It took a morning of travel with a toddler to help me remember to leave safe habits behind and forge new trails.
Two-year-old Hewson, having played with his sisters all summer, is broken-hearted as he spots the bus coming down the road. It's been tough for him since school started.
Today I decide that a walk through the woods may be just the toddler activity my little fellow needs.
Travel with Toddler Into the Woods
Holding hands, we head for the trail at the back of our property and enter the woods. Enough leaves have fallen that we can crunch them under our feet. Hewson smiles and, for the moment, he forgets his heartbreak.
Hewson heads off the trail and into the woods to fill a basket with fallen leaves. "No, no, sweetie," I explain. "We have to stay on the trail or we'll get lost."
He protests for a second, then allows himself to be led back down the path. I find some pale yellow leaves and a few orange ones, some yellow-and-brown-spotted ones and an interesting golden one. But no red.
Fearless Toddler Games Scorn Spiders and Snakes
Hewson grabs any old, brown crunchy foliage he can find. Pine needles, bark, sticks, moss -- it all goes into the basket. Not much farther down the path, he heads off the trail again. I explain as best I can that there may be stickers or poison ivy, neither of which means much to his 2-year-old mind. My warnings about spiders or snakes only serve to make it all the more exciting.
"Come on," I urge. "We'll be at the river soon."
He is not swayed.
Now, I am a mother who prides herself on letting my kids explore and discover, make their own mistakes, and push their limits. I have made a point of letting them get dirty and play in the rain. They have taken baths with their clothes on just because it was fun. They've had ice cream for breakfast and breakfast for dinner because it was a kooky thing to do.
But right now, I consider all my reasons for insisting that we stay on the trail. We could get lost. Well, not really. Whichever way we go, we are bound to run into the river on one side or a neighbor's property on the other.
What about snakes or spiders? I can hear my own voice: "Snakes are more afraid of you than you are of them. Just give them plenty of room to get away from you."
As for spiders, my children have inherited my fascination. That excuse won't fly either.
Letting My Toddler Travel Through Unexplored Woods
Then I look at Hewson's face and think, "Do I really want my children to be happy following the comfortable, familiar path that someone else has made, or do I want them to forge their own?"
The answer is simple. Here we go, Hewson. We begin to duck under vines and climb over fallen trees. I let him lead the way and he goes without a thought of looking back.
As we get farther into the unknown, I begin to notice trees I've never seen before. A stately red maple stretches up and out of the pine cap. Here are the red leaves we couldn't find. A spider's web curtains the trail in front of me still jeweled with the morning's dew.
Looking up ahead, I see Hewson far in front of me. I thank God for putting this little person in my life to shake me up and take me off the beaten path. I'm not sure where he will lead me, but suddenly I am excited to be going.
Mimi Knight is a mother of three and a writer in Louisiana. This article was first published in Welcome Home magazine.