Let the little children get dirty...

Charlotte Mason... I haven't found out yet if she was a mother, but she did love children. And she knew them. And she knew their needs. So I'm learning from her. And she said to let the little children get dirty. OK. What's more important... a clean kitchen or a happy one? I may argue that a clean kitchen makes ME happy. But is it all about ME?

I forget what we were making... it might have been an apple pie, using the apples we picked the week before...

Yup! Dirty = happy!

And then I'm learning from Charlotte Mason about nature- not just, "wow, that's neat!", but observing and touching and gazing and pausing to gaze and to observe and to touch. So out come my tupperware to be filled with mud and grass and leaves and...

Rolly-pollies! These cute invertebrates were 'lovingly' entertained and fed and put to sleep countless times. Now when our children are outside they know to turn over the rocks/logs to find more of God's little creatures.

The week following they were discovering worms in the decaying leaf piles. What will it be next week?!