 I grabbed my keys the other day as I was headed out to the store. It was the first time I stopped and looked at my keys and I felt how light they were. Let me tell you first, I don’t drive much anymore since I started working from home a few months ago so I guess it never clicked. On my key chain right now is my house key, mailbox key and my car fob, along with some trinkets that I have received as gifts from families over the years. Going back a year ago, I would have had about 8 keys and a fob. One house key and at least 7 keys for work. I stopped in my tracks and reflected on why I had so many keys during that time and decided it was time to write about why I felt so deeply holding those keys in my hand. It’s taken me a long time to get to this point and even at that, it’s hard for me to even think back, but then every little thing I’ve done since that day has triggered me and I’m flooded with gratefulness of where I am now and why that is and that maybe it’s time to slowly start sharing what has happened over the last few years a to bring me to where I am today. It all began in 2012, I started to rent a space at a church in Kelowna for my preschool program. A program I dreamed of opening for so many years. When I first opened up I needed two keys, one for the front door and one to my preschool room door inside the building. Soon I needed another key to lock the cabinet inside with all the private paperwork which is typical, so not a big deal.. Then slowly the keys kept getting added over the years… first, I needed a gate key for the outside play yard as people would start going into the play yard and I would have garbage and random debris to clean up. Once I came in and it looked like someone had a party. There was a lawn chair, some deflated balloons hanging on the tree, a ceramic squirrel in the tunnel, (I think it was a garden decoration) just all placed accordingly. It looked kinda fun, although I had to take it all down and dispose of it. Locking the gate did seem to detour them from getting in for a little bit…. A short time late, I got this awesome playhouse for the children, it was like a little hobbit house as some people called it. The children loved it so much!
It was a great hiding place to hide stuff, or from other children playing hide and seek, hide from the spray of the hose or to hide from me- you would often hear “you can’t find me Angela!” They would load it full of toys and try to squeeze in, climbing over, under and in between all the items. They would bring the plastic kitchen and chairs into the house and make food and serve it to everyone. They would bring the tubes into the house and peer out the window and shoot balls from the tubes at passer byers laughing endlessly.  They would climb the roof and stand on the top and shout, “I can see the whole entire world from here.” They would gather on the roof and sit and talk, tell stories, encourage their peers to join them (or to tell them to get off!). They would help each other get up and down, guide them carefully with the rules of the roof. They would work as a team to build with the milk crates to stack them to use them to get to the top. They would roll the tunnel over to the side of the house and use a 2x4 or the “sawing log” to stabilize the tunnel so they could get up. They would cheer on each other as they tried so hard to get up. They would throw balls from the roof and yell, “Angela, who threw that ball!?” (As I would pretend not to see)… then laugh so hard with glee that it was actually them.  They would prop wooden boards and slide down them from the roof. Some children really wanted to try and were hesitant or scared. Others would give them words of encouragement telling them, “you can do it! You just gotta…” slowly the ones that were ready would finally get up and then sit on the top of the slide and not go down, however the look of accomplishment on their face was a story to be told, but then they would end up coming down the way they got up as they weren’t ready to go down the slide. Others would squeal in delight they made it and whiz down the slide over and over again.  Whenever A was on the roof, he would tell us he could see his grandparent’s apartment building from there (he would always point this out to everyone) and he would look over there and yell, “Lola I can see you!” This was always a fond memory when A came to preschool. I would often climb up and sit and look over at the apartment building and wonder if Lola was there after both him and his sister went off to “big kid” school.
One day when A was on the roof, I said to him, “I wonder what I will do without you next year when you go to Kindergarten? I am excited that I will have M (his sister) next year though, so I will still get to see you.” A replied, “she will go to my school soon.” Angela, “Well, I get to have her at preschool for two more years first.” A, “I will be at Waldorf then M will come and I will be in high school then college then I will work after that.” Angela, “Will you get married too?” A, “Maybe. Maybe I will marry a woman. I can marry whoever I want. I can do whatever I want. Maybe I will marry M. I really like my sister.” Another child was listening and said, “you can't marry your sister!” A yelled back, “I can marry whoever I want! Well, first we have to travel then we will get married. We will have a wedding and then we can have babies. Maybe a boy.” These are the memories I wanted to cherish forever....... however, they were tarnished when the magical playhouse became a place where the window had to be boarded up and a lock placed on the door and locked up at the end of the day to keep people out at night. And that’s when the next key was put on my key chain….
