I had the pleasure of visiting my grandson’s school recently. He is in kindergarten in a private California school and I was invited to attend the annual “Jog-athon.” Each elementary school class ran around the periphery of the basketball court for as long as they could up to 30 minutes. The rules were to stop only for water and keep moving even if you were down to a walk. Each student was scored by the number of laps completed in 30 minutes and whether they stayed in the race to the end.
Several grandmas were there and we all agreed that these adorable 4- to 10- year-old kids were doing something we could not do in the hot sun! Running has been out of the question for me for quite a while but I still remember how good it felt to feel the wind in my face.
It was fun to watch my grandson give it his all. Joshua did 52 laps, stopping only for water. Fun to see young runners high-five their parents standing outside the course just like real marathoners.
I strongly support such events. Giving each child a chance to challenge him or her self, to develop stamina, to achieve a personal goal is one important purpose of education. Recess and moving exercises should be part of every school day.
Later I watched these elementary students at lunch and playing. They all seemed bright, friendly, boisterous, and kind of “hyper.” Not hyperactive in the clinical sense but they move their hands and scrunch up their faces a lot, get in each others face, yell, yell over each other, pull at their parent’s sleeve to get attention, even do a little dance sometimes. Normal behavior for healthy kids on a special day at school that was a non-school day? Absolutely!
But it made me think. We live in a noisy, fast-moving, rapidly changing, often chaotic world. Many children spend time, usually too much time, looking at a screen that offers loud noise and fast-moving visuals. In addition to strengthening muscles and stamina with exercise and races, what if parents and teachers spent a little time on exercises to teach relaxation, how to be still, and how to relax?
Schools are beginning to add “slow down” as well as “move fast” exercises. One study out of Tulane added yoga and mindfulness to third graders who needed additional support. These students, compared to similar students with standard care “…demonstrated significant improvement in psychosocial and emotional quality of life.”
When I had two preschoolers and was the head of a hospital pediatric department, “reentry” at night was becoming increasingly difficult because both children wanted and deserved time with Mommy. I tried an experiment that worked. I quickly changed into comfortable clothes, washed my hands well to get rid of hospital germs, and joined my two little ones on the big bed.
The children knew the routine and were waiting for me there. We hugged, all of us in what later I learned was called a group hug, and individually. Each child told me what happened that day.
On the way home I made up a new chapter of one of my many continuing stories that the children clamored to hear. One story was about a princess who lived in a castle that had no windows in the tower so she had to run down 27 flights of stairs to see if it was raining out or if she could go out to play.
If I pretended I couldn’t think of a new chapter the children pretended to shake ideas into my head. We held hands and sang songs.
Yes this routine enabled me to unwind but the children knew they were going to get time with Mommy so behaviors designed to get my attention were not necessary. We were all pretty mellow when we started supper because our Big Bed Time was relaxation for all.
In today’s world most families need to do relaxation “exercises” together. Parents (and grandparents) can teach deep breathing. They can play the quiet game, “Let’s all lie down on the floor to see how quiet we can be and for how long.” Have a “whisper only” day or hour with a little prize for the one who remembered to keep whispering the longest. Do visualization together. Tell the children your peaceful place and ask them to close their eyes and “see” the most peaceful place they can think of and pretend they are there. Do muscle groups tensing and relaxing starting with scrunching up the face and ending with tensing and relaxing the toes. There are parent and child yoga classes but if you are a busy mom, relaxing at home might be easier.
Noise proof the house…silence mobile phones, turn off TV’s and talking tablets. Instead of a chaotic children’s program download a relaxation video from YouTube. I saw a lovely one at the dentist’s office in which the camera moves slowly through a forest and meadows. Check online for relaxation suggestions for children and let the whole family watch and relax together.
Brain “exercises” can foster creativity which is a healthy “sport” to learn. Make a family circle. One person holding a talking stick starts to make up a story, stops at a crucial place and passes the stick to the next person who continues the story. Or teach children what a rhyming poem is and have a make-up-your-own-poem session. A nightly family reading session is another way to relax together.
Be creative.
