At the Seedlings Family Kick Off that Jonathan posted about last week, one of the questions we parents were asked was, “What’s your passion? What will you bring to Seedlings, as a helper?”

I was mulling it over when Jaime, sitting next to me, said, “For you, it’s nature, of course!” She’s right. I love to be outside and exploring, steeped in the sights and sounds and smells of nature. I love the feeling I get when I immerse myself in a forest or a lake or a desert. Fresh air calls to me, even if it’s just the tiny rectangle of my front yard.

Some of my favorite memories from childhood (another thing we talked about at that fruitful meeting) happened outdoors: snorkeling in a salt pond, climbing in and behind the giant rhododendron bushes in my backyard, combing the woods for edible mushrooms with my father and sisters. And there are many more.

From the time they were infants, I’ve been bringing my boys to all my favorite natural places, in the hopes that they too will consider nature a passion of theirs. My older son had his toes in the ocean when he was just days old.

He slept through it.

What about you? What are your passions, either as a parent or as a person? Are you conscious of how they might have been formed? Are you passing them along to your children?

Leave a comment and let us know!

© Victoria Green and Sunflower Creative Arts, 2011