Foxglove

THIS is the land we hold in trust for our children, and these the children we raise in trust for the land. For we pass on not just the responsibilities but the pleasures too. For country children, the countryside's future guardians, this has never been more important.

Country children learn that darkness is not some fearful dimension, but as important as the daylight. They learn that getting wet is followed by the pleasure of getting dry again, that cold is something we can dress for, that mud is seldom fatal.

They learn to respect and at the same time to work with animals, and always to put an animal's needs before their own. Animals ought to behave properly, just as children should. Quietly and without haste, they learn our country traditions; they can try the old way of doing things and then the new.

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Small people chill faster, get hungry and thirsty and tired more often, and little fingers have not the dexterity or the toughness of adult hands. We need to remember this. Silence and the art of wait-and-see instead of the instant response does not come easily to them.

Will there be rabbits in that bury? Watch the dog. Are those pheasants heavy? Try them and see. Tell me if this is an old bird or a young one. This is how we know. Where shall we set this trap? What made that footprint? Endless questions demand patient answers.

Clumsiness can be helped, but they must be allowed to do things for themselves; though it is quicker if we take over, we remember how we learned, and let them try. Sometimes it brings a lump to the throat.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette December 12