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Last night when I went downstairs to put something away in the preschool I was in awe of the sunlight shining through the windows and how magical it looked lighting up the recently painted room ~ my heart skipped a beat and I thought ~ this is my space ✨
I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. I don’t have to ask for permission or just wing it and see if anyone will say anything 😅 I am extremely grateful for my 9 years at the church space where Serendipity started. They gave me the opportunity to have (at that time) a safe space to open the preschool program I had dreamed about opening for so long. They were very facilitating, supportive and helpful for the first few years when I was building my program and we maintained a decent relationship during the years, that was until the last year and a half/two years, the support diminished greatly and ultimately they ended up pulling the carpet from underneath me and evicting me with just over a months notice, giving 32 families the bad news their children couldn’t come in September- and having to find alternate childcare. It was devastating for me to deliver the news. At the time my world felt like it was ending and that my program may have to close indefinitely. I am a believer that things happen for a reason, however, in that moment I felted defeated and broken. And in the same breath I decided not to let them get the best of me. I went down with my head held high and determined. We were fortunate enough to sell our family home and purchase again with the space to open my preschool from my home. This came with lots of stress, sadness, anger, resentment, and uncertainty. Last night as I basked in the sunlight coming through the windows, I reflected on the last year when it all began and thought about how thankful I am for my blessings and this new space where I can feel safe, confident and extremely fortunate to offer Serendipity to this new community and those following me from Kelowna ❤️ It's a long one.... however, it's a good one, and an essential one as we come to the end of year when I hear and see people asking not only me, on social media etc, how are you getting my child ready for school, what are the children learning, how are you teaching them. You can read the answers to those questions below: Yes, yes, yes, we play all day, yes we get dirty, messy, wet, sandy, sappy, grassy… and the list goes on.. yes, we can have an outside day, yes! we say yes to everything ~ almost everything, some things I can’t specifically do and we have to plan for another day. No, I do not tell them what to do, no I definitely do not interrupt them for my adult agenda, no I do not stop outdoor play after a specific amount of time to go inside and do circle time or think that inside is where the most important teaching lessons come from , no I do not interrupt their play to “teach” them or think or feel I have to or feel the pressure from their adults to do so. I watch them, observe them, listen to them, facilitate them, hold them, console them and just BE there for them when they need me or invite me. We meet outside everyday, regardless of the weather. We play outside for as a long as the children want to play outside and then when they decide, we work together as a group to decide how much much longer to play outside for, it could be 1/2 hour of all day. When a child approaches me and asks to go inside, I check in with each of the children and ask them how much longer they want to play outside for. If the consensus is we stay out all day, we discuss it and come to an agreement. If they say they want to go inside, this year it seems as though they want 10 more minutes then go in, which turns into 20 and then some days they will say, let’s just have an outside day, and if we go in, we go in, if not, we stay out. I am prepared always for outside days and the same for inside. I am always ready either way. When the kiddos arrive a few will pair off and go play, most of the time you will see that the group is separated, some wandering around wondering or planning what to do, one will follow me around as I watch and gather information about the child item and I set out items accordingly, 1/4 of them will go eat (yes 5 minutes in some are already hungry 😂), I have an open snack/lunch. They are welcome to eat when their body says it’s hungry, and guess what….. they are allowed to eat whatever they want in their lunchboxes FIRST! If they want to eat their sandwich first, they can!! They all come with a well balanced healthy