Studying Trees

Today while we were playing in the backyard my attention was drawn to our old Mulberry tree in the back of our yard which I remembered would now be ripe for picking. Those silly trees grow like weeds and I believe that ours is there as a result of a happy accident, but as a child I always loved eating the dark sweet berries that could be found in the most random spots especially for our enjoyment. Most of the trees we found were growing up unkept fences near the sidewalks we would ride our bikes on. Berry juice-stained purple hands and feet were a frequent sight during the summer months, as we would sit and pick for long periods until our happy appetite was served.

And now we had one in our yard that had fallen over as a result of a storm yet was still bearing fruit and was now at a level we could reach. I brought Hunter over and gave him a few of the berries, naming the species of tree and picking off a leaf for our new tree book that I have been wanting to make. Noticing some of the berries were not ripe I used that as an opportunity to teach him, showing him a hard green berry that was not ripe, then showing him a softer white berry that was still not ripe (and letting him taste it to let him get what "not ripe" means), then I showed him a pink berry that was almost ripe (and letting him taste it to see that it was edible yet very sour), then showing him the purplish-black berries and telling him that when the berries are all grown up and have gotten all the right nutrients from the tree and sun, they are ready to eat and look like this. When all the nutrients are in the berry they are sweet and soft and very good for us: God gave us berries for food, I told him.

I love it that when I'm teaching him stuff like this he often shows no real comfirmation that he is absorbing what I say, yet the next time we go to that tree he will invariably comment and point out all the things I told him before. As adults we "show" that we understand by staring intently at what the person is telling us, nod and say "Oh, yeah, that's neat" and the like to demonstrate that we're learning. Little kids have no need for this and often look as though they aren't really focusing on what we're saying. But you can guess who will remember the most a month and a year later when you come back to that tree. Kids don't need to stare and make social gestures in order to learn; they simply absorb. They really do want to learn and often we mistake their short attention for short memory and short ability. How wrong we are.

Nonetheless, I showed him about the tree, and he listened intently for the twenty seconds that it took, all the while enjoying sweet berries and staining our hands a dark shade of purple.

We then collected the leaf from the tree and on the way in, grabbed another leaf from a black walnut that had sprouted up in our bush a few years back. For an awfully long time now I have wanted to make a tree book (and perhaps a flower book as well) collecting leaves from various trees and putting them together in a sort of scrapbook to preserve forever. This project will, of course, be useful to us for the rest of his education years as it will be a walking, growing memory of all the trees we've encountered.

I find it disheartening that most children can correctly label more cartoon characters than they can trees or shrubs or birds or insects or any number of things in nature that they encounter practically every day of their lives. I recently heard of a large-scale study of preschoolers that showed that the average child, by the time he reaches school age, has spent more time watching television than it takes to earn a college degree. What a sad development, and how much more sad is it that people would criticize parents lovingly teaching their child about nature, history, and literature claiming that they are "stealing their childhood". Lost childhood applies more correctly to the millions of children who are glued to an electronic box for several hours a day, and in general the children of modern parents who are tired, stressed, and in general too busy for their children for 95% of the day and try to fit their child in around all the other things they have going on in their life.

Teaching your child about nature will be a thrilling development for the both of you and will be highly beneficial to him in the future. A tree book, or a flower book, or anything you would like book is a fun way to learn about nature and have something to look back on at all the fun places you've been and all the many plants that fill this wonderful world we live in. Here is how to make one:

How to Make a Tree Book

You will need:

• A three-ring binder
• Page protectors (plastic sleeves) with card stock in them
• Leaves, pictures, or drawings you've collected and identified

Slide the leaf or picture into the page protector. Glue or tape it to the card stock. Write the name at the top of the page or on the back of the page. Your book can be as simple or as detailed as you like. You may want to simply collect leaves, and attach the leaf to the page and clearly label it. You may want to include a drawing of the tree if your child is a little older and likes to draw. You could photograph your child standing next to the tree and put a picture on each page. You could include a bark rubbing (use a crayon and a piece of copy paper and rub your crayon along the trunk to get the texture of the bark on your paper). There are a hundred different options and you can do whatever sounds interesting and FUN for you and your child. As long as you enjoy yourself and go quickly (not making your book so elaborate that it takes an hour to do each page), which is the key rule of teaching small children, your child will love his tree book and will treasure it for years to come. Your child will very quickly learn to love Dendrology (the study of trees) and will quickly be identifying many different trees and eagerly collecting leaves of new trees to add to his collection. What an exciting thing it is to open the door wide open for such a broad world of exploration - that of knowing and appreciating trees and plants.

We are going to include an actual leaf and a picture of Hunter in front of the tree, as well as a small picture of the leaf (since the actual leaf will dry out and fade), the fruit (seeds), and the bark. On the back of each page I am going to list ten facts about that tree. The ten facts, of course, will be collected by me at a later time in order to teach Hunter about the exciting tree we recently collected from.

"Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel. At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel."

Isaiah 17:6-7