Experiencing nature with your children is fun for all

By Lestari Danardana

BOGOR, West Java (JP): Nowadays, many young parents are concerned about playing with their children at the weekends. Due to their lack of time, they tend to take them to playgrounds at malls or to other entertainment centers.

We can see their happy faces as they play on the various attractions there, from the merry-go-round and go-carts to video games and sophisticated virtual games.

Every parent cares about their children. All try to give their best for their children. But are you sure that playing at malls or entertainment centers is really the best thing for them?

Outdoor activities are actually better. They enrich a child's experience and knowledge; they give them a challenge, with mysteries to be solved and the beauties of nature to explore.

Many parents, however, have no idea where to take the children and what to do there once they are there.

Start by taking children to a nearby park and introduce them to caterpillars, dragon flies and other animals they only see in books. Or go to a rice field and show them rice plants, buffaloes and frogs. During long holidays, take them to national parks, such as Ujung Kulon National Park where you can see rhinoceroses; Gunung Halimun National Park, West Java, the habitat of Javan Eagle and Javan Gibbon; or Pangumbahan in southern Sukabumi, where green turtles lay eggs.

For most parents, exploring nature is a refreshing occasion from dull routine activities, while there are thousands of experiences for children. What can we do as parents to share the experiences of nature with children? According to Joseph Cornell, a naturalist who is interested in outdoor education, there are five basic principles:

* Teach children less, and share with them more.

Ask them to share what they feel. Based on my own experience in Pangumbahan, I let them see how the turtle lays its eggs at night. In the morning, I asked them to watch the baby turtles hatch, and come out from the sand. Fortunately, my children then released the baby turtles into the sea. I told them those babies have to struggle for life because sharks and other predators might eat them. After 20 to 30 years, they will come back to the same place where they to lay their eggs. I explained to them, "If you want to meet those turtles you set free, you must come again with your children in thirty years time."

* Be receptive.

We tend to "overload" information to children. Give them a chance to express spontaneous feelings. We should also respond to their mood and feelings to make them more sensitive. Expand their interests by teaching around their grain of curiosity.

* Focus the child's attention without delay.

Find things that interest them, and lead them bit by bit into the spirit of keen observation. Let them feel that their findings are interesting to you, too.

When I took my 4-year-old daughter walking in the small garden nearby our house, she shouted and enthusiastically showed us a grasshopper. We asked her to count how many legs it had and how many wings and eyes it had. We let her watch how it hopped and play with it until she get bored, and then asked her to set it free.

* Look and experience first, talk later.

Splashing in the river means a great time for most children. But how we can we allow them to bathe in a foggy area such as the Gunung Halimun National Park? After putting away their things in the lodge beside Cikaniki river, my children were so excited and forced me to let them plunge into the water. I let them do so until I saw their lips were becoming blue. Hurriedly, I gave them hot chocolate milk. Since that was their first time they had ever seen clear water in the heart of a jungle, they asked to play in the river two or three times a day.

* A sense of joy should permeate the experience, whether in the form of gaiety or calm attentiveness. Parents are naturally a good model for their children. If we can keep the spirit of the occasion happy and enthusiastic, they will feel the same as we do. We can share our enthusiasm, curiosity and happiness. Those are our greatest assets as teachers.

Preparation

It is wise to start with short, easy trips first, then, paying close attention to your children's interest and capabilities, gradually increase their difficulty and complexity.

If you don't have any outdoor experience, it is advisable to take a day trip. Choose a place that is familiar to you and easy to reach. A place that children need not have a tiring long walk after leaving the car, such as the Botanical Gardens in Bogor, the Situ Gunung Resort and Camping Ground in Sukabumi or just a stream or rice field in the country side. Make this trip a starting experience for the whole family.

After doing this several times, try to have an overnight trip. You may choose whether you want to stay in a lodge, hut or tent. Be sure you take the appropriate equipment.

Instead of taking your children's favorite food, you might take your binoculars to see birds or mammals and a magnifying glass to examine small objects which you find there. A resource book such as Birds of Java and Bali by John MacKinnon (1990) or Alam Asli Indonesia by Kathy MacKinnon (1987) can help to answer your curiosity.