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Your Letters
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I remember years ago seeing a T.V. programme about a couple who bought an orang-utan and tried to keep him in a high-rise flat. Although they loved and pampered him, he couldn't go outside and when he got to about eleven months old, he totally trashed the place. The couple who'd raised him were shocked and upset by his vandalism but the director’s slant was that the "parents" were stupid. You cannot expect a wild animal to live in a flat! Quite!
"I forgot my parachute!"
Humans are animals too and yet many of our children have virtually no freedom. They are driven from home to playgroup / school / clubs and back again, expected to keep themselves CLEAN (??) and told not to make a mess. Yet evolution has not advanced them far from hunter gatherers. Children need freedom, to play, shout, run, roll, dig, trash, holler, hide, hunt and rest! If children are deprived of these opportunities they will grow up to be less of an animal and more of a machine.
If children who have been factory farmed for years are suddenly given their freedom, initially they won't know what to do with it (like the battery chickens we once bought to be kept as free range). They will be bored and pine for the game boy, T.V. and structure. But given a little time they will recover their imagination and sense of adventure, they will become animals again.
As well as giving children the freedom and space to run around and get muddy we try to provide lots of energetic activities like trampolining, swimming and cycling. Most school days we expect the kids to do at least an hours outside exercise, although we are quite happy if this is incorporated in a game. Cliff and I also get out for a walk most days. About three times a week the boys have to come with us (lack of baby sitters) and we have started doing more cycling as a sweetener to them. Remember there is no such thing as bad weather; just bad clothing! Also there are very few days when it rains non-stop, just be ready to go out when it stops. If the weather really is miserable there’s always swimming or even running up and down stairs 10 times!
We think that daily exercise is essential to everyone’s physical and mental health
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"The best cure for a short temper is a long walk." Anon
"A life of ease is a difficult pursuit." William Cowper
"People wish to learn to swim and at the same time keep one foot on the ground." Marcel Proust
"We learn to walk by stumbling." Bulgarian Proverb
"If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes out for a walk." Raymond Inman
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