Will the Real Mary Poppins Please Step Forward...

Yes, it is true.  I am the real Mary Poppins!  This was me at my grandparent's house and of course my brother was photo bombing my picture.  I had the umbrella, the dress and the hat.  My grandmother's pointy toe shoes were also often worn, although I apparently went the bare foot route on this particular day.  I would pretend for hours that I was indeed Mary Poppins.  It is these kinds of memories that bring me such joy!  All I needed to entertain myself was a closet full of my grandmother's clothes.  This is what inspires me to provide a lifestyle that is slower and more back to the basics with my family.  Living in the country provides opportunity for creativy and imagination to be set free.  The country is the ultimate playground!

A co-worker was telling me the other day they read a study that said children spend 50 percent less time outside than in the 1990's.  That is an alarming fact.  Since education is my career, I see the results of children not spending time outside playing with whatever they can find.  When it comes to writing, this generation of students does not have the imagination that we eighties students had.  Creativity and imagination are being lost.  No amount of technology can replace making a fort out of wood leftover from a construction site, making a dirt maze and home for your pet gerbil, or dressing up and pretending that you are someone else. 

You don't have to live on a farm to cultivate creativity and imagination.  You just need to encourage our younger generations to put down their devices and experience play the old fashioned way.