Spring Puddle – Guest blogger RECE Denielle Berube

Anyone with any sort of childhood knows that before attempting a monster puddle, you must tuck your pants into you boots! I’m privileged to help instill that kind of knowledge; I even knew its importance before I “released” the sick of winter, fresh air deprived little innocent souls….

The excitement as they quickly approached the Spring Puddle brought me back to childhood. As I snapped back to adult reality I opened my mouth and “Go slowly and with caution” just came out…

Spring Puddles are tricky. Without caution your adventure will be cut short due to the soggy cold. I repeated “go slowing and with caution” about 10, 000 times~ and I was completely ok with that. Their excitement with the fun unknown made their brains fuzzy for any consequence.

Sitting here reflecting on this moment I see its richness on a deeper level. I can relate to this childhood lesson to my teenage years. Approaching new exciting mysteries to “go slowly and with caution” **Remind your children when they are teens the lessons we teach them when they were young.

I assumed my role as a support in their learning journey by standing in the middle of the beastly puddle offering a hand to anyone who needed it “go slowly and with caution” on repeat… it was beautiful, magical and good for my soul. I can’t speak for the littles but some of my best memories in my childhood were testing new boundaries and getting a little messy! You know the moments in life where you KNOW you’re doing right by your children because you can feel it? It was one of those moments.

But like all fun filled moments, and lessons you learn with age; all fun must come to an end before it turns bad. With some persuasion I was able to lead the children away from the puddle to explore new land. Into the playground and through a new gate, ewwww a new gate~ how exciting! We weaved through the pine trees and found some mysterious string; that could only be used for a clothes line of course, in the trees but made sense to my 4 year old self. We took a moment to listen to the birds in the pines above and the water below our feet in the sewer. “There are turtles in the sewer you know, that’s where they live”

Our adventure had now taken us back to the bottom of the hill, maybe 50 feet from the ginormous puddle. Like some kind of magnetic force, beyond any child’s self-regulation, let’s be real 😉 I watch as they draw closer to the puddle, me legging behind with the dandelion pickers. A child’s pant leg has freed itself from her boot. I smile because I know how this turns out and so what I will have to help change some clothes. The lessons in my opinion exceed any soggy consequence. So here we go!

Some have more confidence with their previous success with the puddle. They got wet. Some learned that sticking to the sidelines only allows us to sink in deep. Smile, because you know how it feels to get stuck and loose the battle of muck to boot. “Don’t panic, brace yourself and lift your foot” Some could follow direction in their stressful moment and a few needed a hand out.

Relationships were strengthened, with me and with their peers. Seeing little hands offering help to their peers is pure innocence that feels to me as close as I will get to heaven on earth.

After seeing the support system that was created I felt that I could look beyond the puddle. There on the sidelines was a little unsure soul. With offered assistance we both took some brave steps into the beastly mucky puddle. I spoke words of encouragement and her peers took notice and joined in. Her hand pulled back quickly. The fear was real. She wasn’t ready. Just then the inevitable had happened. Someone got wet and the cold had sunk in. It was her last chance to attempt the puddle… she shuck her head no and opted to go around.

As I pulled the rest of the children away we talked about respect for our friends. Bring a good friend means that know how it feels to be cold and wet and don’t want them to get sick. They understood and followed easily. ~ Looking both ways before we crossed the street, waving to familiar faces and returning to the rest of the group to retell the magical adventure. Together we had a classic Spring Puddle adventure that was good for the soul.

If you haven’t already walked through a puddle this spring I strongly advise you to do so, even if you don’t have children with you; put on your rubber boots and stroll on through. Who cares about judgers, live a little! Gain a lot! I’m telling you it resets your thoughts and sets you free. Its definitely worth the effort.

Yours truly,

Mrs. D the RECE ❤