Kids and the Great Outdoors

I just read this great parenting tip on Phylameana's Healing Blog on About.com:

"Cherokee said that when she was growing up that her and her sister would be instructed to take their differences and disagreements outdoors, and not to bring them back inside. Oh... how I wish I'd known about this when my kids were little and having their sibling spats. "

I think this is just great. I can't imagine doing it every time, but oh, how the outdoors can be a wonderful balm for the soul. I noticed that when my son was a baby, if he started really crying about something (which he rarely did) I could just open the front door and stand a couple feet outside with him and he would stop almost immediately. This was great at work (my old retail store), where he came with me daily from when he was 6 weeks to 2 years old. He would start wailing and I would say "reset!" and rush outside for a moment. Worked like a charm every time, no matter what the weather was.

I think a lot of us have forgotten how important fresh air is for children. Or we know, but we just don't do anything about it... My grandmother put all her babies (her own and over 30 foster babies, plus her daycare babies) in the pram all bundled up outside every day for at least 20 minutes and generally an hour, rain or shine, no matter how cold it was. Just their little nose and eyes peeking out.

As to sending the kids outside to work things out, I think it's a great idea -- as long as you keep watch that they don't pick up any heavy battling sticks!