The Louisiana Junior Ranger Program

We spent our Christmas holiday in a lovely park just outside New Orleans, an amazing place to visit,  filled with art and celebration.

The Bayou Segnette State Park was recommended to us by a number of RVing families, because it is a lovely park, reasonably priced, and close to a lot of attractions. As we settled in, I asked about their Junior Ranger program. The ranger I spoke to wasn’t sure if they had anything going during the Christmas season, but he promised to check for us. Within an hour he’d driven all the way back to our campsite, inviting us to visit another ranger, Josh, who was available.

I was thrilled! This country’s Junior Ranger programs are amazing. They’re filled with little educational activities you can do on your own with the children. Some are rather comprehensive, while others are simple to complete.

We met Josh at a remote building of the park. He immediately greeted us at the door and asked the children to sit down, so that he could teach them a few things about the wildlife in the area. Wow, how cool! He put together a cool art project, then asked if the kids might like to go on a nature walk with him. They were very enthusiastic in their responses. Cheering could be heard throughout the land.

Josh gave each child a net and took them to the lake, so that they could capture critters. He worked with the children to show them how much life was teeming in the water that surrounded the park. The children carefully deposited their finds into a makeshift aquarium, so that they could observe the animals better. They were enthralled! After an hour or so, they released the bucket into the water again, ensuring no lives were lost in the day’s adventure.

Over the next two weeks, Josh continued to work with them, teaching them about various aspects of nature. One day he even took them fishing, which was an incredible experience. No one caught anything, but they all became expert at casting lines into the water.

One of the requirements for completing this Junior Ranger program was that the children needed to do something to help the park. Josh suggested a cleanup project, which is something we love to do. Back home, we’d participated in many such Boy Scout events. I had intended to do more trash pickups over the last few months, but hadn’t implemented a schedule yet.

The children were particularly eager to help out a neighbor, who liked to smoke outside. The lady had trouble bending over to retrieve her butts, so her site had quickly gotten out of control. She was embarrassed about it, so that’s where we started. After that, the children went around to all the campsites and dedicatedly cleaned them up. The children felt really good about the experience.

The day after our cleanup, the neighbor made a point of asking the children if they had cleaned up her site for her. When they confirmed that they had, she was overjoyed. She had tried to discover who had done it, talking to friends and family members, as well as various rangers. Finally, she realized it must have been the children.

She rewarded them with shimmery Santa hats filled with gifts! The children hadn’t expected a reward, and in fact hadn’t planned to tell her that they’d been the ones to pick up her site, so they were very surprised and pleased. It was a very rewarding experience on many levels.

The children’s sense of responsibility for the park continued to rise steadily. On another day, we’d been taking a walk when we discovered a tree had fallen across a boardwalk nearby. Cole immediately called the park ranger office on his cell phone, reporting the hazard.

Through their education at this park, I realized that Cole and the girls had truly become Junior Park Rangers! They were really observing the environment, discovering problems they could fix. Josh was proud of them and took the time to swear them in officially, as they wore their prized Santa hats.

I couldn’t be more proud of them!

Laura Sherman

My husband and I have been married since 1993 and we have three amazing, talented, bright children! I’m known as Laura the friendly ghostwriter and have written almost twenty books and hundreds of articles. Dan and I are so excited to be able to homeschool Cole, Camille, and Serena on the road and wanted to share our experiences with you.