Take Children Outside week

I just found out that last week was take children outside week. Just the very fact that we need to have a week to go outside planned for us makes me cringe a little. As parents and teachers we need to slow down and enjoy our lives. Everything is better outside, and if you have allergies and are afraid of the dirt, well then there are medicines and cleaner outside places. I grew up outside in the country, clean dirt, fresh air and lots of space to play, run, roll and later ride. My Children grew up out there too.

My son Hiking in the rain.

Playing outside is more of an adventure. There are trees and mountains to climb, trails to follow, large bodies of water to wonder at, sand to sift or build with, wide open places to run and yell in, and all sorts of living things to discover. I still love running and walking outside, rather than the chore of the treadmill. When I am running and I reach a hill I have to work so hard to get up it, but I make it! I feel so proud and wonderful after that hill challenge! Just the other day I saw a new natural phenomenon when two hawks were squawking more than I have ever heard, it appeared that they were chasing some buzzards out of their territory. I had never seen this behavior before; I wish I could have shared this with my students. Most large cities have wild like parks to explore. Exploring as a child builds many of the skills we need for an unknown future. Skills like creative problem solving, reversal, collaboration, and of course physical ability.

A hike on Mount Diablo, in Ca

Any time outside is a learning experience or adventure, when seen through the eyes of a child. Children find magic in the mundane; even a walk around the block can create vivid ideas. I remember living in Huntsville Alabama, it was winter and we were cooped up in a RV with 4 adults and 3 young children (a story for another blog). It was snowing hard and school was canceled.  I took the children on a walk to a nearby store, but it was an adventure. We pretended we were running away to a huge fancy hotel. Dunstan Checks In was their favorite movie at the time so we always wanted to run away to a fancy hotel in New York that had room service. That was most likely the best trip to the store I have ever taken. We hid and ducked around snow-covered obstacles, made a run for it when there was no cover, and even stopped to make snow angels. By the time we got back we were ready for MY favorite part of snow season, Hot cocoa!

Ready for some Hot Cocoa!

I hope you remember to take your children out, no matter the weather, no matter the seemingly routine walk, the outdoors are an adventure worth sharing with your children. 

Are You Listening?

Hey! Are you listening to me??

I have been seeing a wonderful local life coach for several weeks now. I make an effort to pay for this service because I believe that it is something very valuable that I am willing to invest for myself. It is both practical and symbolic, I learn so much from her, she helps me stay on track with my goals, but also I am investing in myself to be Authentic and truly me. I am spending valuable time with a woman who is authentically herself who can role model this life skill and others for me. She is very honest, in a compassionate and loving way.

In this loving and compassionate way she was able to tell me that I need to work on listening skills. I knew immediately that I was caught, in the corner, nowhere to go but UP. 

I have been a lifelong interrupter, I have so many ideas racing through my mind, and if I don’t speak, write or draw it right away I might loose it. Even this blog post came to me on an instant moment of thought, I was sitting with my mother and Aunt having a wonderful conversation at their home, when I stepped away for a moment and whoosh in flew this blog. I knew I had to race to my computer before it flew away. So I ran back to my mother and Aunt and kissed them goodbye, telling them I had this blog idea and raced home to my computer. Nearly distracted by dishes, leftovers and unfinished art projects, I almost lost it. An echo flashed in my mind and I found my computer before it was too late.

My name is Kristine Binderup and I interrupt, often. Sometimes it is because I have a wonderful idea that might help, or a great story that goes along with what was just said. Other times I thing so highly of my ideas that I forget to listen, this is sad. I think of all the people I have interrupted and prevented them telling me their great ideas, their great stories.

I honestly do not do this out of conscious disrespect nor because I don’t value that person. In fact many times I want to help them. I think that my understanding of what they are saying is helpful to them. It is also partly because in my family it isn’t rude to interrupt, in fact it might be the only way to be heard at all. At Family gatherings people are talking all at once, debating, yelling, laughing and joking. The main conversation easily breaks into smaller ones as people jostle to be heard. It doesn’t help that we all seem to be predisposed to hearing loss. ;)

So there I sat, cornered, and called out about my bad listening skills. Right when I thought to become a Child Development coach, an inspirer of great teaching, and helper of childcare providers and homeschoolers. I would most certainly need to listen in order to share my wide range of experience with my clients. Well luckily I had a great role model and teacher.