lunch for it really doesn’t matter what they eat first so long as they feed their bodies when their bodies need it. Within about 20-30 sometimes 40 minutes the children have found their play partners and have immersed themselves in their play for the day.... By this time I can grab my green lawn chair and take a rest. Usually only for about 2.5 minutes before I need to get up an do something. My chair moves around the yard with me, or I sit in the wooden chair or drag around a small plastic yellow chair. I can’t get down on the ground like I used to. My knees are old and tired from all my years of playing so I need to take care of them! When I do get down on the ground it takes me a long time to get up, creaking and squeaking 😂 or I sit in sap and have a sappy butt all day long! 😠😆 thank you pine tree for your beautiful shade, overflowing pinecones and strong branch to bear the weight of the children playing on the blue swing, but I don’t like your sap on my butt! Ok, so we play outside alllllll day long at least 80% of the time. No adult agenda. I set out enough activities/ideas dictated by me and go from there. Things get added, things get changed out, things are taken away (yes we do have expectations and boundaries), some things get negotiated- following the lead of the children. And this is done by staying out of their way, listening, observing, and facilitating.  These stilt things (I can never remember the name) have been a hit for R the last few times he’s come to preschool. He’s really been working hard with his body and mind to navigate their use. He needs to concentrate, focus, be patient, persevere, use eye hand coordination, he needs to navigate his large muscle control in unison with his fine motor control. He said, “Look I can no go onto the cement now!”
On the other side of the yard Z decided he wanted to do elastic painting. “How do you do this?” He asked. I said, “do you remember doing this before?” “Oh yeah” he replied. He needs to focus, use his eye hand coordination skills to manipulate the paint brush to very carefully apply paint to the elastic band, he needs to use his pincer grasp with his small muscles to control his wrist turning to pull the band for it’s amazing paint effect, then he needs to admire his creation and share that admiration with his peer who was painting alongside him whom was concentrating soooooo hard at painting the elastics.
C had decided she wanted to try the spray painting and make rainbow colors. She has to use all her strength to pull the trigger on the spray bottle which can be tricky for small hands and fingers. She needs to use her eye hand coordination, and large muscles extending to her small muscles in her wrists and fingers. Then when she feels she’s done yell at the top of her lungs, “I’m done! I want to do another one!” “Look I made a rainbow one.” And when she’s done her second one, she expresses, “I done now, I did a purple one. I just wanted to do a rainbow one and a purple one.” It was after four kiddos were painting and expressing they wanted to do more that I said, “I have an idea.” “Oh what’s your idea?” And follow me around to figure out what I’m going to do. Some throwing out some ideas. I put up a white sheet that they could spray paint. Typically this is what I do in the beginning as it focuses more on the process over the product of having the paper product. But this day I wanted to try the paper. And let me tell you, taking it off the easel and walking it to the fence was quite tricky for me! I had to be so careful. Soon three of them were running around the blanket spraying and “hiding” from each other. 
One hour and 25 minutes into their play they are all in the sandbox together. There are 7 of them today. They need to cooperate with each other in the limited amount of space they are in. They need to problem solve, negotiate and communicate with each other. Z then comes to me and says, I need water for the dinosaurs, I quickly grabbed a bowl, gave it to him and got some water. Then I remembered I had some foil roast pans that I dug out of the shed. Next thing Z grabs the tubes and is connecting them together on the grass, the balls come out. They are experimenting and figuring out how to get the balls through the tubes. Then the tubes end up in the sandbox and they are exploring how they work along with the sand.  The spray painting hadn't been used in over an hour so I decided tidy it all up (I left the sheet up), I put out tempera paint sticks. These are so great as they dry fast and you make 1000 pictures and bring them all home the same day!
