What a Tree Teaches Us About Child Development

For many decades, at the heart of Country School's campus, stood a tree affectionately known as the Leaning Tree. Its roots had settled unevenly and it took on a striking, whimsical tilt. Generations of children climbed its trunk, balanced along its slope, and nestled among its branches, a place of adventure and imagination, a living symbol of childhood: imperfect, resilient, endlessly inviting.

Eventually, the Leaning Tree had to come down. Time and weather had weakened it. But it left behind an unmistakable imprint, a story that became part of our school's DNA.

When we planted a new tree to honor it, we did something unusual. We tilted it deliberately to echo the original's legendary lean, a way of saying: we remember where we came from, the joy in the imperfect, the play in the slant.

But nature had other ideas.

For the first few years, we worked to preserve that lean. We braced it, tugged it gently, guided it to stay off-center. But slowly, the tree began to correct itself. Its branches reached toward the sky. Its trunk thickened and straightened. It had something deep inside—a wisdom—that told it where it was meant to go.

Today, the new "leaning" tree stands almost perfectly upright. Despite our best efforts to hold it down, it grew toward the light.

Given my experience as the Head of School at The Country School as well as being a lifelong educator, I am confident that this is what children do too. 

At The Country School in Madison, our teachers understand this fundamental truth about child development. Growth isn't always linear; it doesn't always look neat. Children wobble, test boundaries, lean this way and that. But given time, care, love, and strong roots, they find their way upward. They move toward the light, toward kindness, curiosity, courage, and confidence.

As teachers and parents, we provide the nutrients: structure, encouragement, guidance, and belief. We prune when needed, we steady when the winds blow strong. But we also trust in each child's innate tropism, that inner pull toward becoming who they're meant to be.

Our job is not to decide what shape they'll take, but to give them the right conditions to grow. Sometimes, even when we try to hold them to the side—out of fear, or habit, or nostalgia—they remind us, as the new Leaning Tree did, that they already know where the light is.

This philosophy shapes everything we do at Country School, from PreSchool through 8th Grade. It's why we believe in outdoor education and daily recess. It's why our STEAM curriculum encourages experimentation and why reading buddies pair 8th Graders with 3rd Graders—because teaching others is one of the most powerful ways to grow toward your own light.

The Leaning Tree teaches us about trust, growth, and the remarkable power of letting children reach toward their own light. It stands as a reminder of our educational philosophy: to trust the process, provide the right environment, and watch children reach toward their potential. Country School children grow toward the light and flourish in the present.