Going for a walk

I remember stories about how Maria Montessori learned that young children can walk for long distances when allowed to walk at their own pace since my earliest exposure to Montessori.  I remember allowing my daughter to just that at the shopping mall.  There was one time when she meandered between the walkway and rather extensively the railing balcony so that she could observe and play with the poles and look at the people below.  I was contently walking with my husband and in no hurry.  He told me how patient I was allow her to move at her pace.


I recently was reading one of the Karachi Lectures by Maria Montessori "When a child is walking, s/he is not merely walking, but is observing and learning.  The adult takes a walk to walk but the child walks to observe the whole environment in its smallest details.  The example of the tiny child with his/her back to the flower and marveling at the tiniest running spider should make us reflect what we need to know, to observe and to learn from the child."


It reminded me instantly that walking is the child's activity.  When schools, directors and teachers set up a plan so that children can go for a morning walk every day, it's not the same.  A walk on a prescribed path or at a certain time or when one is unallowed to explore is not a walk.  It is exercise and it does not belong to the child, but an infringement of their choices.


I want to walk in the garden today with children, watch flowers or bugs and hummingbirds.  Perhaps they will walk with me.  Perhaps not.