Sussex columnist: Seeing the world through a child’s eyes at Southwater Country Park and Uppark House and Gardens

I feel so lucky to have been able to have two children, and to be able to see their special sibling bond ever-growing and changing.

Yes, most days are punctuated by cries of ‘Mummy, she did this, that, or the other to me’ and ‘Mummy, I don’t like him any more’ but, for the most part, they play happily together.

Another family day out at the weekend highlighted this perfectly. Sound the National Trust klaxon yet again, because we headed to a property we’d never been to before – Uppark House and Gardens.

Like most National Trust properties, there's nothing specifically targeted at children. They don’t tend to have playparks or other attractions aimed at kids.

But my children don’t see this is a problem.

With a bit of imagination, and the odd stick, they can create a game at the drop of a hat.

As we took a stroll through a meadow, the sticks became explorer’s poles.

Then, when we sat on the grass for a quick drink break, they decided my son was a tiger, and my daughter was his keeper.

The game largely involved my son having to fetch the sticks my daughter had thrown for him, while also doing a bit of running around, but it gave them so much pleasure.

Where we often see sitting with nothing to do as boring, and seek solace in our phones, heads down, shutting out the world, children see an opportunity.

With just a little bit of imagination, they make the most of their environment – wouldn’t it be amazing if we carried a bit of this free-thinking spirit through into adulthood?

And it’s not just them playing together that fills me with a sense of pride and wonder.

Invariably, whenever we go somewhere where they will be interacting with other children, one or both of them will make a friend.

Regularly, one of them will declare this new person a ‘best friend’ and ask me to have them round for tea, or even a sleepover.

And while it’s not always practical to take home strangers from a park, I do absolutely love the unselfconscious way they make friends so quickly, easily and without judgement.

Can you imagine if an adult walked up to you in a park, introduced themselves, told you their age, their favourite colour, names of their siblings and a few other very random facts about their life?

Your fingers would be hovering over the 9 button on your mobile phone quicker than they could say ‘my favourite food is pizza’.

But it’s second-nature to children. The world would definitely be a nicer place if we took a leaf out of their book and were less reserved and guarded around strangers, and instead looked upon them as friends you just haven’t met yet.

Didn’t anticipate this being so philosophical, but it really does make me think that the world would be a much nicer place if we looked at things through the eyes of a child more often.

More of Katherine’s columns:

Fathers' Day: Saluting all the dad-taxis of the world

Wim Hof: How I'm learning to freeze the fear thanks to TV's 'the iceman' – our West Sussex columnist on her cold showers experience

Feeling the birthday panic and having fun days out in West Sussex

It was maybe with that in mind, that I found myself being a human slide mat for my children at Southwater Country Park.

I’ve written about it before, but if you haven’t visited you should go. It’s got a great dinosaur-themed play park, a lovely little café (even if the double scoop of ice cream costing £5 in there seems a bit steep), plenty of areas to barbecue in and a lake for paddling in.

I had one quick go on the slide, after my children asked me to, but when they realised my dress made me slide down it super fast, they wanted to take it in turns to sit on mummy’s lap.

Yes, it was tiring going up the stairs repeatedly and I had to wedge myself into the slide , but it was simple, unscripted fun.

And I don’t think you can ever have enough of that.