Today heavy hail storm occurred in parts of the UAE and I thought what could be a better day to introduce my son to rain and weather? He has never seen rain before, last year he was too young to understand.
It was colder than usual, which is the case when it rains in Dubai, so my natural instincts of protecting my child from cold kicked in. I decided to let him see the rain. But when I opened windows; his untrained eyes were unable to see the slight drizzles. All he could figure out was roads are wet. So while I was explaining what is rain, he concluded ‘WET’ and repeated it a few times.
Left with no choice, with the urgency to make him experience the rain, while it lasts; we went down to the courtyard with our ‘Ella’ (umbrella). He loved walking around in the rain holding Ella on his shoulder. Then I let him explore what rain is. First, he felt the raindrops on his palms, he was very fascinated by the raindrops. He tasted it and even tried to scatter the water he could gather in his tiny hands.
Somehow I made him understand ‘water falling from clouds is rain’. I asked him to look up to the dark sky. Days like these help kids understand that not every day is the same. And also an introduction to weather learning and how the nature around them changes with the change in weather. Water is an amazing sensory material, kids learn the movement of flowing water outdoors especially during the rainy season.
But we couldn’t keep ourselves dry for longer. He discovered the joy of jumping in a puddle of rainwater! Of course, every kid loves that. But what surprised me was stomping feet in a rain puddle is a natural human instinct, we don’t need to learn it!
It’s difficult to give nature experiences to kids in the urban areas, however such simple everyday outdoors exposure can help kids building a connection to the natural world around them. The outdoor experiences also give kids space and an opportunity to be free, explore the surrounding and the natural elements. Therefore it’s essential that parents take a pause from their daily routine, be brave and think beyond protecting their kids and give kids time to explore outdoors, take new natural expereinces like a simple rainy day. This is the beauty of slow or natural parenting, where you let your kids discover Nature and you re-discover some childhood joys with them!
Read our Green Parenting Guide of young kids and our tried and tested eco-activities for young kids.