Starting on Friday, our children, teachers, and families in Baldwin  County will embark into a much deserved spring break!

April showers bring a lot more than spring flowers in ways that parents of young children can thoroughly enjoy this next week as well as learn some valuable lessons. Yes, we live near the water, which offers a learning habitat of observing all kinds of sea life from fish, sand crabs and seagulls, to shelling.

We have a beautiful boardwalk between Daphne and Spanish Fort where you and your child can spend a spring break afternoon looking at bay life as well. Our bayfront parks have signs which guide and teach you and your child what your are observing in nature. During spring break go and visit our very resourceful Daphne library where the friendly librarian can guide you and your child in the right direction of what you are looking for.

We are so fortunate to be living in an environment that is beautiful and offers so much in teaching the young child how to take care of the world they live in.

But, in these lean times, how can we teach our children to take care of the world they live in and to be good stewards as well as thrifty with materials they already have? Early childhood teachers are famous in teaching their young children the three R’s: recycle, re-use and reduce. Use the time you have during spring break to guide your children to be aware of this.

They  like to think of ways to help.

Beth Pinyerd lives in Daphne and serves as director of younger children at Faith Family Fellowship in Spanish Fort.

Her column appears every other week in the Daphne Bulletin and Spanish Fort Sun.