A Surprise Visitor!

As we were out in the garden, on one rare sunny day, I noticed a hedgehog making its way through the overgrown bushes. This side of the garden was full of weeds and plants that I avoid tending to. Our visitor was surprisingly big – I had always thought that hedgehogs were quite small, but this was the size of a big rat. And it was broad daylight!

Upon noticing it, my family and I got all quite excited. “We have a hedgehog in our garden!” my daughter cried.

“I knew leaving the garden in a not-so-tip-top condition would attract wildlife,” I said with a grin, half convincing myself, and hoping that I will never get to see rats or mice.

We tried taking pictures but our visitor was naturally too fast and probably scared amidst all our excitement.

That evening, our visitor made an appearance again. This time a neighbour’s cat decided to pay a visit, too. It spent a long time watching the hedgehog and its whereabouts whilst flicking its tail. We pondered about what was going through the cat’s and hedgehog’s heads as we looked on from inside our house. 

The same event happened every day the following week. We shared so many ideas and jokes as a family. I said that I was going to write a story about the adventures of the cat and the hedgehog. My daughter jumped on the idea and said she was going to do the same.

And she did. 

Here’s what I learned:

1.     We’re not outdoorsy people. I wish we were, but we’re not. If we hadn’t done something different that day and hadn’t gone into the garden, we would have missed the appearance of the hedgehog.

2.     It’s ok not to have a perfectly weeded garden – nature and wildlife are attracted to imperfect things. In fact, I’ve noticed more birds hanging about lately. 

3.     This leads to my next point: we don’t have to be perfect at doing everything. Sometimes, as parents, we know we can be hard on ourselves as we try to have and make everything perfect for our family. But, we can enjoy things naturally, without perfection.

4.     We had plenty of bonding time as a result of our hedgehog visit. Bonding time doesn’t have to be structured. 

5.     We used the creative part of our brain to come up with stories. Instead of asking your child to practice their story writing, just discuss ideas! Did you know that more wiring and firing goes on in the brain when we are creative?

6.     My daughter had never used Word Office before. As we know children are quick learners and she mastered it pretty well.

7.     Back to imperfection – allow your child to make mistakes. I stopped myself correcting her spelling. She was over the moon typing away, I then told her we could look at her spelling later. 

I wonder if you came across anything lately that was as adventurous, or if you surprisingly learnt something about yourself. I’d love to hear any stories!

Sabrina