KIMMY SCHWIMMY

 

Nov 5, 2013

Today was intense. I taught some of the most energetic little beings on the planet...all with different ideas of what 'fun' is. 

This one little 3 year old boy in the last class I taught, as I came in to set up, grabbed hold of my leg and hugged me and looked up and said "I've missed you Kimmy". He sat next to me and when it was time to sing the 1-2-3 Piggies song(with my realistic wolf hand puppet) he jumped up and ran to the wall crying. So I put the wolf behind me and asked him to come to me. I told him I loved him and would never ever bring anything into the class
that would hurt him. I told him the wolf was just a toy that looked like a real wolf. He asked me why he looked that way and I just said, "that is how he was made and that is how he is supposed to look just like you were made the way you are supposed to look". So he said "ok", then sat down and put his three pigs on his fingers. After the song, he asked me if he could give the wolf a hug and said, "I like him now". As I packed up to go the little boy had tears streaming down his face and he just kept saying over and over to me, "I'm gonna miss you so much, I'm gonna miss you so much". 

What a deep little guy...

Anyway...as I left and got into my car I received a text from a little girl I used to teach when she was a preschooler and she is now almost 10 years old. She said she missed me, wants to see me, and that I was her hero. 

I say all this to say that if anyone ever has a chance to make a difference in a small child's life...I personally guarantee you it will be the closest thing to your own little piece of heaven that you create for yourself. There is nothing more pure than the love a child offers you...it calls me to a higher place daily....

 

October 28, 2013
So today I ran into a mommy on the way in to teach and she and I had a beautiful exchange. She really is such a loving person and her face just glows. Well, two classes in and her little boy walked in and he was the only one in the circle who seemed 'off'. So about mid way through the second song I called him by his name and I said "are you ok? I'm so happy to see you". He immediately burst into tears and although it was sad to see, I wasn't all that shocked as his body was so tense and I could tell, full of resistance. As he cried I looked up at the teacher sitting next to him and she mouthed to me so he couldn't hear her that he had just gotten into "trouble" before class with me began. He cried for a bit and once I tossed the ribbons out he seemed to have moved on from crying but he still was 'holding on' to something. The class ended and they all left. I packed up and started to leave and saw him in the hallway. He looked up at me and I placed my hand on his head soft and said "I want you to know that I saw your mommy this morning and that she loves you so very much". As soon as I said that I saw his mommy he closed his eyes and his entire face relaxed and he had this amazing smile on his face as he rested his head into my hand. All of the tension he was holding just left his little body.

I realized as I walked away that most likely what that did for him was help him connect to who he really was...not the little boy who did something wrong and should feel bad, but the little boy who is always loved no matter what...

I got lucky by assuming bringing up his mommy would help him reconnect to his own love for who he was...but I suppose what I saw was the difference between being upset with oneself and in pain and then opening up to allowing the love that is there always and feeling that amazing peace. It was so wild to literally witness all of this within 30 minutes. I am loving people more and more as I see we really are so diverse and yet so connected in our desire for true unconditional love...and each journey to that place is so unique and full of possibility. Life really does just get better of we only allow it.

 

October 23, 2013

Ok, new observation in class yesterday:

I decided to keep working this 'abundance' thing and telling the children before I pass things out that I have a LOT of dinosaur finger puppets or a LOT of rainbow ribbon colors to share with them...so MUCH and PLENTY for all of them. With the ribbons, picture a ridiculous amount of different colored ribbons all over the floor in front of them, behind them and even under their feet. Each time I would hold up a ribbon to sing about that particular color, some children would race around excitedly and find that color. They were determined to find it, and sometimes they ran all the way across the room to get it when it was right under their feet, but they still got it enjoying the journey to it. Then there were the children who knew the ribbon was right next to them and just reached down, sifted through, and found it easily every time. Then there were children who picked a green and an orange or a pink and a blue and they held onto them happily not needing to change colors the entire song. Other children were so overly focused on what another child 'had' that they couldn't even 'see' that the same color was literally right under their foot. And then there was the cute one with the look on their face that said, " I want that color, and I want you to just find it and give it to me" and that is exactly what they got(I or another teacher found every color for them 

So here is my observation: There is plenty out there for all of us. Some people have big desires and are willing and able and trust in their own hard work ethic and creativity to get what they want, and they do get it while enjoying the amazing feeling of hard work and how it pays off(the child who went across the room). Other people have the same big desires and choose a path of least resistance and just expect life to be easy and so it is for them. Other people are more simple and don't really want the contrast of a different color and so they get that. Others are so overly focused on what someone else has and upset that they don't have it, so they don't get it. Some people really do expect others to just hand them what they want...and they get that too. 

