Class Assignments Make Cool Blog Posts Right?

Since I just don't seem to have much time to blog lately, I decided I should try the "two birds with one stone" tactic.  Posting school assignments on a blog is cool right?  Well, I'm doing it.  Enjoy.

I've debated since Wednesday's class as to how I would answer this post.  You see, I could take two, very different, directions.  I could go in the direction of the majority, what my classmates and teacher are most likely expecting.  Some sort of answer reflecting on great ideas of how I'm going to go out into the world of Sport & Recreation and shape the world, or Canada, or Alberta, or Calgary.  The sorts of ideas I had when I began this degree, the ideas I have been sowing and hoping to reap since High School.  The sorts of ideas that will eventually lead to some sort of recognition in this field, or at least to my professors and class mates and fellow Recreation Professionals.  Or, I could answer with what actually lies in my heart, what I'm incredibly passionate about, and what I truly believe will be the biggest and best thing I could do to shape the future in my chosen profession.

Allow me to go back almost a year to October 2011.  As I mentioned in class on Wednesday, I had the great privilege of attending the National Recreation Summit as a student recorder.  Words cannot describe my feelings of excitement and extreme gratitude when I opened the email invitation.  This was all I could have hoped for, this was my real chance to break into the world of Recreation, this was the start to the rest of my life, at least in regards to a career.  However, as the weekend of the Summit began to approach, I began to feel quite reticent about going.  You see, I had a boyfriend.  And I would have been spending the weekend with him.  I know, how lame.  I had this once in a lifetime experience ahead of me and all I could think about was spending another weekend with my boyfriend.  Fortunately, I knew better than to cancel and pulled my socks up, preparing to do my best, learn lots, and get the most out of this very lonesome weekend.  

Long story short, the Summit was amazing.  I got to hear from some of the most intelligent, innovative, and successful people in Canada at the front lines shaping Recreation.  But I still missed my boyfriend.

  

I don't know exactly what afternoon it was, but something amazing happened.  And I've never been the same since.  It was another long afternoon of listening to plenary addresses and panels and so on.  Then Richard Louv got up and spoke about Nature-Deficit Disorder.  He spoke of his own childhood and how a forest behind his house was the most magical place, a place where some of his best memories took place.  He shared a story of a middle aged man being choked up at finding his childhood "nature spot" had been excavated and turned into a subdivision.  And then he went on to share statistics and facts on how today's child does not have an attachment to a place in nature like children used to.  How today's child misses out on the crowning moments of childhood which take place in playing in the great and boundary-less outdoors, because they are no longer taught to play outside due to technology, or they are no longer given the chance to due to fearful parents.  And that's when the fire started.  

How could this be?!  This is a travesty!!  How could children be robbed of something so sacred?  With my own childhood still fresh in my mind, this struck me as heart breaking.  Nearly all the highlights of my childhood took place outdoors.  To hear that kids are now passing through the golden days of childhood without having the opportunity to make those memories and form those bonds with the outdoors made me almost livid.  And then I thought something that really, really surprised myself.

"I'm going to teach my kids how to love the outdoors.  I'm going to teach my kids how to use their imagination.  I'm going to show my kids how to be creative.  I'm going to show them how to develop a passionate love for recreation.  I'm going to be the best mom."

I'll admit through all my years of growing up I've never really placed a very high priority on Motherhood.  I guess I always assumed that someday I would be a mother, but I never really entertained the thought for long.  I had what I considered to be bigger and better ambitions.  However, I'll admit that even in the beginning of this degree, due to my small town roots, my ambitions rested in a small community setting of recreation, something that may be smirked at by the keeners in hot in pursuit of prestigious sport jobs, yet nonetheless something I was passionate about.  With this being said, how do I plan to create the future?

I plan to raise children.  I plan to teach them to love the outdoors.  I plan to teach them a love for being active, a love for recreation, a love for sport.  I plan to teach them life long leisure skills that will shape them into partakers, or perhaps even contributors to, the world of Sport & Recreation.  With this being said, I also plan to use my skills.  I plan to take a proactive role in my community's recreation scene.  I plan to be involved with my community association, or my community council, or my community recreation centre.  I plan to do this in a way that is either paid or volunteer, whatever works with my first priority of raising children.  I plan to not only be a recreation example to my own children, but to the children of my community.  Because I truly believe in the saying that it takes a community to raise a child.  I'm living proof.

Now, how sheepish do I feel after writing something like this for my whole class?  Only a little bit.  Because this discussion thread is really long and that's both nerdy and embarrassing.  Am I embarrassed to admit my ultimate career choice is something as simple as motherhood?  No.  Because what most Sport & Recreation professionals fail to realize is the immense role that mothers play in this field.  Mothers teach their children to walk, run, catch a ball, skip, jump, and a variety of foundational sport skills.  Mothers are the example of how to invest free time.  If mom watches TV or sets her kids in front of it, they most likely won't be all that interested in hiking or swimming or skating or so on.  Who drives little Dan to soccer practice?  Who takes Katie for a bike ride?  Who instills the foundational knowledge, love, and passion for Sport & Recreation into the upcoming generation?  Perhaps it isn't Mom who does all these things, but for the kids who do have a mom doing this, do you think they have an advantage?  I do.

When it comes to creating the future in my field of study, I want to be at the grass roots level.  Because I believe that at this level I will be able to make the biggest difference of all.  And that is how I will create the future.