If I remember my own childhood correctly (and I believe, like everyone, that I probably don’t really), I think I spent a lot of time outside in cold weather. Then again, I also remember watching a ton of TV and playing a bunch of Nintendo. My memories lean towards warm summer and crisp fall days at the park and in my yard, so maybe I never went out in the winter after all. I do know that I spent my twenties and much of my thirties indoors, avoiding going out in inclement weather like the plague.
When my daughter was born, this almost immediately changed. She preferred to nap strapped in a carrier on my chest as I walked outside in the cold. As she has grown older, it’s less me carrying her and more her insisting that we go sledding, or take night walks, or play on the swing in the yard. My five-year-old has managed to teach me something that no one else ever could — that no matter the weather, it’s always a good time to get outside. When the storm warnings were made this past weekend, we did postpone our beloved night walks, but zero degrees didn’t stop us from going out and playing. It turns out joy is to be found wherever we allow it. All I needed to do was just get outside.
— Andrew Fersch is a Rochester-based educator who runs The Penn Program. He is the fortunate father of a delightful five-year-old and the grateful husband of author Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder.