101 things to do outside with children #22...a little perspective, please!

-I mean a child's perspective, not yours. 

A friend recently shared this amazing photo of a snow castle on Facebook:

 I saw the photo after we'd come in from a day of playing in the snow, sledding, and piling up a ton of snow in the yard for a gigantic snow fort of our own.

Here it is:

 

 After seeing the amazing snow castle, I suddenly felt that our snow fort was, well, somehow lacking. I mean, it was nothing more than a glorified heap, really. It didn't even have a door. How could it possibly compare to something so beautiful, so amazing? I looked out the window, fighting the urge to go back outside and fancy up our snow fort. Maybe carve out some cool windows, maybe hollow it out a bit so we could chill inside it for a while. At the very least, I thought, I should put up a flag.

Then, thank goodness, my friend reminded me that to my children, our snow heap is just as good, if not better, than that fancy shmancy snow heap.It's all a matter of perspective.

To children, the work and fun and sense of adventure that happens when you create something together is HUGE. Bigger, more important than anything else. More important than fancy decorations, more important than size. After all, the three of us spent time together piling up the snow, working hard to get it "just right" and then climbed it and slid down it on our bums, over and over. All afternoon. We laughed together, played together, and when we finished building it, we sat by a fire and warmed our toes together. I'm betting the folks who built the castle of snow didn't even touch their completed work.