First my life coach talked about the three types of Listening.

Type 1) Conversational listening, where you might take turns sharing stories, talk at a rapid pace, share time, build a rhythm, question, counter and even interrupt. This is the kind I am MOST practiced with.

Type2) Active listening, where you are spending your time and energy on the other person. Really there with them and their story, staying out of it, allowing them to have the space and time to share their story, feelings, and thoughts. You might question them with open-ended guiding questions, but it is all about them. It is an easy flowing listening; you are just present with what they are saying.

Type 3) Intuitive listening, this is a level up listening, you are following everything form type 2, but you are also seeing their body language, you are super aware of what is happening around. Maybe even sensing their feelings, very connected to this person in how you listen, compassionate feelings for what they are talking about. You are also very conscious of what is going on around and how to bring it into the conversation if needed.  I think I also am pretty good at this when I am able to do type 2.

After the explanation we did an exercise where she used all the different types of listening on me so that I could become aware of how it all felt. I could tell when she was doing type 1 because it was very awkward for her. She is a very good listener. I also felt the flow of what I was trying to say was badly interrupted. I had to take a moment to get back on track and think about what I had been saying. At this point a lot of guilt came up about all the times I haven’t listened. Especially my daughter, she is always saying that I never listen to her…

Happy I can listen now!

So my homework this week has been to listen to people, from my family and friends to people I encounter on the street or in public. It has been interesting because of course I am coming from a place of loving myself, and being my authentic self, but I am just noticing when I am using the different types of listening. I have had a lot of chances to practice as I am spending a lot of time with my daughter who is on maternity leave (her due date is October 24^th!!!). I have been listening to her, and I just notice and laugh a bit when I am using type 1 and move into type 2 or even type 3 if I can. I think she is appreciating the time too, our love and friendship is repairing and growing after a couple of hard teenaged years.

So here is to listening, an important skill for any parent or teachers; an important skill for any human.

Blessings

Power Ball recipe

I love this snack recipe, and so do the kids. I learned it while substituting for a wonderful Montessori school. For a while when I was there I felt a difference, I knew the kids were different somehow but couldn't put my finger on it. Actually it was more like I couldn't find words for it. Having substituted at several public schools, including doing 5 weeks of my student teaching at a public school, I had an idea of what children were like in comparison. One day while I was observing the children at play I realized that these children were genuinely happy.  They were truly allowed to be their unique and authentic selves. These kids are so happy and free to be themselves. I wish all children could grow up in this powerfully loving and authentic community of learners. If anyone is struggling to see that group education could ever provide a loving and accepting community they need to observe at a small montessori school here in Northern California. Community and acceptance are for real.

This healthy snack might also be part of the reason for happiness. 

This is a non-cook recipe for snack. Children love to make snack for themselves, they love cooking and eating. This is another recipe that you can’t really go wrong with, all you have to do is mix the ingredients and roll it up and eat it. Even the ingredients can be changed.

Basic recipe:

Power ball

Mix peanut butter, honey or maple syrup, nuts and seeds (small sizes), raisins or cut dried fruit, unsweetened chocolate bits, and coconut and roll teaspoons amounts into small balls, roll in coconut, cocoa powder or sesame seeds. The ratio is about 2:1 wet ingredients. So 4 TBLS peanut butter, 2 TBLS honey; then 1:2 for the wet ingredients to the dry, so add to the peanut butter and honey mixture 3 cups of dry ingredients. The mixture should be a little sticky so it rolls together but not so sticky that it is messy or drippy. I usually roll it in coconut shavings, but you could also roll it in coco powder, sesame seeds, or what ever you come up with. This is a great recipe to play around with.

For younger students I measure and mix as one big batch, but for older students (2^nd grade and up) I offer the ingredients and allow them to mix it up themselves, including new ingredients and making it up as they go.