Monday, June 6, 2011

Walking to school

The blogging carnival is all about Keeping Fit with our children.

I don't *do* anything.  Not on purpose.  We don't exercise, we don't go to kiddie gym, we don't *do* anything specifically.

However, and this is the important thing for me,  we walk to school.

It's 10 minutes if we walk.
It's 8 minutes if we get on with it.
It's 15 - 20 if we go the long way.
It's 35mins in deep snow.  And no, the snow wasn't that deep, but it was empty and begging for a 7 year old snow angel.  Or 9.  And maybe a couple of 36year old snow angels as well.

The walking to school gives us much needed time when all there is to do, is walk and talk, keeping us fit in body, and mind and relationship.  We were walking when he told me he was afraid of the dark.  We were walking when I told him his stepfather had been killed in an accident.  We were walking when he told me he wanted to be a pilot, an armourer, a model shop worker.  We were walking when I told him Space Boy Sam stories, and when we played the sewer game.  One day I refused to "jump down the sewer" and sneak to school, and instead we ducked around the Street Lights of Doom.  We play all kinds of games - if you were a millionaire, what would you buy?  If you could go anywhere what would you do'?  Who is that person and what is their house like?  We tell stories, hopes and dreams, fears and failures, joys and sorrows, in a way that we can't always do when we are looking at each other or when there are other things for us both to be doing, mummy things like cleaning, AC things like playing and homework.

We walk.  We walk to town, we walk to school, we walk to Tesco, we walk and we talk.

Keeping fit in body, and in mind, and relationship.  And as a bonus, it's free!