The heat of a moment looks different for everyone. Especially for school-aged young ones. As we approach mid-winter recess, tempers are a bit shorter and energy is a bit more...well, wild shall we say. (If you are an educator, you know exactly what I mean by that!) ;-) Because of this, we often see the intensity rise within disagreements between children. A misunderstanding over a puzzle piece could have been quickly resolved last month. But at this point in time it can seem like the end of the world for the child to not be able to play with the blocks they want or clean up the way they believe they should. As an adult in the classroom, it is so easy to try to jump in and address the problem, direct the children to apologize, and then move on from it. As we lived many of these moments over the past week, I expanded the typical 3 step approach with two thoughtful, intense personalities. The kiddos were instructed to clean up the floor puzzles they were collectively working on. Student A is a helper. He is also a leader and likes to have a bit more control over situations. He went ahead and tried to “help” his friends by breaking apart their puzzles to put the pieces back into the box. Student B was not ready to break down his masterpiece quite yet. As you can imagine, the intensity rose between the two and the next thing you know they both come rushing over with “He hit me!” and “No, I only touched him.” The children were both frustrated and seeing flashes of red. I could have said “What? Why would you hit him?” and then quickly rush through our 3 steps to problem solving (denoted with an * below). But instead, I pulled them aside and walked them through the following steps:
All in all, the steps from beginning to end were less than 2 minutes. Both kiddos transitioned right back into the group ready to learn, together, and they were stronger than before. The best part is- they experienced how powerful a moment of silence and connectedness can be in problem solving. Imagine how incredible we could feel if we did the same thing as adults... With gratitude, Christy Lynn
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What if we all just loved to love. Take a moment to feel what that means. I’ve been doing that a lot over the past few week; thinking about what it means to love to love. Love myself. Love others. Love our universe. Unconditionally. My 2 year old minis inspired this week’s thinking. Earlier this week, I snuck into their room to awaken them before they were quite ready to start their days. I ruffled around for a minute and then heard a faint whisper. “Good morning, sissy.” “Good morning, mama.” “Hi baby.” And then she snuggled her baby lamb oh so tight. Mini B’s head wasn’t even off of the pillow. But the first thing that she did was welcome others into her day with love. Even though she had a pretty good fight with her sister the night before (they are determined toddlers right now!), which led her to time out with me, she had let that all go. Today was a new day. Children love a new day. They don’t drudge up the past. There is no worry or fear associated with the day ahead. The kiddos don't list out all of the things they have to tackle for the day. They just experience it. They are mindful of the present. I am constantly in awe of this. I understand that some is developmental, but I do believe that we all had this innate ability to just lead with love when we were younger. We still do. Life just often gets in the way. Can you imagine if we maintained even a portion of this ability to enter every situation with an open heart, an open mind; one without pre-judgements or expectations? As Mahatma Ghandi once said, “The Law of Love could best be understood and learned through little children.” This further confirms why my passion lies working with children, especially those under the age of 5. A day doesn't go by where I don't learn something from them and their intuitive drive to just be love. I encourage you to watch as they capitalize on their capacity to love this weekend. And then lets collectively do at least one thing to follow their example. That is how we can create mirrored magic. As we follow their example, they will follow ours and the love will then flow endlessly around us. With love, Christy Lynn P.S. I love that you took time to read this. ;-) It means the world. I may not be the queen of multi-tasking, but I sure am close to being one of the princesses of it. Like many of you, my mind feeds off of stimulation, new ideas, and challenges. I’m not sure if I was born this way, if it was acquired through my upbringing, or maybe it’s a combination of the two. But however it shakes out, anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that my hands are always in about 52 different things. I see life as a blank canvas, one where any colors and ideas can be used. It’s how I’m wired; learn, try, GO...try some more. This mentality fit my life until I had my twins. While on 18 months of maternity leave from teaching, I had much more “quiet mind time” (yes, even with twins!) than ever before. You would think that this would be an incredible time of peace, but this was actually when my mind became my worst nightmare. It drove me CRAZY. Working three businesses from home, while taking care of my young family, apparently wasn’t enough to keep my mind satisfied. I felt like I was always just searching (in my head and online) for that perfect fit. And while all of this searching was going on, I would miss out on what was right in front of me. I was biting off more than I could chew to “work from home” and despite being physically present, emotionally I missed out on many special moments. Sad, but true. I would have conversations with myself to try and just let things be. I acknowledged the problem but couldn’t fix it. Despite the attempts, somehow I’d literally end up thinking about new ideas to explore. It became a vicious cycle-one of which almost had me to turn to medication. It wasn’t until I forced myself to slow this hot mess down that I discovered the power of simplicity that can be found within yourself. This was the missing piece. I had lost my grounding after having the minis. As busy as life had become with work and tots on the move, I finally learned the importance of taking care of my own well being first-before anyone else. It seemed selfish to me. But I sucked it up and started with five minute meditations and have grown from there. I saw the powerful difference it made in resurfacing my ability to be physically and emotionally present, both at home and in the classroom. Time for me is now a non-negotiable because it has the power to transform one’s life journey, which impacts the journey of others. The quest for a mindful future for our children starts with us. With that in mind, I challenge you to treat yourself to five minutes today, tomorrow and the next day to engage in whatever makes YOU happy. Just five minutes. Your life is your masterpiece. It can be anything that you want it to be, as long as you make time for yourself first. Everything else will then fall into it’s beautiful place...even as a princess multi-tasker. #5minFridayChallenge For your listening pleasure and inspiration, Masterpiece by Andy Grammer: |
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I'm obsessed. This is fabulous. LOVE that you are doing this. The new way of being a student forces us to think outside the box and approach how we teach more dynamically. ~Derek, Father of 2 and Elementary School Principal
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Just a girl with a dream to collectively build a healthy mind space for children, while creating a healthier mind space for ourselves. Archives
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