Last night, AFTER Project Runway – i flicked over to watch a wee bit of ‘My Family and Other Animals‘ – (it’s one of my all time favourites – based on the Gerald Durrell book). It documents Gerald’s life as a ten year old boy, living with his mother and brothers and sister on Corfu in the late 1930s. It’s a teeny bit saucy in parts – but just a wonderful series for everyone – and probably suitable for kids over the age of about 8 too. They can close their eyes when there are kissing bits.
Gerald’s room is chock full of wildlife he’s collected from all over the island. It might be bugs or eggs or birds or turtles. His room is full of specimens on shelves and animals in cages. Every day brings a new discovery, and it’s just so great to see what a free, exciting, stimulating childhood Durrell had. The freedom to roam, the freedom to get out in the sunshine, and the freedom to COLLECT stuff, coupled with a loving Mother grew Durrell into a great man! Nice work Mrs Durrell! I’m thinking that if my boys brought home a nest full of abandoned birds, i wouldn’t swig my brandy and turn a blind eye, like Mrs Durrell did. If only things were that simple. If only I liked brandy.
The break in screening lead me to flick over to Andrew Denton’s interview with David Attenborough. Attenborough said ‘To me, home is like the shell to my snail’. Well, he used some gestures too – to show that he was the snail – but it’s a bit hard to quote gestures. He was talking about HIS childhood too, and discussing how he used to go missing for days whilst collecting rocks and fossils and other natural treasures. Do you think his dad told him to be home by 4.30? Do you think his mum told him to put his stuff in the bin and not get dirt on the polished concrete floor? No. He had gathered his own museum of relics by the age of 7 – and encouraged by his family from an early age – he grew up and became one of the greatest naturalists of all time.
All this lead me to think about how my own boys are growing up in a pretty confined, citified sort of environment. How I really want them to have the chance to roam free and make some discoveries of their own. How it’s really important to tap into their passions while they are still wide-eyed, amazed and fearless. And it lead me to realise that success is not always about fighting the odds and toughening up. Sometimes it’s just about keeping an eye out for those early passions – and nurturing them… or at the very least not putting them in the bin.
So what am I going to do about all this? Well, I’m going to keep our Snail Shell cosy and supportive. It seemed to work for Mr Attenborough. Not really into having the kids roaming the wilds of Fitzroy, but I’m going to endeavour to have field trips on a monthly basis to ‘collect’ stuff that the boys are interested in. Give them a chance to wander off on their own (whilst I sip tea on a picnic blanket) and take some risks. I’m going to be sure to add some sort of art or history into our weekly big walk of Fitzroy and Collingwood. More trips to the museum, more walks in the mud, more dirt. I think I’m just going to try a bit harder.
And, as a collector, I KNOW that you never ever put a collection in the bin – no matter how mucky – because every collection is special – even if it’s only two things. David Attenborough says that ‘Collections are the basis of history’. And I believe him.
xx Mikes
PS – What about you…? How do you go with the mud and the dirt and the rock collections and stuff?
