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In recent weeks, our team has been reflecting. It’s been both a wild and grounding year—a year we’ll never forget for so many reasons. We’re also peeking around the corner at 2024, and as we chart a course for the new year, we’re trying a popular new year's trend—we’re picking a word of the year to focus our intentions.
What is that word? Possible.
Why Possible?
After a year defined by change, there is no word that feels more right to us. More importantly, the more we listen and learn from parents, caregivers and teachers in our community, the more we want to focus on what’s possible—not on what’s perfect, or even what is ideal—but on what is possible for each of us.
When we focus on what’s possible, we stay open to experiences, and we retain the flexibility to adjust and adapt, even when life is challenging (and when is it not?!). This winter, our Tinkergarten curriculum focuses on helping kids develop persistence. We teach kids that persistence is not just a matter of pushing ahead. It’s also about remaining flexible and adapting to what we learn along the way. We grown ups deserve to see our pursuits the same way in 2024!
Enough is Enough.
Another word we considered was “enough.” Though not our top choice, we liked it because wondering what is “enough,” feeling like there is “never enough,” or worse, that “we are not enough,” is often what blocks us from experiencing what is possible—especially in the “all-in” work of raising and teaching little ones.
We see other people’s posts about what they are doing for their families or in their classrooms. We’re inundated by images, infographics and advice about ways we could do even more for the kids we love and teach. And it can all add up to an impossible sum we can never quite accomplish. Honest posts like this one from @BusyToddler give voice to the feeling. Things that are good for our kids should never make us feel bad, but in this world of constant comparison, they all too often do.
What’s Possible and What’s Enough look different for each of us.
To unlock the possible, it helps to ignore whatever appears to be possible or “enough” for anyone else. Instead, focus on what is possible for you. That could mean shooting for a big, quantifiable outdoor time goal (and we’ll cheer you on, every hour or hike of the way, if it is!). But, it also doesn’t have to.
Looking back, I worry that the enthusiasm expressed by those of us passionate about connecting kids with nature has unwittingly turned off parents and teachers who received that enthusiasm as a bar far too high to even want to reach for. That’s also what this year is all about—taking away the “bar” and calling all of us together under the spacious umbrella of “what is possible.”
If you aren’t interested in quantifying a goal, but you’d like to get your kids outdoors when you can, we cheer for you. If you want to teach others and get even more people outdoors, we cheer for you. If you aren’t sure about how to get kids outside, especially in winter, we cheer for you. And, no matter how you’d describe yourself, we want to help make the outdoor play you want to see even more possible in 2024.
Possible Can Take Just 2 Hours Per Week!
No matter what your goal, research tells us that we humans start to get the myriad benefits of time outdoors from as little as 2 hours per week…that’s less than 15 minutes a day!
Is more time than that better? Maybe—but it’s really up to you. What is possible and what is good for us varies between us, and it may vary within us on different seasons, days or even hours. And, what’s possible always rests in balance with the other things that tug at our hearts and our time.
Like Nature, Possible Is Always Refreshing.
"I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning." —JB Priestly
Just like the sun sets and rises each day, what is possible also refreshes. So, if today did not go as intended, there is always tomorrow. If today was amazing, see what tomorrow brings. We’re eager to keep this rejuvenating cycle in mind as we navigate this next year!
Easy Makes Possible So Much More Possible.
Another thing we’ve learned is that simplicity and easy are “must haves” when we’re teaching and parenting young humans. And, once again, what is “simple” for each of us is not the same. You may love hand-crafting a mud kitchen out of reclaimed floor boards, or you may feel like putting a few bowls and water out on the stoop is a real lift. Both are great–and both result in kids playing and learning outdoors.
This year, do what is you— what is possible—and we’ll be here to cheer you on. We’ll also be here to remind you that science tells us that kids play for longer and even more creatively with less objects around. What is possible is enough.
This year, we will also work extra hard to make sure that everything we create is easy to use. To start, if you haven't tried a Tinkergarten lesson, try our Tinkergarten Home episode and lesson, Mystery Walk, for free.
And, we want to make sure that, as a community, we continue to reflect and amplify the great ideas, innovative hacks and clever workarounds #Tinkergarten families and teachers use to make joyful outdoor play possible. Keep sharing those ideas, please!
Support Unlocks the Possible.
“Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.” —Misty Copeland
The right people in place to support can make all the difference. And that is where our community—and other truly supportive communities—can really help. TG Community, we’re calling on each of us to join in and show each other what #possible can look like. Let’s not wait for the perfect moment and the perfect post. If you’re willing to share, share you, doing you—doing what’s possible. If you’re just up for supporting, like and cheer for others and whatever is possible for them.
We support so many different ways of learning and teaching at Tinkergarten. And, we’ll keep surfacing a range of ways to do our lessons and activities in different locations—and even bring nature inside for those days when getting out just isn't possible, so we can do our part to reinforce all that is possible.
Staying Playful...
“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'! …” —Audrey Hepburn
Last, but likely most of all, when are we truly best able to focus on what is possible? Hands down, it’s when we are as playful as possible. We pledge to stay playful—in our thinking, our actions, our sharing and in our hearts. 1, 2, 3…Let’s Play!
Looking back to look ahead...
“Thanks to impermanence, everything is possible.” —Thich Nhat Hahn
If you’ve been along with us for the ride this past year…what a wild, mercurial, challenging, heartwarming and ultimately exhilarating year—all those things and more. Change is an incredible teacher, especially for those lessons on what really matters.
There are no words to properly thank each of you who has buckled up and held on with us. We also want to say “Come on in!” to everyone who is ready to reconnect or connect with us for the first time. We’ve never been more clear about the power in what’s possible, and we can’t wait to explore it all with you!
