outdoor play

The Hardest Thing I Do All Day Is Not Catch Her

by
Mom watching toddler climb boulder — risky play and natural consequences in action

She was at the top of a boulder at the edge of the playground — not a big-for-a-toddler pebble, a real one, taller than she is and then some, with a flat top she’d hauled herself onto using footholds she’d worked out on her own. I could see her knees shaking from a few feet … Read more

I Let Her Sit in the Mud. Here’s What I Talked Myself Out Of Stopping.

by
toddler sitting in muddy creek bank at Oak Creek Sedona, hands deep in red mud, yellow dress — letting children play in dirt

There’s a creek at Oak Creek, at the Red Rock Crossing in Sedona, Arizona, shallow and slow, with a soft muddy bank where the water goes still. Last April I took my daughter there on a whim, the day too good to stay inside, and within about ninety seconds she had lowered herself straight down … Read more