“Come, children,” Camis called to the brood. “It’s time to take a walk.”

She ignored the groans, the protests of lost shoes, and the insistence that stopping in the bathroom beforehand would be a waste of time, and herded the kids out the door and down the street. There was a park nearby, the kind of park that was a big grassy area. No gym equipment. Just nature.

At first, the kids tried to escape, even the little one in his sling. But then, when Camis found them a caterpillar, nature took over.

She found a nice tree to sit against as she took the baby out of his sling. They played together until, with one big yawn, he fell asleep on her shoulder.

Camis looked at her watch. They’d been outside for two hours now, entranced by squirrels and leaves and grass and caterpillars. “Kids, it’s time to go home. Aren’t you hungry?”

“No,” they told her. “We’ve been eating caterpillars!”