An hour later I noticed R and Z were throwing balls around the yard and into the trees, throwing toys at the swing as it swung. I quickly went into my home storage area and grabbed a bean bag toss game. R says, “my dad has two of these!” I said, “well I have one because one is broken” “it’s ok, we can just use one!” There was a lot of turn taking, problem solving, negotiation, communicating, yelling, arguing, laughing, connecting.  R decides three hours into his play that he needs to lay in the grass and soak up the sun. One of the kiddos complained they couldn’t find any cars earlier. I said they were probably buried in the sandbox somewhere. He went on his business. Later on when no one was in the sandbox I took all the toys out and raked it and found oodles of treasures including someone’s socks 😂  Since the sandbox was empty (besides the excavator), they decided it was a good idea to burry their bodies. This is what they looked liked when their adults arrived. I don't gather them and get them all clean and tidy and "presentable" before their adults pick them up. 15 minutes before pick up time I’m tiding up the yard, cars, tubes, balls, dinosaurs, chairs, bean bag toss, painting. Then I’m rolling up 100 creations securing with an elastic band. Some children yelling out, “that’s mine!” “Is that one mine?” "that's my name!" “Is mine dry yet” “I want to bring mine home today”..... then the adults start to arrive. I see hugs, smiles, pouts (I don't want to go home!) and I hear, I don't want to go home, I buried my whole body! I have sand in my boots.... and stories of their day... One everyone is gone, then I need to clean the yard and close it down for the night ~ until we meet again in the morning ✨ 
 This morning I clipped some of my roses to put out on the painting table. I have about 8 rose bushes at my new house and they all started to bud and some are blossoming now. I clipped a red one from the front of the house and a white one from the back yard where the children play. At the end of the second class I was starting to put things away and was placing the flowers altogether in one jar and almost put them in the jar of colored water from the water from washing the paint brushes while doing waterpaints. I stopped myself and thought, “hmmmmm I wonder….”  My wonderment was, "I wonder if you put roses in colored water if they will change color? I’ve never tried it with roses, just carnations. I should provoke the children….." so I started to gather the items I needed. I could see they were watching from where they were playing, soon to be walking over asking, “what are you doing” and I responded with, “I was curious about something, I need your help, give me a few minutes to gather my supplies.”  Soon they were picking their colors and choosing which rose they wanted from the bush. We explored the thorns and talked about how poky they were and just one child taking a risk and giving it a touch to see for themselves, "It's not that poky."  We labeled the jars and we took a guess to see how long it would take for the roses to turn color. 100 days, 4 days, 5 days and a frank, “I just don’t know” 🤣 
When the adults arrived to pick up, the kiddos were excited to share with them about the experiment and how they looked forward to coming back in two days to see if there are any results.
Get a sensory table they said, it will be fun they said....  Actually it is A LOT of fun having a sensory table, regardless of the "mess" and I quote mess, because this is the adult's interpretation of what the environment looks like when children play. . I prefer to call it "evidence of play" however in this story, I will call it a mess. Ok, so let me tell you, having a sensory table be a lot- mess wise, mentally and physically. Let's back it up... in February I had beans in the table, messy, messy, messy, then in April I put rice in there.. MESSY MESSY MESSIER!! ..... Rice was EVERYWHERE, I swear there was rice in my pants, socks and shirt at the end of the day! Even though I have mini brooms out and I help sweep up when the opportunity arises. I try not to clean while the children are playing, unless I am invited to help clean or a suggestion has been made that I help them clean, as it sends a negative message that they are being too messy and they do not need this on their conscience as they are playing... Anyways, rice... it gets everywhere and you find rice months and months after the table has been changed to something else. On this pom pom throwing day S was tidying up the pom poms and she said, "Oh look I found some rice!!" hahaha Most of the time the mess comes from the children scooping up the rice and putting it in containers on the side of the table or other objects from the table as seen below and subsequently the containers getting too full and spilling, or you have children that will take cupfuls of rice or beans or whatever and purposely dump the contents on the ground. While this can be extremely frustrating for the adult, for the child this is learning. Dumping, pouring, throwing, dropping, rolling is a type of Play Schema called trajectory- Interest in moving objects by throwing, dropping, or rolling. May include the trajectory of own body by jumping off things or bumping into things. Interacting with things that are already moving, for example putting hands under running water..... As you can see from the photo below, there is a child cleaning up without prompting, she took it upon herself to start tidying up.  