Detours

Summers at daycare are a series of adventures. Some are planned, others not so much. I have found that some of the best experiences just happen on their own. And often the destination turns out to be not nearly as much fun as getting there.
And so it was one sunny morning that we set off towards Assiniboine Park. As usual we were walking. It's a bit of a trek, but the boys really don't complain too much and they understand that money spent on bus fare can be better spent on other things (like Lego!). We have a usual route we take, but on this day we veered off in a different direction - a route that took us through a smaller park. Actually, not so much a park as a smaller green space. This particular place becomes a toboggan hill in winter, a place we visit often when the weather is much colder. But today there was no sign of snow. Just sunshine, a hill, lots of tall grass and trees, and a small winding creek.
I thought we were just detouring through this area to get where we were going, but as they often do, the boys had other plans. They threw down their backpacks and did what they seems wired to do. I stood at the top of the hill and watched as they tumbled down and over each other through the grass. And climbed trees. And found inventive ways to cross the creek. And found stuff - a tennis ball, some colourful aquarium gravel that someone had dumped there, an old propane tank, some marbles, and not 1, but 2 baseball bats. The pack rats in the group had reason to celebrate!
I continued to watch as one kid stuck his hand in the water and pulled it out holding what he thought was a worm. Turns out it was one of those mythological creatures, also known as a leech. Screaming ensued. Someone spied a plastic pail floating in the middle of the creek. It soon was rescued with a large tree branch and became home to a frog. One boy fell in. The sight of a kid with wet feet, wringing out his socks is quite common in my world.
I was struck by the fact that there was not a single boy in the group who was not caught up in the play, exploration and companionship of the moment. I had plenty of time to snap photos because there was really nothing else that required my attention - no complaints, no whining, no fighting, no injuries. Just a group of boys sharing an adventure, hanging out with the freedom to explore the world that surrounded them.
We eventually continued on our way - the frog went back into the creek, the kid who fell in tied his wet socks to his walking stick, the bats we found went with us and were used in a baseball game later. More than a few pockets were stuffed with colourful aquarium gravel, as though we had been panning for gold.
It was a great day. And a great reminder that childhood is a joyful and magical time. A time that flies by quickly, and must be celebrated. And it was yet another lesson to me as a caregiver that sometimes you have to just go with the moment and follow your kids. I remember how much I loved being a kid. And it was because I spent a lot of my time doing stuff just like this.
I am thankful every day for the adventures I share with these kids because it allows me to stay in touch with the boy inside me.