Quiet Moments

The Summer Day
by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean the one who is
eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth
instead of up and down -
who is gazing around with her
enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms
and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall into the grass,
how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed,
how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
​
Mary Oliver is an amazing observer and a master of quiet moments. We all need this kind of experience! I was talking with someone recently about spending what I think must have been hours watching clouds when I was a kid. Nothing else to do, no reason to get anywhere or hurry. 

How can we help today's children to have that quiet time?

• Look at nature with your child, enjoying how a tree or flower looks, taking time to watch a butterfly or notice the plants in your garden.
• Use each of your senses mindfully and invite your child to share the experience with you.
• Offer unstructured time, whole days without any parent-organized plans, or spacious afternoons or mornings.
• Share formal quiet times like a shared mindful breath at the start of dinner, sitting quietly together and getting settled before you begin to eat.
• Offer your child a backrub or footrub as they get ready to fall asleep.
• Replace naps (when your child outgrows them) with 'quiet time,' a half-hour or hour of time they're in their room doing quiet things, maybe drawing, reading, or just hanging out alone (without any electronic devices).
• Help your child to notice how good it feels to stretch, to do yoga, or just to walk.