Thirty eight seconds. Just over half a minute. That’s how long this piece of wood, washed up on the beach, held her attention for.

What I’m learning though, is that 38 seconds is enough. I know my daughter and I just know that she’ll drop what she learned in that 38 seconds into a conversation soon. She’ll either liken the wood to a boomerang (as she has seen that particular episode of Peppa… a lot), or I’ll ask her to bring something back, and she’ll say “like the sea!”.

I’m always surprised when she does this, but maybe just this once I’ve spotted the learning happening before she sneaks it up on me!

Unschooling is awesome like that. It means sitting back and allowing those 38 seconds to unfold; it means recognising the value in these seemingly fleeting and insignificant moments; and it means really knowing your children. I’m not about to claim that a child learns something new every 38 seconds (though maybe they do), but I know that by allowing my daughter the freedom to fill those 38 seconds with something that fascinates her, she’ll learn far more than she would following someone else’s idea of what she should find interesting.

I’ve noticed recently my daughter making links to other things she knows about, hence my predictions for how this wood will come up in future conversations. It’s wonderful to almost be able to witness her building connections and pathways in her brain. She’s become so much more of a “whole person” by being able to draw on past experience and knowledge, and connect it to what’s happening in her present, and what will happen in her future. And it’s lovely, as her mother, to know that everything that’s gone before hasn’t happened in isolation, and been forgotten about, but has all served as foundations for the knowledge she seems to be soaking up like a sponge at the moment.

The first few years really are key, not only to provide these foundations, but also to inspire passion, curiosity and confidence. I know the importance of these years is drummed into us while we’re pregnant, but it’s something I never truly understood until I began to see it with my own eyes.

I can’t say I’ve made every second count. But I know those 38 did.

(If you want the 38 second video, check out our insta @unconditionalunschooling )