NMR ISSUE 32

Astrological Forecast 32
Boredom's Natural Cure
Calling the Winds of Change
Editorial 32
Electromagnetic Energy and Crop Circles
Esoteric Symbology of the Tarot
Letters 32
Midsummer Hunt
Pilgrimage to the Parthenon
Swan, Wallaby, Bull
The Magical Flute
The Old Devil
Vernal Equinox - A Druid Tradition
Worlds Collide!

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Pagan Parenting: Boredom's Natural Cure

By Amanda Cummings

By the time you will be reading this, summer will be well under way (even though as I am writing this, it is damp and overcast and very spring-like). Most of our children will be out of school, and happy about that! We as parents know the sad truth of this, though. Eventually, our little dears who are so thrilled at getting out of school for the summer, will begin whining that they are B-O-O-O-O-R-E-D!

This has been parents' summer challenge for decades. Originally, the summer break was to allow children to go home to farm with their parents at the height of the harvest. This certainly kept kids busy, and I doubt boredom was the problem then that it is now. This was also when education was not considered a necessity, and boys were more likely to go to school than girls were (because girls didn't need to learn anything besides cooking, cleaning, sewing, spinning, etc.).

Some school districts decided that since we urbanites do no longer need the children home for field work, there was no reason to give them the summer off. It seemed more practical to divide this break throughout the school year. They came up with the idea of year-round school. This is the kind of school district my children are in. My oldest is leaving there this year for middle school, which is run on a traditional, summer vacation type, calendar. So now I have children in both kinds of systems (oh, joy). Truthfully, I prefer the year-round schedule. The school schedule has breaks at the solstices and equinoxes. Isn't that interesting? Either way, though, whether your children are in year-round school, or traditional school schedules (or if they are too little for school, or if you're home-schooling), you are going to have your children at home with time on their hands in the summer.

So now we have children at home for three months with maybe a two-week family vacation to keep them occupied. What to do, what to do, what to do? Perhaps I can offer some suggestions (with a Pagan flavor, of course).

Find out what nature preserves are in your area. There are different places in my area where you can go not only for a hike, but for scheduled guided walks through the area where they point out different plant and animal life, and explain why the preserve is there and why it's important to for it to remain a preserve. The rangers and other guides (some of whom are volunteers) are usually environmentally aware and knowledgeable about the local flora and fauna. In my area there is a peninsula that helps define San Diego Harbor, called Point Loma. There is a light house, and you can take a guided nature walk over the ocean side of the point. We go down with our picnic lunch and walk through the lighthouse (which is set up for exhibit), eat our lunch and go for a walk. By the time we are through, the children are ready to ride home.

Of course, you can do something far less structured. There are plenty of camping sites all over everywhere. You can make a game of collecting different things, such as rocks, feathers, leaves, etc. You can take your children on a nature walk yourself, even if you don't think you know very much about nature. Your children think you know everything! Besides, it will give you something to talk about, and yet another idea for something else to do.

A trip to the library is another option. Most libraries have summer reading programs which are contests, mostly of self-competition (unless you have more than one child—but if you do, you already know they compete over everything). The libraries usually offer some sort of prize or party for young readers who complete a certain number of books. And of course, you can offer your own incentives for any particular books or subjects.

After you've gone camping or walking, and have collected your pretty rocks, feathers, leaves, etc. you can have a craft day. Feathers can be wrapped with thread, and decorated for a smudge fan. Rocks can be painted with Pagan symbols. Leaves can be used for rubbings, or patterns for making construction paper leaves to decorate for the coming fall.

Gardening is another favorite in my house. We have planted a garden all along one fence in the back yard. We have tomatoes, corn, strawberries and flowers of several varieties, including sunflowers. My children made the rock border out of the rocks we dug up when we first dug the garden a couple of years back. They will water and watch the different plants come up and have learned their names. I have found that plants with immediate results help pass the time waiting for others to come up from seed. So I buy the tomatoes already started with many flowers on them. That way the kids can watch the fruit form while waiting for the corn and flowers to sprout. We also have a lemon tree, a dwarf lemon, and a plum tree; so the children can see the difference between trees with fruit year round (the citrus), and the tree that bears once a year, then fades and loses its leaves. The children are the ones who pick up the plums that the tree drops, and periodically go out and pull the ripe ones that haven't fallen yet.

For folks without a yard, or area for planting in the ground, you can try potted plants inside or outside. Herbs do nicely inside; and bearing plants, like tomatoes, can grow well in a window box outdoors on a shelf or patio. There is something intrinsically magickal about watching dead dry seed turn into thriving plants, and this magick is reflected in children's eyes. It is a good opportunity to discuss how the seasons turn, and why we as Pagans celebrate the way we do.

My plum tree has been a good example of this. When the first little pale green leaves show, and the little white flowers bloom on its branches, we know it is spring. We try to begin preparing the ground for our garden, and watching for other signs of the season. As the leaves broaden and darken, and the flowers drop, we have learned to anticipate the arrival of the bluejays. They are regulars. The developing plums, green and swelling, mean the jays will be around through the summer. While we humans get the plums off the branches we can reach (which is more than enough, believe me), the jays know they get everything in the top branches. My children have been taught that just as they share things with each other and other people, we must share what we plant and grow with nature, as well. So we do not disturb the fruit in the top branches, so the birds can enjoy as well. I'm not sure if I want to be so generous with my corn. The sunflowers will be my bribe for the birds.

As summer progresses, we watch the fruit ripen, and see how pretty our tree looks with all the different colors on it—both of fruit and leaves. The children have learned how to tell ripe fruit from not so ripe, and we do our best to leave them on the tree until they are ripe. The children realize that pulling plums is work, but we make it a project and it goes quickly.

After the plums are gone, we watch the leaves change color and drop (yes, even in southern California), and know that winter is coming and the tree is getting ready for it. The leaves usually last until Hallows, and then drop, almost en masse. It's always neat at Hallows to have brown and red leaves on the tree. Then they drop, and we know winter is around the corner. We watch the rains of winter wash the black branches all season long, and anxiously await the new green leaves of spring.

Anything that grows is a wonderful example of the self-sacrificing love of the God, who, in dying (falling as seed does from the plant), is the seed of hope that brings new life (the life that sprouts from a dead seed). The Goddess is the warmth, the ground, and the water that brings this rebirth about. It is a wonderful picture of the very basics of our religious practices. Anything we can do to teach our children why we do what we do, puts it within their grasp as well. They may not experience the spirituality part of it today, but their recognition of it, and cognitive acknowledgment that these things are done for a reason, will inform them as they go down the path of their own spiritual development. Even if we wind up raising children who choose more traditional religious practices, we will have given them the gift of experience and understanding of what we do, and they will grow up with an appreciation of that (hopefully).

Whether you spend the day at the beach, or walking in the woods, or working in the garden, or tending your window boxes, know that nature is all around you. Show it to your children, marvel at its intricacies, enjoy the sensations, and know that all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals, and enjoy the season of warmth, growth, change and relaxation ahead of you!

Blessed Be!