What is cool to me is the diversity of every person...and I in my limited perspective only see such a small part of this...but I am realizing that we really did not come here to be just like someone else, but we came here for our own journey and sifting through contrast and colors and experiences to figure out daily what we want and then once we believe it is ours(even if we believe deep down that we can't get it) we get it. 

At least this is what I saw in this 'game' of throwing ribbons on the floor and watching how 20 different three year olds reacted in almost that many different ways. Life is fun and have I told you lately that children teach me so very much? ; 

 

 

October 16, 2013

I wanted to post something I am observing in class with the students I teach. I have been doing this song where I pass out all these different finger puppets so the children can pretend to be the 'little town' in the Giant in the Little Bitty Town song, and I started doing something different. Usually teachers want me to be fair and only allow the children to get the same amount all around, 2-3 puppets. The goal is to get them to put them on their fingers for fine motor development but also enhances imaginative play. Anyway, I started thinking, "there is an abundance of finger puppets and rather than focus on the actual amount, let's focus on how it feels to have whatever you want". So before I tossed them out I said to the children, "I have a bunch of little people and animals in here and there are plenty for all of you. Think about how many you want, and what will make you feel good to have...you can take 1 or 2 or 3 or more, whatever feels right for you."

I am only posting this because I did this at three different schools with multiple classes and got the same results. In each case when I spoke those words before tossing the puppets out, the children raced over all excited as usual, but each child did something different. There were those who chose 2-3, some who chose 1, and others who grabbed a pile and held them in their lap and played with only certain ones while the other puppets just sat next to them. But ALL of the children were happy...and it was not about "equal distribution" that I created for them. In one case,
A boy realized mid way through the song that he had too many and he brought three back to my bag one by one until he was down to 2...one puppet on each hand, and he had this huge smile on his face. Also, it's interesting to note that a pile of puppets remained in the center of the floor...and at different times certain children would come in and pick one or two more if they wanted to. 

I think there are many things to learn from this...but I believe that when we see the world as an abundant place with enough for everyone and focus on feeling good as we create and choose regardless of what others have...then we see that we always have enough...we can always get more, because there is always more, and if we choose to give back, we can do that too...just an observation...

 

September 26, 2013

I am amazed at how aesthetic a 3 and 4 year old can be. They notice everything, from "where are your shoes, Kimmy?", to "I like your white hair"(or is it yellow?"), and then yesterday I had six four year olds standing in a circle around me arguing over what I smelled like. They were literally breathing in and the two choices were "cookies" or "strawberries"...I love the rawness of this age and that I get to hang in their world a little bit everyday. Thank you once again universe...!! Fun

 

September 20, 2013

Today I sat down with about 15 three year olds and decided to throw out a question: "Do you know why you are here?" One little boy said, "I'm Jacob and I'm going to school." Then I asked him "are you happy Jacob?" And he said, "yes, I'm happy", then his face turned down and he said "but my Papi is not happy". So I just said, "well, I guess Papi can be over there and not be happy and you can be over here and be happy!" Then he looked up and smiled and said "yes, I'm happy over here"....

And it occurred to me that even at the youngest of age how easy it is to have our 'happy' taken away if someone with more 'power' has influence over us. But all we have to do is be reminded that we are powerful beings...even if we are only three years old...and we can always take back our happy...

 

 

September 4, 2013

Yesterday I was sitting in a NYC preschool classroom teaching and Finley walked in...I taught her when she was a baby up until she graduated and she is now 8 years old...she came to the school to celebrate her brother's 5th birthday with the class party. Finley didn't know I was going to be there teaching...she ran in, hugged me and sat next to me and sang every song with her younger brother and then she followed me downstairs to the baby room and held her 3 month old baby brother on her lap and sang Kimmy Schwimmy songs with me for another half hour. Seeing siblings enjoy this music together is probably my most favorite thing...thank you universe for the gift of music and for children to sing to...

