Walking with Toddlers

Toddlers don't understand the concept of walking as a function. For them it is a chance just to amble about while staring at bricks and clumps of earth and marvelling at how they came to be on the pavement.

They double back, walk sideways and often simply stop walking altogether before staring attentively up into the sky.

Instead of getting cross and trying to hurry them on, embrace the way they follow one impulse of curiosity after another.

Toddlers are the masters of instinct. Once you have rejected your agitated impulses that seem intent on driving you on and on you will discover what it truly means to be relaxed.

At first this process may be frustrating for a hassled adult, but once you have abandoned the hope of being somewhere at a specific time you will find yourself revelling in a state of childlike torpor.

While following this nobler means of perambulation the world around you will begin to morph into a more magical place.

Sticks you would have otherwise trodden over turn into the staffs and swords that swoosh through the air to the echo of brave, long-forgotten heroes.

"The fundamental job of a toddler is to rule the universe".
~~ Lawrence Kutner


These are photos of my beloved Joseph when he was a toddler. He is now 5 years old and will be starting school in 2012. I feel so blessed to have shared one day a week for 5 years looking at the world with this beautiful soul.