Under the magnifying glass with Kindergarden's wonderful Miriam Syed // A journey into Ecological education
About 10 years ago I was a housewife and home-schooling mother. We lived in a concrete jungle, just off a very fast-moving part of the A40 where, juxtaposed against the sharp man-made structures and noisy traffic, we discovered the softness and quietness of a community garden. I have to say that I feel indebted to the architects of this project who, through sweat and tears, created a mini-oasis and left it for the community to enjoy. They provided training in many forms for keen volunteers, including an introduction to Permaculture which helped us to understand our land and communities more holistically.
From here, in inconsistent jolts and bursts, I kept edging towards a place where I could learn more about nature and ecology, about growing food and horticulture. I managed to do a number of short courses, but like most things in life; nothing really makes sense until you start to get your hands dirty. That dirty place is now my own garden and the odd trip to my local community garden.
For me personally, getting to this point was a struggle that meant taking uphill and winding paths. At times going back on myself, I would take a different turn in the road and reproach myself for not having taken the right path in the first place. But the process is all part of the learning and the learning is all part of the shaping. If we don’t embrace the process we miss the point.
I realise that taking my journey slowly isn’t necessarily a bad thing. We are hurried so much nowadays by the fear of terrible things looming in the near future. If we act like we’re in permanent crisis mode, we don’t stop to smell the flowers and we certainly don’t stop to allow children to smell them either.
When phones are always in hand and there’s always somewhere to go or something to be done we cannot allow our senses to be alive to what is happening around us. I have learned that children are not like this; they are always ready to observe with all their senses at the ready. They then comment and react and they share and then they learn and grow if the adults around them are available to help them to interpret what they have experienced.
Working with children is a privilege that requires us as adults to be fully present in the moment, catalysing a child’s innocence and curiosity. From the moment my Kindergarten workshops begin, so does the performance as I step into the role of the facilitator. These young minds require full and sincere attention from us as their teachers, especially when trying to nurture an awareness and appreciation for the natural world around them.
As for me, I am only one tiny part of an ecosystem that is faltering and I am still striving to learn so that I contribute and play my part in that ecosystem to the best of my ability. Taking my cue from the very young and still curious and inquisitive minds around me, I realise that the path of knowledge is definitely not linear and that there is so much to be learned from young children if we’re ready to listen.