In child development, Swiss Psychologist Jean Piaget (1952) defined schema as: “a cohesive, repeatable action sequence possessing component actions that are tightly interconnected and governed by a core meaning.” History of Schemas of Play: Jean Piaget was one of the first to use the term “schema” or “schemata” in 1923. Piaget was one of the most important child development Theorists and his Theory of Cognitive Development was and still is incredibly influential. He was one of the first who believed children think differently than adults and that they have an innate desire to learn, and do so by constantly taking in information from the world around them. A major piece of his Theory of Cognitive Development was schemata. He theorized that children have three schemata: Symbolic Schemata, Operational Schemata, and Behavioral Schemata. So what are they learning by dumping and pouring? They are learning cause and effect, gross motor skills, visual tracking, body awareness, observing, and predicting.  Here's the nitty gritty and I'm going to be brutally honest. Your child is constantly learning through every moment in their lives, regardless! Children learn best through uninterrupted and unstructured play and large time blocks without transitions!!!! Oh and not telling them no tot make a mess! Children do not need to sit down in desks filling out stupid workshits, sitting criss cross 'give me a freaking break' applesauce in stupid circle time being quiet and JUST listening and watching the adult perform for the children. I am not a performer or an entertainer, I am a facilitator in a child's learning through play experiences providing a loving, caring, accepting, honest relationships where the children can feel honored and trusted to be free and play and learn in an environment that welcomes MESS! Let them spill the beans or rice, and if you are tired of the mess, put something in the table that's less messy but FUN like I did. HONESTLY, the rice was getting to be a bit much for me, so I did decide to swap it out with pompoms which is much easier for cleaning up and let me tell you, more fun to throw around the room!!!!  And what could be better in life then frolicking in the pom poms as they are splattered all over the floor?? In the end, I gave them all buckets and said, "Let's see who can fill their bucket to the top." And guess what, they did, they cleaned it all up, and believe it or not, it did not become a competition. They would each fill up each other's buckets! There is so much rich and authentic learning when you step back and let the children do their own thing and put aside the fear of them making a mess!  References:
Last week as I observed M work on her art creation, I recalled an article that Teacher Tom wrote many years ago Just the Right Amount which has had a huge impact on the art process of children over the years.  I was mesmerized at how consumed and focused she was in her play. First she would use just one glue spreader to spread on the glue, then she grabbed another. Next thing you know she is scooping the glue and dripping it from the spreaders onto the paper.  Next she proceeded to pick up the glue pot and scoop out the glue with the spreader. By this time the glue was oozing off her paper onto the table. She would periodically glance at it on the table and it didn't seem to bother her. I didn't say anything, I just stood back and observed and admired. As Lisa Murphy says, "The best teachers have bite marks on their tongues."  Soon after the spreaders were dropped and her fingers came out! She started to spread the glue around with her fingers. By now she was fully immersed in her project.  And that was it, she said she was done! I explained to her that I would have to carefully lift it up and place it on top of another larger piece of paper so that I could set it aside to dry. She said, "It's going to take forever to dry!"  I can't wait to see her again to show her what her creation looks like now that it is dry. I wonder what she will think, what she will say, if she will reflect on the process...  Years ago when I first entered the field, I feel like I remember having to "ration" supplies as we only had so much in our budget to purchase supplies each month and there were three educators that had to use that money. I would never say things to diminish their sense of creativity if they were "using too much", however, I did feel bad limiting supplies especially when they expressed they wanted more. It wasn't until I opened my own program where I had control over how much I had to spend and how I would allocate my funds that I felt fully in control of what children could use. I always budgeted enough for art supplies especially paper, glue, paint, stickers, shiny things and wiggly eyes to name a few top contenders. I also focused on shopping at thrift stores and dollar stores to get more for my money. I also have parents donate items to the program.  I can distinctly remember one Christmas in 2017, some of the children were creating Christmas cards and they kept placing foamy stickers on top of each other piling them up along with globs of glue. My mind went to ... oh no, I don't have many foamies left... maybe I should remind them there are others that may want to come and create art. I looked around, no one was near..... I saw the joy in their eyes and heard the enthusiasm in their voice about who was going to be so lucky to get that card for Christmas from them. And reflected that some of the kiddos didn't come to the art centre very much so this was a rare occasion that I could not stop them from creating what they wanted to with how much they felt was just enough. I also thought that if someone else came to the table and wanted some foamies, then we would have to work through it. But guess what... no one else came to the table and guess what... no one ever knew how much they used!
