There's No Such Thing As Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom's Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids (from Friluftsliv to Hygge)

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We all know that nature is good for our physical and mental health and well-being – but creating a daily nature habit can be So, now we move to onlinelearning for our nursery children and for manyparents this is ananxious time,especially if they have otherolder children at home and are trying to juggle work forthemselves too. But as Ilistened to many questionsfrom anxiousparents I realised what an impact NOT being in the nursery this year has had on their perceptions oflearning for a preschooler. Luke Hutchinson, an experienced surfer and beach lifeguard, recommends Saltburn, Whitby and Scarborough’s North and South Bays for beginners, Sandsend for the more advanced: “It is quite uneven and does have some rip currents.” Early Childhood is important in its ownrighting not merely a preparation for later learning. Learning begins atbirth and continues throughout life" Of course, there is good reason for the phrase, and I'm not really disputing its correctness. Snow, ice, winds, rain, and thunderstorms are the norm here, from the arctic north to the relatively mild south.

The history of outdoor life in the Nordics is long and really incorporated with the culture, since we have a lot of land and a small population,” explains Angeliqa Mejstedt, who runs one of the region’s largest outdoor blogs, Vandringsbloggen, from the Swedish city of Västerås. Castle runs winter training courses in the Scottish Highlands, which, he says, “is a different beast from the Lakes or Snowdonia, where you can have summer conditions in winter.” He recommends Garry Smith’s book North Wales Scrambles as a starting point – and for when restrictions are lifted again in Wales.I always found this saying a bit obnoxious, and couldn’t really believe others were BAD at dressing for the weather (after all, it simply makes sense) – but after not only plenty of visits to European countries in both winter and summer, not to mention living in Dublin for more than 4 months, I realized this saying is not as obnoxious as it seems, because in some countries people DO seem to struggle with dressing.

Owen and Castle emphasise the importance of good preparation, learning to navigate and not being overambitious. For weather forecasts both recommend the Mountain Weather Information Service. The British Mountaineering Council runs winter skills courses that include navigation.I leave you with a complaint. Now, the country is in a terrible state, and you've blamed it on a number of things: Unemployment rate, the value of the pound and all that... well, it's because the national anthem is boring. I completely agree. Here in Belgrade, Serbia people seem to care more about fashion than about their own health.. How to Live an “Open-Air Life”: Discover the Nordic art of friluftslivby embracing nature in everyday life. I came across a gipsy encampment, the first of many I was to see....I never saw any of these Romany folk working; always they were squatting before a fire, doing absolutely nothing at all but gaze in the embers. What their philosophy of life is, I cannot guess, but it must be perfected at a very early age, and I imagine none but those who are whispered the secret in their cradles can ever hope to understand it. Idleness has no defence; it cause mental and moral and physical stagnation; but the me I saw in these camps were completely inactive. They were not resting from their labours, but simply lounging killing time. It was almost pathetic to see them, for theirs were not happy faces, but the hopeless, expressionless faces of men sunk deep in melancholy....They were as men without hope, waiting for the end; they were refugees, outcasts, yet neither.”

But Angeliqa Mejstedt insists that the success of her blog, and the more than 100 hikes she’s organised in 23 locations over the past year, are a sign that friluftsliv continues to inspire young Scandinavians and that the concept has found new ways to thrive in a more digital world. In preschool a lot of classes already use an online tool to keep in touch with parents and share what is going on in the classroom so that makes it easy to switch to home learning in many ways but thispandemic has made it harder to let parentsexperience a play basedcurriculum in person. With flexible hours already commonplace in Scandinavia, thanks to policies encouraging both parents to participate in family life, many businesses are also giving employees the chance to work around their passions – including the great outdoors – more regularly.My own, rather brutal, initiation into winter hillwalking was in the 1980s on Kinder Scout, a Peak District hill I thought I knew well. I soon discovered that a metre of snow and a windchill factor can radically change your experience. Climbing and mountaineering instructor Henry Castle says: “Mountains are never ‘safe’ landscapes. They are hostile, with numerous hazards that can easily trip up the inexperienced adventurer.” But crisp, cold days with blue skies can, he adds, be the most memorable you will have. Thechildren all arrive into thekindergarten and goinside to their 'classroom', some arrive very early in the morning but the majority are all there by 9.15. Each class hadapproximately 14-15 children and 3 adults, 2 teachers and an assistant. At 9.15 both classes got dressed up for going outdoors, as I had previouslydiscovered each class spends a lot of time outside not justtheoutdoor class. The kindergarten has a huge outdoor area, divided intodifferent zones; atypicalplayground area with a slide, swings and sandpit, a steep bank and gravel area and a kitchen garden area. They also have use of lots of forest areas beside the kindergarten and above it.Some of the days the children got ready to go to a particular destinationlike the forest or woods, or out on thekindergarten boat (yes they have a boat!) whilst on other days theystayed inthe playground but used thedifferent areasthroughout the day. They might have started out in the kitchen garden or swings etc. The outdoor class ate theirlunch outside as much aspossible and as theyare theoldestchildren they didn't go inside for a resttime like the youngerchildren did afterlunch. You said, "If you're ever in Los Angeles we must have dinner"- well, he's here. That's not an invitation! Translated, it means: "You're a boring piece of shit, I'm off, I've had enough of you!"