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Outdoor Kids: Watch The Sunrise
I opened my eyes one morning to a gentle light streaming through the window and beautiful shadows on the wall. I went to the kitchen, made a cup of coffee, and stepped outside. Seeing my breath in the air, I looked on the ground and saw our first frost covering the grass and leaves.
My five-year-old knocked on the window for me to come inside. “It’s cold!” he said. But soon enough, he was dressed and came out to join me. A few minutes later, I turned my head to see he had found the snow shovel and was winding his way through the frost, making a track.
With colder temperatures and shorter days come sunrises that slowly appear where previously blocked by leaves. As I started to notice the sunrises and show my two young boys, they’d start to notice too and would run into my bedroom in the morning, softly saying, “Mom, come see the beautiful sunrise!”
I’ve always appreciated the sun, especially as the temperatures drop. Sunshine warms our days and provides for picture perfect scenes with my family. Even my dog has found a new sunny spot in the house to relax where the sunlight now streams into the house in the morning.
But just as I love to watch the sunrise on a beach once or twice a year, late fall and winter bring a gift to watch the sunrise every day. Whether watching from the window or stepping outside together, witnessing nature waking up provides a lot of conversation and is a great way to start the day.
Be Out There Fun Fact: In the U.S., because of the position of the earth and the end of daylight savings time, you have a better chance of catching the sunrise in fall and winter. On Nov. 12, in Washington D.C., near where Rebecca Cohen lives, the sun rose at 6:48 a.m. It will continue to rise later and later until Jan. 14, when it will rise at 7:26 a.m. On June 12, the sun rose in D.C. at 5:42 a.m. For more information on sunrises and sunsets, check out this Sunrise & Sunset Calculator.
Rebecca P. Cohen is Founder and President of Rebecca Plants LLC, is a gardening and outdoor lifestyle company that inspires families to be outside and improve their well being. For her weekly online video series, “Get Out of the House” as well as Starla J. King’s guest blog series “Savoring Summer,” visit http://www.rebeccaplants.com.
