Mall Field Trip

Last week, I joined a field trip with O's class.  They have been studying the Presidents, especially those engraved on coins and pictured on bills such as Lincoln, Washington and Jefferson.  Accordingly, a field trip to the National Mall was organized even though we did not visit the US Mint.     Five kindergarten classes, each approximately 20 kids, and enough parents so that every two children had an accompanying adult, boarded the three buses at 0900 hours.   We started at the Lincoln Memorial and ended at the Washington Monument.  After the Lincoln we stopped at the Korean War Memorial to have a snack and sat around the fountain underneath the trees.  As we were leaving O's friend, Jay, spotted a robin in the tree.   He stopped and focused with wide eyes and then shouted, "Look!  That momma robin is feeding her baby birds in that tree".  We all stopped and focused our attention.  Suddenly, the Presidents lost their importance. The kids could have watched it all day long.  The robin would feed a worm to one of the babies and then fly off only to return with another worm -- all the while the little beaks in the nest were opening and closing in anticipation singing "chirp, chirp, chirp!".  A part of me wanted to hurry the children along and the other part of me wanted to be child-like again and watch mother nature play out.   All in all it was a wonderful day.  Did the kids have fun?  I think they did.  Which monument was O's favorite?  The Korean.  Why?  Beause she got to watch mother nature at its finest.   I realized honoring mother nature around me daily is more often than not a rushed experience as we often hurry kids and ourselves along to keep an agenda.  True, I had seen a robin feed her young many times in my life, however I don't often get to have the chance to share the experience with children.   That night before bed O asked, "Mommy, remember the robin and her babies today?" I replied, "Yes." She then asked, "How did she get eggs in her belly?". Kindergarten SUCKS!