Still Teaching

Yesterday I posted about my dad teaching me about gardening when I was a child. Today I find myself teaching my granddaughter. When my children were little, I taught them the names of every insect, bird, and mammal. As soon as they were able to walk, I took them outside and showed them animal tracks, bird nests, eggs, even dead animals - yes, death is also a teachable moment. Once they learned these things, we learned to identify the sounds - bird calls, coyote, wolf, cicada, fox, etc.

My children are all grown. Now my granddaughter spends part of her days with me. The first day I took her outside and we went down to the beach to explore. Now she wants to do this every day. So we look for animal tracks in the sand. After we identify a track, she walks all over it and obliterates it.  In all the years I've been doing this activity, none of my children have done that. I find it interesting. Kind of reminds me of the way a dog will lift his leg over the spot where another dog has been. 

Alice OWNS the beach! Look out world...