{"id":69392,"date":"2026-01-30T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/?post_type=ground_up_stories&#038;p=69392"},"modified":"2026-01-30T10:09:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T04:39:34","slug":"why-mothers-in-meghalaya-take-children-along-on-forest-walks","status":"publish","type":"ground_up_stories","link":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/ground-up-stories\/why-mothers-in-meghalaya-take-children-along-on-forest-walks\/","title":{"rendered":"Why mothers in Meghalaya take children along on forest walks"},"content":{"rendered":"<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"IDR Ground up | Why mothers in Meghalaya take children along on forest walks\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NswKqD9px98?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p>Women in Meghalaya&rsquo;s Umsawriang village have been sharing their ecological wisdom with their children for generations now. They take their children to the forest and help them identify the plants they can eat, the wild greens that can be used as medicine, and the herbs they should never touch.<\/p><p>This sharing of generational knowledge has not only helped in preserving cultural history but also taught community members how to care for the soil and farm sustainably.<\/p><p>For this video, we interviewed four mothers who spoke to us about why they continue to carry on the tradition.<\/p><p><em>Samme Massar is an IDR Northeast Fellow, 2025&ndash;26<\/em>.<\/p><p>&mdash;<\/p><p><strong>Know more: <\/strong>Learn <a href=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/in-nagaland-an-old-education-system-witnesses-a-revival\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">how<\/a> an oldeducation system is helping conserve Nagaland&rsquo;s forests.<\/p><p><strong>Do more: <\/strong>Connect with the author at&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:wanmi0007@gmail.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wanmi0007@gmail.com<\/a>&#8239;to learn more about and support his work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":69393,"template":"","categories":[8,2892],"tags":[3587,3615,2357,3682,3702],"series":[],"meta-filter":[],"schema-filter":[743],"no-display":[],"class_list":["post-69392","ground_up_stories","type-ground_up_stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","category-ne-media-fellowship","tag-biodiversity","tag-ecology","tag-environment","tag-northeast-india","tag-rural-india","contributor-samme-massar","states-meghalaya","schema-filter-article"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why mothers in Meghalaya take children along on forest walks | IDR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Four mothers from a village in Ri Bhoi district, Meghalaya, discuss why they share knowledge 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