about the world around them, both from a psychological perspective and a biological one. The book was written to bring this science to lay people, so the authors tried to make it conversational, sometimes at the expense of good taste, but overall it was an extremely worthwhile read.

Near the end of the book, they made an observation that seemed to me to be stunningly brilliant. In their discussion of the studies that have been done comparing the brains of rats raised in "enriched" environments to those raised in "deprived" environments, they reported the same old results that have been used to justify all sorts of intelligence interventions from Baby Einstein to reading camp for three-year-olds to attaching headphones blaring Mozart to our bulging pregnant bellies. The rats who were raised in "enriched" environments, with all sorts of different things to look at and do, and other rats to socialize with, had much bigger brains and were better at solving problems than the rats who were raised in the "deprived" environments.

That isn't the brilliant part, though. Wait for it....the authors point out that the word "enriched" is actually a misnomer, because the environment that contained all these things was actually a laboratory-produced approximation of rats' natural environments! Rats were not designed to live in a plastic cage alone, with the same food and water and bedding every day, with their light and dark cycles and even the temperature controlled perfectly by machines. They were designed to thrive in an environment where they had to form associations with other animals, forge for a wide variety of foods and shelter, and avoid capture and injury. So, what we call an "enriched" environment is really just normal.

Babies are experts at learning, at making opportunities for learning happen. The authors of Scientist in the Crib note, and I agree, that by offering our children all sorts of "enrichment" activities, we are at best causing no harm but probably not doing any good. At worst, we may be overwhelming them or distracting them from the things they really should be doing to learn the things they should be learning about the world around them. Humans evolved, for the vast majority of our existence, to be living off the land, hunting and gathering or - later - farming, and spending our time in the activities of daily living. There is inherent value in that - in having our children outside to feel the change in temperature and weather that accompanies the changing seasons, in having their hands in the dirt, in watching a plant go from seed to plate, in smelling the aromas of cooking, the rhythms of cleaning, the satisfaction of providing for oneself.

This is not to say that culturally, artistically or intellectually enriching activities aren't valuable, because I believe, in our global culture, that they are vitally so. However, they should not be emphasized at the expense of all else. Children gain from doing activities that have inherent value, and when we are too busy trying to push them along, push them ahead, enrich their lives, instead of doing normal human things, maybe we're really missing the boat.