 

 

March 12, 2013

A three year old little girl who I've never met before but who I sang with for 25 minutes just now ran up to me and said "Kimmy Schwimmy, I am holding a dream for you in my heart"...and she touched her heart when she said it....wow

 

 

January 4, 2013

Emotional Intelligence Tip #2:

I am seeing that at an extremely early age we develop the need to control another person’s behavior so that we will be ‘happy’. Rather than ‘allow’ someone to just ‘be’ and do what they do, we think they should be doing something else and decide to be unhappy until they change(for us). In this effort to control, we actually end up handing our power to that person putting our happiness into their hands…thus losing control. 

Today in one KS music class I was reminded of this in a teeny tiny way. We were all sitting down singing happily in a circle and then as we stood up to sing the Tick Tock Goes Our Little Clock song one of the little girl’s face changed drastically. She spotted a few children across the way from the adjacent classroom standing and watching with big smiles on their faces. She got really upset and started shouting “no! go away!” I quickly just said to her “It’s ok, just allow them to be there, and let’s keep having fun!” It was interesting, because I could literally see the relief on her face when she decided to ‘let go’ of her need to control what they were doing. She focused on my face and started smiling and singing. Eventually the other children walked away anyway, but she decided to be happy before they did what she wanted. And if they stayed there it would have made no difference as she already decided to let go of her need to make them go away in order to feel better.

It is a very deep well, this subject…I feel grateful when I notice things that help me see how we develop emotionally. Little children don’t need to know the psychology and will never understand that anyway, but if we understand it, we can little by little help them in the smallest ways hold on to their own power and be more about what they do to affect their own feelings, verses depending on someone else’s behavior…something we all know we can never really control!!

Eep out!!

 

 

December 12, 2012

I have been reading about Emotional Intelligence, also known as EQ. Evidently our ability to handle a variety of social situations and control impulses and emotions is four times more important than intellect in terms of building a successful work life. Intellect (IQ) is very important...it will get you the job, but your EQ(how you interact socially and emotionally) is what helps you KEEP the job! As I learn, I want to post things to help your children grow in their EQ. 

 

So, EQ tip today: 
If your child is feeling sad, or angry or anything other than their happy little selves...help them to identify their feeling(s) rather than ignore it or tell them to 'stop crying'. Then empathize with them(relate to them), as sometimes that is all they need to feel better and move on. 

Personal example: 
In my music class many times I have had children break out crying because they miss their mommy's. What I have learned is that when I stop for a few seconds to say, "I know how you feel I feel sad too when I miss my mom." (I am helping them identify their feelings, and relating to them at the same time)..this teaches them also to show empathy towards someone else when they are hurting.
One day, to a little girl who was crying about her mom, I related to her and then said: "Sometimes when I feel sad I will think about something that makes me feel better...like ELEPHANTS or RAINBOWS!...or my favorite COLOR!" What usually happens, is the children in the circle chime in saying things that make them feel better too...Last week when this happened, this little girl shouted out "Pink is my favorite color!" and I said "Ooh Pink makes me wiggle wiggle wiggle!" and they all started laughing and then that day the little girl who was sad about her mommy started wiggling and smiling along. It actually worked! These children are 3 years old that I am working with, so I take advantage of their imaginations which are constantly in motion to help them overcome. Many times it does not take long to encourage a shift, but I have to take the time to use MY imagination!! 

In this example, we did not ignore her feelings...we identified and related to her and then looked for relief by using our imagination. The real solution(mom coming through the door) was something she was going to have to wait for....delayed gratification...which is a whole OTHER subject!! 

Eep!!

 

 

November 16, 2012

A mommy told me yesterday that her son came home with a rip in the knee of his jeans.. She asked him what happened...and he said "Kimmy Schwimmy has holes in her pants!!"...so she let him cut the other knee open so they would match(but she let him know “these are your only Kimmy Schwimmy pants” so he doesn’t do that again)...haha, cool mom!!