WELLINGTON COUNTY – Sarah Connor and her three kids set out on St. Patrick’s Day to find a shamrock, and they found more than 150 of them, fastened to people’s houses throughout the town of Arthur.
“My oldest was not super-thrilled to be going on a walk, but when he realized what was happening, he made it his goal to find 100,” said Connor. “We found 150.”
It was part of a Neighbourhood Window Walk, a notion that’s taking off like wildfire on Facebook groups across the country.
As families hunker down and self-isolate during an extended March Break due to COVID-19, some clever parents devised the idea to hang shamrocks in their front window or door and then have children walk through their neighbourhoods on a massive scavenger hunt to find them.
It’s safe when children are accompanied by an adult; it respects the 2-metre distancing rule; and there’s no cost, pre-registration, or danger of being cancelled.
“It’s not my idea,” Connor was quick to point out. “I saw it on a Canada-wide moms group I belong to and shared it with the Arthur moms group I belong to, and right away, the moms in town were on board.”
Connor said she and her kids spent an hour walking through town on March 17 with clipboards in hand, making check marks on paper when they spotted one.
A supply teacher, Connor said she snuck in some educational benefits for her older kids, aged 5 and 7, who also got to do a little mapping, a little math, and learned some basic observational skills.
“The little one was happy just to have a pen,” Connor said of her almost three-year-old daughter. “There’s no reward, no prize. It’s just for fun. It sure kept the kids happy.”
There are six more Neighbourhood Walks planned in the coming weeks:
- March 20, which will have a silly faces theme;
- March 23, animals;
- March 26, encouraging words;
- March 29, flowers;
- April 1, jokes; and
- April 4, Easter egg hunt.
Connor said her kids were busy making silly face signs and will enjoy watching others discover their signs almost as much as finding the signs themselves.
And it’s not just in Arthur.
Jason Boyce said he and his wife discovered the concept on an Elora Facebook page and since then, have learned that some friends in Texas are doing it, too.
His kids are 15, 13, 11 and eight, “and the older ones weren’t really into it. But they all went out with us and it was pretty great,” he said.
Window walks – Different online community groups, including the Elora Meadows Facebook Group, have been encouraging fun activities for children and their families to get them outside and active but still observing physical distancing. On March 18, Nate Boyce, left, and his sister Meaghan sought out some shamrocks during a Neighbourhood Window Walk in Elora.
Submitted photo
Indeed, window walk groups are popping up throughout the region and across the country.
Boyce said he wonders and worries about the impact of COVID-19 emergency measures on his children and hopes they’ll look back on this time and remember that some positive has come out of it.
People can’t come together physically during distancing restrictions, “but we still connect through shared experience,” he said.
“Churches are moving to online, neighbours are helping seniors, people still care. I tell my kids that while life is on pause, we can take stock of what’s important, and then take action.
“This is a little thing, I know, but we can use it as an opportunity to equip, engage, and empower people to be better. And that’s what’s really important.”
