Oak Tree in an Acorn: Gonna Make It a Brighter Place

Friday, August 1, 2008

Gonna Make It a Brighter Place

All summer long, Olivia and I have been studying about the environment. From bats to weather, animal habitats to community helpers, goods and services to being a responsible citizen, we have covered quite a bit and our family has learned so much in the process.

(7/17/2008 Olivia is our meteorologist for the day and gives us her weather report. Her forecast read, "A hot, hot, day and a great day to spend in the pool.")

This morning we met our friends Constanze, Julius, and Vivian at Brushy Creek Lake Park for a trash hunt. What is a trash hunt? After choosing an area with a lot of people traffic, we seek out, bag up and dispose of all the trash we can find.

We had to learn the best trash hunting techniques from Julius and Vivian who have been on several hunts throughout the spring and summer.

We didn't have to go very far in our hunt because the children found trash everywhere and picked up even the smallest bits. About halfway through, the kids starting talking about "treasures" they were finding instead of calling it "trash"; they found bits of brightly colored balloons, a pretty piece of star confetti, rings from discarded Ring Pops, and all sorts of interesting trash. Next time, we might bring a separate bag for the "treasures", so the kids can use them to make a collage of their hunt or use them to decorate a picture frame that could display a trash hunt photo.

After the trash hunt was over, the children had a well-deserved, cool break in the park's water sprinklers.

What a pleasant morning we had spending time with friends making the world a brighter place.

Check out this new PBS Kids site called Meet the Greens. There are all kinds of ideas to get kids interested in "livin' green".

No comments:

Post a Comment

Why the title, "Oak Tree in an Acorn"?

Well, really it's all about perspective when raising the girls. It helps me to think about the grand scheme of parenting and remember that what we do now affects how our little acorns will grow. Like an oak tree, we want them to be strong in their words and deeds, be able to withstand life's storms, set and reach their goals, and be people that others can lean on and trust.

We have an oak tree planted in our yard that came from an acorn my dad planted in a pot. This acorn came from a huge oak tree that was planted in the backyard of my dad's childhood home. My dad's father also planted this tree from an acorn he found on his hunting lease in the early 1960's. Our tree is thus a family heirloom, a "family tree".

It was the year of Olivia's birth when we planted our little sapling. It looked so very sad that winter with no leaves; it was, basically, like a stick rooted in the ground. Five years later, though, it stands 9 feet tall, and we continue to nurture it and watch it grow. We hope one year it will produce acorns of its own, and we can continue to pass on this family heirloom. We hope to remember it's example of how each acorn has the potential to be an oak tree, and how our acorns, Olivia and Genevieve, will one day, with help from God, become mighty oak trees themselves.