Acts of Service: The Great Neighborhood Clean Up

Welcome to the November 2012 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Family Service Projects
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have written about what service means in their families.
***

When I was pregnant with Lydia, I instituted mandatory family walks every night before bed. It wasn't always pretty, but we got it done. We live in a traditional neighborhood, complete (unfortunately) with hills. Our walks consisted of running (racing), collecting leaves, nuts, rocks and the like, and taking breaks for mom. We would always take different paths, sometimes they would be short, other times they would be long. Sometimes too long. Rarely did we get one just right.