Early Years Nature Education & Mental Health Blog

[theouterbark-blog]

                                           The Power of Crisis Lines

This photo was taken by myself after a little girl that I was teaching asked me to take it. It reminded her of those “helping centers” and “that we need more of them as they help so many people“ At the tender age of 9 years old this little girl knew the importance of crisis lines.

If you need help please reach out. They are staffed by people who care and want to support you.

Reach out and stay safe

[theouterbark-blog]

In the Early Childhood Educational field we often use the phrase “If you don’t like what is happening say “No thank you””. This is fantastic as it teaches children to stand up for themselves.

What I am often seeing is that parents or educators do not then intervene with the person causing the harm if they keep doing it. That is akin to saying, try to use your words but if they do not work do not expect help.

It is vital that we teach consent/limits/boundaries when children are little.

Teach children that their words count and if the issue keeps coming up do not leave the child alone but intervene and provide support.

Support little ones looking after themselves.

We need this

[lunapiaf-deactivated20201221]

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[theouterbark-blog]

Such a important point to remember.

[weareechoesofnature]

Spring Has Sprung!  Bringing some changes to EoN

This Spring has brought many changes to Echoes of Nature.  We have new members of the team, both human and animal ambassadors, and we have wished a team member the very best in their future endeavors, though they will still be making guest appearances from time to time.  

Our newest animal ambassadors are many!  They include; a fire skink, american toads, crayfish, tadpoles, an albino axolotl, two other frogs donated this week (species coming in another post) and within the last 12 hours, a whole hatching of Praying Mantis babies!  Photos coming soon!  

The red skink has already successfully completed its first diplomatic mission; Skink Day for Sligo Creek Elementary’s Nature Club.  Although it was out on assignment, it’s newbie status requires another month before we can start handling it during program.

The hunt for new instructors has been very successful!  Sarah and Lisa are our new Program Instructors.  Sarah is in the later half of her training, has started running programs solo and is currently accruing training hours in handling the Red Tailed Hawk and Opossum, in preparation for handling the very curmudgeonly Screech Owl.  Sarah comes from a Teacher background, so she is also spending time writing the EoN blogs (Hi everyone!) and helping with curriculum and programming alignment.   Lisa has been training for about two weeks and is currently practicing handling and caring for the animals, and presenting during programs.  Lisa comes from a DNR/Parks and Rec background, so she is used to handling raptors and is now getting used to handling our reptilian, invertebrate and amphibian ambassadors.  

Echo (the super awesome Boss Lady) is looking forward to actually crossing things off her never-ending “To Do” list, now that she has more instructors starting to take over programming.

Happy Spring Everyone!

[theouterbark-blog]

In my volunteer crisis work as well as when I was working at a homeless shelter I have come across a lot of people who use non-suicidal self-harm as a coping mechanism. I made this poem for them.

They might not understand why

But there are those who do

That the scars on your body

Are not something that you “just do”

They are a reflection of the context

Of countless collected traumas

Which have congested

The container of your mind

 So seek out those people who know

Who understand

That the tales behind scarred flesh

Would cause a library

To feel shame

Brent Lamborn

theouterbark

[theouterbark-blog]

I have the distinct pleasure of working with kids on Saturdays in an outdoor forest setting. During a star wars themed role play a child who identifies as a girl talked to me if she could join. I said of course! And what character would she want to play? She immediately replied with “Rey”. With this she and I went scouting for pine cones (need grenades after all), during this scouting her favorite female characters came up. After a bit, she turned to me and said that she loved more fighty female characters as they are powerful and “didn’t need a knight to save them, they could do it themselves”.

At the tender age of 8 she was speaking to me of the pressures she felt from the media to conform to a particular set of “female qualities” and wanting/needing to be more. This allowed her and I to have an amazing discussion on the power and amazing qualities that females and others of the gender spectrum have.

There needs to be more representation within the media of powerful people who just don’t identify as male. I have seen this in Labrador, Nunavut and here. People are waiting and looking for these characters, they are a big deal, they matter, and they do cause change.

[theouterbark-blog]

A teacher recently talked about a metaphor regarding a duck in the water. While the duck might look like it is floating with ease, the feet under the surface are working to keep it in the direction and pace it wants.

This is a great way to think about mental health. A person might be floating along and looking great but inside their mental “feet” are moving very fast to keep them going.

Appreciate the floating but value the feet.

[theouterbark-blog]

As the warmer weather keeps coming and the rain dies down I wanted to post about something that is very near and dear to my heart - piggybacks. I loved receiving them (still do) and giving them.

As my profession is working with children these types of rides are often in demand and so I wanted to speak about piggybacks and the all-important concept of consent. I love the posts that are going around that share the obvious fact that a person owns their body regardless of age and any type of touching should be made clear too both parties.

In my own experience there are three types of piggybacks you can do providing the weight, skill (yes, there is a skill component on the child’s end) and duration of the ride.

The first being that the child has their foot in your hand much like a stirrup and arms around your neck – this one I fondly call “The Horse”.

Secondly, the “classic” that your arms around looped up around the thighs and the child hold onto you

Thirdly “the seat” where by you create a seat with your hands behind your back where they sit on it. The last one generally provides more comfort to the child due to higher security and less fatigue for you as the back portion of the piggy.

With each of these please make sure you ask the child which one the child wants and reconfirm if they are comfortable with where your hands are. We hold a lot of power over little ones and we want them to have a safe, enjoyable and consent filled happy ride on their own personal giant.