Hopes for my Children

'But thou, my babe! shalt wander like a breeze
By lakes and sandy shores, beneath the crags
Of ancient mountain, and beneath the clouds,
Which image in their bulk both lakes and shores
And mountain crags: so shalt thou see and hear'

From 'Frost at Midnight' by Samuel Coleridge.

I barely remember most of my own schooling but I do remember the things which I missed out on. I remember sitting at my desk waiting for the bell to ring so that I might escape to do something of interest. I remember looking at the trees on the school field and wishing I was under their sweet smelling branches. I remember just getting through each lesson. I remember so much negativity and so little positivity. I remember it was all very, tediously dull. 

But like Coleridge I know that my children are free to see, hear, explore and enjoy much more of the world than I was able to. I understand this poem much more than I ever did now that I am a parent. His childhood was spent in the city where his only experience of nature was the sky and I also recall a lot of time staring at the clouds through classroom windows as a child. He hoped that his infant would have a better life, a better childhood brought up in the countryside and this is a hope I share with him. We live in close proximity to a major English city yet we are also only a few paces away from a beautiful ancient woodland. My children are free range, adept climbers, adventurers and appreciators of the natural world. They are seldom ever bored and I don't think that they would describe their education as dull.

My children play and learn on the other side of the window pane which gives me such a satisfying, soothing sense of peace.