Welcome to the Forest Floor

Welcome to my little spot on the forest floor; I am so glad you are here. When I decided to start my own consulting business, I wanted to find a way to share my thoughts, knowledge, and ramblings with others. My passion for helping children thrive started when I was young and I believe all the roads I have travelled led me to this moment in my life. This blog is created from my heart, mind, and soul with thoughts on nature-based early childhood education, inclusion, outdoor play, and the art of slowing down with our children. Together, I want to walk the forest floor alongside educators, parents, caregivers, and community members to help create a world where all children can thrive.

My love of trees is deeply rooted in memories of laying in my backyard and watching the sunlight dance on their leaves as a small child. I was raised as an only child with a single momma for the first five years of my life. We lived far from extended family for over three of those years, which meant my early childhood was filled with opportunities and freedom to play independently in my backyard. My mom worked hard as a single mother and our neighbour provided childcare alongside her own two children. We lived on a military base in Ontario at the time, so my friend Scott and I had a plethora of freedom to explore, play, and find adventures. There is a story of us getting lost a few streets over at 3 and 4 years old because we had wandered off to explore mud puddles. The safety of living on a military base, the fact that it was the 70’s, and the lack of adult supervision led us to be master explorers. I had a sense of wonder and confidence that cannot be duplicated in current times, but my wish is for children to come close to that amazing time in history. To know what it feels like to lay on the ground and look up at the sunlight dancing on the leaves of trees without being hurried.

Trees have a power that is very much misunderstood. We know they provide oxygen, lumber, paper, and many ecological benefits. However these amazing natural wonders give us so much more. Trees are a matriarchal group of living arbor that communicate with each other. The oldest and biggest tree in the forest is often referred to as the “Mother Tree” and she shares food, water, and warning signs to the younger trees through a vast underground network of fungi called mycorrhizal fungi or sometimes referred to as the “wood wide web.” Trees communicate with each other in complex ways using chemical, electrical, and hormonal signals. They live in groups as a collective, understanding that living in a highly connected community affords them a better chance of survival than competing with each other for resources. This deep understanding that as a collective, every tree thrives - even when a tree dies, it still gives to the group as a whole by becoming a nurse tree. This allows future generations of trees to grow and thrive. The nurse tree does not become a nursery to just its own species of trees but to all trees who find a place to grow on it.

In her book Finding the Mother Tree, Suzanne Simard shares, “There is a necessary wisdom in the give-and-take of nature, its quiet agreements and search for balance. There is an extraordinary generosity.” As a species, humans were never meant to live alone and yet in many cultures today we push for an independence that finds us alone and yearning for deeper connections to those around us. Raising children was done by a village with the understanding that those children would one day become the elders. Everyone in the community had a place and a purpose, which allowed for everyone to feel like they belonged. That deep sense of community and belonging is what created a sense of grounding and allowed a child to feel deeply valued and rooted. A sapling without deep roots can easily be blown over, but when surrounded by deeply rooted trees it can lean on them for support. When the adults in a child’s life have a deeply rooted sense of belonging to themselves and their community then a child can begin to plant their roots. Should a big wind come and try to knock them over, they can lean on their adults for support until the wind passes.

So how do we give children a deep sense of belonging in a world that continually pushes individualism? Where families are spread apart for a multitude of reasons and where societies value judgement over connection? The truth is I don’t have all the answers and no one does, but I can tell you that the trees do if we are willing to listen. In nature there is no status, social media, or ranking, there is just nature and although each plant, animal and insect has a purpose, no one thing is more important than the other. The natural world can only exist when all the parts work because if a bee does not pollinate, then a flower will not spread. If that flower doesn’t spread, then the deer will not have it to eat. If the deer cannot eat, then the mountain lion goes hungry and so on. If children do not grow up with a strong sense of belonging, they will float through life and that floating creates an array of social problems. Instead, if we learn as adults to use nature to grow in our sense of belonging, we can then teach our children. It will take time and many generations to find the roots to hold us in place but that work will be worth it. Many Indigenous teachings tell us we need to do the work for the seven generations behind and the seven generations ahead. Our work is to heal from the past and create a better future that allows all people to feel seen, valued, and belong.

That little girl who would lie on the ground and watch the trees is still here today, even when I am lost or face struggles. I always know I can use the forest, or the beach, or the mountains to find my way back. Nature gives me a strength deep inside my soul that reminds me that I am connected to something way bigger than myself. It reminds me that I am a small piece of this giant puzzle we call life and to never stop being amazed at the way the light dances on the trees. For a long time I was never really sure where I belonged and how I fit into this world. I strived to find a sense of belonging with others and then it hit me, I must belong to myself first. I need to plant my own roots in myself to be able to support those around me. My hope is to use those roots to support those in my community, whether parents, caregivers, or educators. Children are our greatest natural resource and we have a responsibility to protect their future, teach them about the world around them and to give them a sense of belonging. I am excited to learn alongside you as we become rooted in belonging and the first step is to lay down on the ground and watch the sunlight dance on the leaves!

Jenn