"Playing with extremes is how we learn about self-limitation, which is at the heart of self-regulation or self-control. When we're not permitted the opportunity to explore limits, it means we are under the control of others, leaving us with two choices: rebellion (the natural human response to external control) or obedience (the unnatural one), neither of which tend to contribute much positive to our self-identity or our ability to think for ourselves." Teacher Tom So the next time your child is "using too much" stop and think.... does it really matter, do I now need to put a limit (limits should be placed ahead of time), can I find another alternatives- dig in your cupboards and bring out other things for them to use. I do this quite often. If there are limits, they should be set out ahead of time, and example could be "Just so you know, we only have a little bit of wiggly eyes, I have divided all that I have between everyone and have given you each a bowl with what you can use." And in this instance, I have also noticed some others haven't come to use their share and have worked together with that child to see if they will be using it and would like to offer up to another child and most of the time, the child says others can use their share. Now I need to go and replenish the glue and the loose parts materials  Listen to it here: It starts in the baby room:
Most of us in ECE agree that infancy is just as full of learning as preschool, but what should practice look like under that philosophy? Is it letters and numbers and shapes? Is it group activities? Lisa Murphy and Heather don’t think so. "We just have to be able to be doing what we know is important and appropriate for the age and development of the child that's in front of us. Not our image of what people expect or our sorta persona of a teacher that we want to have for ourselves." Heather Bernt-Santy, M.A.ED. This episode isn't just about working with babies, it's relevant to all age groups. It really made my morning listening to this one. If you haven't checked out this podcast, I highly recommend doing so, there are so many great topics for you to pick and choose from and so many guest speakers. I really enjoy when there are guest authors on there. It gives you a glimpse into what their style is like and into the books they write. I've purchased a few books from listening this this posdcast.  So many times I have heard educators tell children they can do certain things. No you can’t touch that. No you can’t move that. No you can do that! WHY? If you can not tell them why with a logical answer, let them do it.
Did anyone get hurt, did any property get damaged? I got this pinwheel for my yard in my old home, and had just unpacked it and placed it accordingly in the garden and admired it. Monday morning comes around and one of the children grabs it out of the dirt and started carrying it around. I almost asked them to put it back. I took a breath and asked myself, “Is anyone going to get hurt? Is any property going to get damaged?” No, then no big deal, walk away! (Plus I bought it from the dollar store for two bucks so it’s not really that big of a deal!) And so I didn't say a word! What came about was magical “I like how when I walk the colors go around.” After running around: “If I stop, it stops” “when the wind stops I have to blow”….. concentration, attention span, one on one correspondence, eye hand for ordination, science discoveries, relationship to the world, exploring real items, relationship building, self confidence, self esteem…. so many real and hands on learning opportunities. And guess what!!!!?? It didn’t get broken and they always put it back in the garden. Not in the same place, HOWEVER, it doesn’t really matter! There’s so much rich exploration, discovery and learning for children if we just stop and ask the question, “does it really matter?” Serendipity ~ Ser.en.dip.i.ty [ser-uhn-dip-i-tee]- Noun 1. Luck in making desirable discoveries by accident Typically when we go inside from outdoor play we take off our gear, wash our hands then meet on the carpet for a gathering time- others may call it circle time, it’s certainly never a circle, it could be a half moon, an oval, a square, but more often then not it’s chaos and sometimes a mosh pit 🤣 During this time we hang up our owl names on the tree then do whatever… read a story, play a game, talk, whatever the children want. On this particular day, we came in, took our gear off, washed our hands and I met them at the carpet with the hopes to read the story, “The very hungry caterpillar” as we had just gotten our caterpillars and I really wanted to read it. A few children were straggling along getting their outdoor gear off and washing hands and the others were getting restless and they started hopping around from one mat to another and soon others joined and it became a game. There was laughter, turn taking, patience, perseverance, negotiation, frustration, joy, team work, and most of all ~ it was led by the children.  “Hey guys watch out, look out, look at me, watch this, 3,2,1!, look I can jump to D’s spot…..”  I snuck away and went about my business. They continued on this play for about 5 minutes and then they they slowly meandered off into their own play elsewhere with no mention about having a gathering time.  My program is about the children, it’s child centered, I follow their lead. It’s not about me and what I want to do. I will share with them somethings that I like to do and go from there, however, I do not make them sit down, be quiet and read that story I wanted to read. That wasn’t important for them- jumping on the mats was important for them- that’s what matters and that’s the greatest learning of all!
