Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples Day is Monday, and school will be closed. I’m hoping to get outside and enjoy a day in nature, and I recommend the same for you and your family. Living on the North Shore, I often visit the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge near Newburyport for its wonderful avifauna, or bird life, but there are appealing properties of the Massachusetts Audubon Society and Trustees of the Reservations all around as well. No matter where you go, being surrounded by wind and weather and creatures great and small connects us to the larger cycles of life around us.

It’s important, especially for kids growing up in the city, to get outside. They should be allowed to look under rocks and logs, touch leaves and bark, and get their hands dirty. Or maybe explore a beach, collect some shells, and see what the tide has washed up. Let them take the day to connect to the natural world. The benefits to mental health and the restoration that comes with just breathing outside is so very valuable. As a parent, I’m always amazed at what my daughter discovers and her delight in small wonders. It reminds me, too, that a day away from screens is a day worth living.

For a book recommendation, I suggest Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England by William Cronon. It’s a classic of environmental history, helping shed light on Indigenous People, their attitudes toward land and use of resources, and how that shaped the world around us today.