Hellooo Forest Friends!
Teacher Charlie here!
The first part of my email will be addressed to the grownups:
Grownups:
In my humble opinion,
you are not expected to do some certain number of activities per day.
You don’t need to run a gourmet kitchen.
The experience of frustration does not make you a bad caregiver.
Your need for space does not negate your affection and love.
Rest is not laziness.
Screen time is not failure.
At all ages we’re working on connection and regulation.
We do deep (and not always conscious) learning.
We exercise compassion and we notice sensations.
We build familiarity with our feelings, our coping mechanisms,
our needs, our networks, our boundaries.
When you name frustration, this is teaching.
When you laugh and gaze at each other.
The very way the bodies fit together as you watch or listen to a story,
the way they find the right spaces between.
The lilt of a friend’s voice on the phone,
the wave to the neighbor that makes them smile,
and just processing how much safer we are with people who love us.
How good that feels.
How to participate in that love in novel ways.
You’re doing it!
*
Love,
Charlie and the Forest Friends teachers
