Life Lessons from the Playground - Drink Lots of Water
Drink lots of water I learned this from a continuing ed class – kids get to playing, enjoying themselves, forget to drink, and it causes chemical imbalances in the body, all the way to the brain level. They act out not (only) because they’re little terrors, but something is going on. When an incident happens or is starting to escalate, the first thing we did was make them drink water. Oh my word, the difference in behavior when they were re-hydrated was amazing! People, the human body is more than 50% water. When things are going downhill, re-hydrate.
Continue reading
Life Lessons from the Playground - When You Hurt Someone, Say You're Sorry
When you hurt someone, say you’re sorry and give them a hug This lesson usually came after the sharing or biting incidents. We would sit both parties down, admonish who ever needed to be admonished, and then encourage this interaction. I was constantly surprised at how willing the kids were to offer forgiveness when asked. It was instantaneous most times. There are a number of terms for this – keeping short accounts, being accountable, whatever. The long and short of it is take responsibility for your actions and do something about it. You may gain a best friend for life.
Continue reading
Life Lessons from the Playground - After Lunch, Change Your Pants and Take A Nap
After lunch, change your pants and take a nap The ritual after lunch was changing diapers and getting everyone went down for a nap. My fellow teachers and I had perfected a routine from Ben, who fell asleep in his food, to Chloe, who you had to practically lay on for her to fall asleep. There was an oasis of calm, and the kids were raring to go when they woke up. If they missed their nap, well, I believed I used the term “terror” a time or two? We need a break. When we keep pushing and keep pushing, our productivity actually decreases. We need to take the time to recharge and refresh, because let’s face it, most everyone around you can tell you need a break when you get cranky. Take Mr. Grumpygills for a short swim, and everything will look different when you get back.
Continue reading
Life Lessons from the Playground - Look Forward When You're Walking Forward
Look forward if you’re walking forward I always laughed at this one. We’d be walking down the hall and Isaac would inevitably have his head turned behind him with his body moving forward and bump into the other kids. Enter the domino effect. I talked to Mia’s mom about this tendency, and she said she has a freezer full of ice packs. Life is full of distractions, and we may want to dwell on some sad, or even happy, event in the past. But if you have a goal and want to move forward, then that’s where your eyes should go.
Continue reading
Life Lessons from the Playground - Say Please and Thank You
Say Please and Thank You This is where we teach gratitude to our kids, and the awareness that not everything comes to us “just because”. I loved this because when my precious Ethan (terror 80% of the time and melt-your-heart-just-plain-cute the other 20%) understood how being nice and kind and grateful felt, the biggest grin would come over his face, and he started acting much kinder to the others. When he wasn’t biting, but I’ll get to that later.
Continue reading
Living Your Calling on the Kim Jacobs Show!
This past week I was a guest on the Kim Jacobs Show, and we had a lot of fun talking about my journey and my passion for helping people live their potential and calling. Check it out below!
Continue reading
Life Lessons from the Playground - Sharing
A while back, I wrote a post about lessons I learned while I was a learning development teacher, and how some of these lesson are quite applicable in our current day to day and business lives. As I shared and got feedback, I found that there was more to the story, and many more people who could add to it. For this series, I am going to expound, in collaboration with several others, on those lessons we may or may not have learned in our early years, and how we can use them to help us play better in our current sandbox!
Continue reading