And I reiterate: What am I doing, why am I doing it, who am I doing it for? I started walking again in January around my new neighborhood in the mornings. I used to walk over a year ago and I had to stop, I’ll share about that another time. It felt so good to be back at it again. It’s a great time to think, reflect, wonder and just be in the moment with no distractions. As I walk I am looking at other people’s yards and their set ups, trees, dirt, flowers, the sky, airplanes, and most of all the amazing view from way up here ✨  I don’t take photos everyday, however here’s a snippet of the last four months. I love seeing the changes of the season! The photos aren’t in order… perhaps I’ll fix it one day. As I walk I wonder, how long have they lived in that house for? How did they bring all that rock to their house? How much time they spend on yard work, oh that’s a steep driveway just like mine…..  What kind of plant is this, I really like it, I need to get some… oh I just found out it’s an invasive species and it can be harmful if touched.  Ooh is this the wild asparagus I hear about? It’s not but sure looks like it…  I noticed this family chopped their trees down from the front of their house and chipped the logs and they used the wood chips on the ground in front of their trees, it smells so fresh.  I wonder where these people got their address sign, I want one…  I should grab some more bulrushes… oh maybe not, that was really not such a great idea last time…. 😅 Think about the times you have wondered and what you were doing and how you felt about your thoughts, how you validate them and process them. Now think about children and their wonderings. So often they are disregarded as meaningless and insignificant. We tend to brush it off and hurry on and give them the technical answer. We need to stop doing that. We need to relish in their moment with them and truly listen and get into their world with them.  Often I will share my wonder with the children. I wonder why this water is so cold. I wonder why this flower died? I wonder why we have to wear shoes? Sometimes they look at me like I’m silly and shrug it off and sometimes they truly have suggestions for me and we have some great meaningful conversations. When they tell me their wonderings or ask me why, I will often reply, “I wonder, what do you think”…. and dive right into a conversation with them, sometimes for a just a moment and sometimes longer.
The next time you are wondering, say it out loud to who you are with, have that discussion with them, open the conversation, relish the rich connection that will follow, be in that moment and you will experience the joy of having someone relish in your wonderings, and visa versa; open your mind to their wonderings, relish in their moments ✨ |
AuthorAngela Roy, Early Childhood Educator My family moved to Lake Country in November 2021. After 9 years of operating my preschool from downtown Kelowna, I opened up my preschool from my home in February 2022.
I will often post on my preschool Facebook page stories about my preschool and things we are doing etc. But then I decided I should utilize my webpage and start writing on here. I am in no means a professional writer, but wanted to give it a shot. There may be grammar and spelling mistakes, and I’m ok with that (please do not shame me for this!) This is me, in the moment and sharing a part of my life alongside my preschool program. Feel free to comment and share your words with me if you choose. Happy reading ✨ ArchivesCategories |
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