Join our family of rabid unschoolers (frothing at the mouth) as we quit our day jobs, skip the country, and live, love and learn in the "real world"! Mom, Dad, two teens and a toddler traverse Thailand.

Monday, April 18, 2011

The Question of MUD...





We visited the Skagit Valley for the Tulip Festival this weekend.  If you have never seen acres and acres of tulips in bloom, it is a must see, and a fun family outing.  The sun was shining for a change and we headed out to see the flowers.  Miranda wore jeans, a sweater and a pink tutu...

When we arrived, the fields were muddy from the recent rains, and the mud puddles were calling our girl, so into the puddles she stomped.  Her boots were soon stuck, so off they came, pants rolled up, and she squished through the puddles with wild abandon...as you can see in the picture above.

This is a day ending in "y" in our family, and we thought nothing of it...but the reactions of those around us were so sad, and so telling about what the lives of children must be like!

Children looking at her wistfully, guiltily..."Mama, did you see that girl!  She was playing in the mud!"--they wanted to be, too, but knew it wasn't allowed....

Parents laughing uncomfortably...glancing at us...weren't we going to stop her?

A few actually stopping to take pictures of her--because it is such a strange thing to see a child playing in the mud, we must take pictures of this rare creature!

One man went on an on about HOW COOL it was, HOW AWESOME Miranda was and HOW GREAT the whole experience was....he took pictures....stopped his wife and child....they just looked uncomfortable and hurried on.

Who knew you could actually draw a crowd with a toddler playing in the mud?  

Let you children stomp in mud puddles today, will you?  They won't melt.  They will only get dirty.  Bring a change of clothes.