Socorro Woodman says it’s important to ensure her children have an appreciation for the environment at an early age.
That’s why she took her three-year-old-son Agnus and one-year-old daughter Ruby to the Kingfisher Outdoor Education Centre open house on Saturday. The three enjoyed the snow-covered centre by playing in the snow.
She said they go outdoors as much as they can because she wants to give that appreciation of the environment to her children.
“We like coming outside as a family. We like to do a lot of sports outside and starting my children at a young age is an idea we think. It’s extremely important to have an appreciation for the environment. I’m pretty ecologically minded so this is the best way to get them to care about nature.”
She said we haven’t done enough to protect the environment and more was needed to ensure her children could grow up in a clean green world.
Cindy Lankinen shared Woodman’s thoughts about getting her children outside and active. She brought her three children to try skiing along the trails. She said it’s important for her children to grow up active.
“I just want to teach them the value of outdoor activity,” Lankinen said. “It’s very important to be physically active and try new experiences like snowshoeing and cross country skiing.”
Lankinen’s oldest son Adam, who is nine-years-old, said while he was looking forward to skiing and snowshoeing, what he really wanted to do was check out the campfire and roast some hotdogs.
Kelly Henderson, acting lead educator for Kingfisher, said the open houses gives people a chance to enjoy the outdoors and try something new. She said about 300 people attended last year and hoped to see that many come to this year’s open house.
“I think the biggest thing is to spend time outside,” Henderson said. “Do some activities outside but also connection with this beautiful area we live in the boreal forest as well as the little critters.”
Thunder Bay received a massive snowfall earlier this week, but Henderson said despite what some might think they didn’t get much of the white stuff. She said they have a good base of snow but the storm didn’t hit them as hard as other parts of the city.
Follow Jeff Labine on Twitter @Labine_reporter
