Rooted Childhoods: Why Slow is Sacred

There’s a rhythm children are meant to move with. You can see it in the way they collect acorns with no agenda. In how they stop mid-step to watch an ant or ask the same question three times in a row, just to feel the answer more fully.

But somewhere along the way, the world sped up—and asked them to keep pace.

Childhood became a checklist. Play turned into performance. Time outside got traded for screen time and structured days. And all the while, something in our bones whispered:

this isn’t how it’s meant to be.

The Element of Earth: What Children Need Most

In the elemental rhythm we return to at Sunday Element Co., Earth is the slowest, steadiest guide. She teaches us to root before we rise. To tend before we harvest. To wait, to watch, to wander.

Children are born of Earth. They thrive in repetition, mud, rhythm, rest, and rituals. They don’t need to be taught how to be present—they are in a constant state of awareness.

What they need is permission to stay in that state a little longer.

What Slowing Down Looks Like

Slowing down childhood isn’t about withdrawing from the world—it’s about restoring a better one. One that makes space for:

• Unstructured time to explore, wonder, and simply be

• Simple rhythms that bring calm—like morning songs, evening walks, or mealtime rituals

• Nature immersion, where the pace of the seasons becomes the true curriculum

• Less rushing, more noticing: what does their body need? Their spirit? Their pace?

And maybe most of all—more adult presence—without distraction from smartphones, without instruction, and without pressure.

This isn’t just a personal belief—it’s the ongoing mission behind the Painted Oak Project, the next evolution of the educational work that began at Painted Oak Nature School. Through coaching, strategy, and hands-on support, we help families and educators "RESTORE childhood and REWILD education"—not as something to fast-track, but as something to tend—slowly and with care.

Let Them Be Little, Longer

Children don’t need us to fill every moment. They need wide open space to breathe and be.

They need to fall in love with a puddle. To stare at the same leaf for minutes on end. To learn the patience of growing a bean sprout on the windowsill.

When we slow down childhood, we’re not delaying growth—we’re deepening it. We're building strong roots before asking for tall branches.

Try This

This week, pause and notice: where might you slow the rhythm just a little?

• Say yes to the extra story.

• Let them linger at the table.

• Trade one errand for a backyard wander.

• Sit beside them while they play, without guiding.

• Notice the Earth moments—the grounding, growing, settling ones.

These small shifts make childhood feel spacious again. They make room for the sacred.

If you're an educator, parent, or community builder longing to bring this kind of rhythm into your program, home, or learning community, the Painted Oak Project offers guidance and tools to help you root in place, purpose, and presence. We offer support, strategy, and training for anyone ready to root childhood back into the wild where it belongs.

The Earth Will Teach Us How

Children know how to be present because they are still part of the earth’s rhythm. The trick is not in teaching them—but in allowing them to remind us.

So let them move slowly. Let them ask the same question again. Let them collect sticks like treasures.

Because in a world that tells them to grow fast, we can be the ones who say:

Take your time. You are already becoming.

🌿 P.S. If this resonates, you’ll love our upcoming “Earth Days” series—a collection of grounding rituals and seasonal practices for children and the grownups who love them.

With muddy paws 🐾 and a full heart,

Nicole

Sunday Element Co.

If your heart said, “YES” somewhere in this post, follow that nudge. Pull up a chair to the Sunday Table by SUBSCRIBING and let the next story find you when it's ready.