Even the phrase “small pleasures” seem as old fashioned as the activities themselves, but now in my mid 30’s and with my own family, it’s the small pleasures that I wish I had more time to experience.
Maybe it’s these activities that help families reset. To reconnect with each other and to nature. To different folks ‘small pleasures’ may mean different things but to me, growing up in Britain with its network of canals, one of my earliest memories was of feeding the ducks. For the price of a bag of almost-stale bread a 4 year old can become the most popular person around (to ducks!). There’s something about this activity that I feel all young children should experience – sharing food, showing empathy, connecting with animals and nature.
Maybe in NYC you’re more likely to see pigeons than ducks, but the fond memories of feeding ducks never came with any paranoia of pigeon poop! Be careful out there.
Other small pleasures:
- Fishing with small nets and later releasing the fish
- Train rides with my grandmother and eating sandwiches she’d prepared
- Sleepover at my other grandmother’s house (while she filled us with candy!)
- Surprise box of Maltesers courtesy of my mom
What are your small pleasures for your family and do they match with your fond memories as a kid? Or have you created new small pleasures? Please leave comments below.
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