I went to the zoo this week with my kid. It's one of his favourite places to go, and it's been ages since we've visited. The day was cold and wet, but I decided we'd rug up and make the trip anyways.
It didn't occur to me until after we started our visit that we've never actually gone before with just the two of us. We usually go with friends or family, and have only ever gone for a couple hours at a time. Well, it was just the two of us, and we had the whole day ahead of us with no other plans. I could let my two year old take his time and wander around at his own pace, and spend the day following his lead. After reading an article recently about "slow parenting" I thought that this was the perfect time to put it into practise.
Even though I knew we had no where to be and could take our time, I still had to stop myself from saying "come on!" or "let's go!" every few minutes when I was ready to move on or thought we should go a bit quicker. It's just so hard to slow down the adult brain to that of a toddler's pace.
We got to the under water exhibit and watched the seals for a while. There's not a whole lot more to do there and we usually move through it quite quickly. After walking by the few aquariums heading towards the exit, Lincoln stopped at the last one that was at his eye level and contained one fish. He started talking to it, following it with his finger as it swam back and forth. After a few minutes I asked if he was done, and he said no. So I waited a few more and asked again...still no. Reminding myself that I was trying to be intentional about making the day go at his pace, I gave up "waiting" and sat down on the ground next to where Lincoln was still talking away to the fish, pulled out our lunch, and just enjoyed the experience with him. He must have noticed the change because after a minute or two he jumped into my lap and continued to babble on and pointing to the fish, wanting me to take in all in with him. We probably stayed there for about half an hour just watching this one fish swim back and forth in the tank. But just letting myself get immersed in the experience my toddler was having and waiting until he told me he was "all done" made it a real highlight of my day.
Throughout the rest of the day I was really aware of when to just let him linger and in doing so our trip involved a very long time yelling "turtle!!" at a lot of tortoises, a great deal of puddle jumping, standing and talking to monkeys, reading books and playing with toys in the kids indoor area, and very very slowly eating a giant sausage roll while yelling at birds who tried to steal it. It was probably the best day at the zoo I've ever had.
It doesn't always work to let your toddler move at their own pace, because life is busy and fast and full of things that we need to get to. But it's definitely worth looking for and making opportunities where you can just slow down, let them take the lead, and realize that life is a bit more fun and full of things to be enjoyed if we just slow down long enough for them. Lincoln isn't always going to have such little legs that take ages to get anywhere, enjoy standing and staring at a single fish in a tank for a crazy long time, or notice every puddle along the path. Knowing that, I think I'd much rather spend the time while he's still this little meeting him in his world, instead of trying to make him fit into mine.
