The Joys of Dirt

Since having a child, I have noted a sad lack of parks in the area we live. And the ones that are nearby (closest is a 1/2 mile walk across two busy streets) are, quite frankly, pathetic. Over the past two months I have also noticed that not one park in a 15 mile radius have a sandbox. What is a childhood without sandboxes? And what is a mother with a son devoted to sand and dirt to do? Answer: improvise. In our backyard there are three garden boxes. We have planted in two of them and left the third empty due to the poor yield of that box last year. Today I cleaned up that bed, turned over the dirt, sprinkled so water on it and placed my son inside. He was overjoyed to have his very own dirt/mud box and he had so much fun (and did not try to pull up my cabbages) that I did not mind the mud cover toddler that resulted.