There are two times a year that people typically “start fresh”… New Year’s and SPRING! New Years is a good time to set resolutions, if you are anything like me, you abandoned these good intentions a few months ago. Spring it a time for new beginnings and “Spring cleaning”. But why do we wait to start fresh?
The other day a friend said (after we shared a piece of oreo cheesecake) “there’s always tomorrow!” I said… “what about today?” And we decided to go for a long walk. I think there is a lot to be said for the old adage “seize the day!”
Each day our children are exposed to so many different learning opportunities. They uncover and engage in newness each day, and sometimes each moment. Outside today, a child dug up a worm and even though she’d seen a worm before, she was amazed. We challenged her to see it differently. We asked “how does it feel”. The child closed her eyes “cold and wet and slimy”. We all agreed. “Do you think it has bones?” That question produced a whole bunch of thoughtful faces from her friends. “I don’t know”. When recess was over the children wanted to find out more about worms. The teacher, having planned a completely unrelated lesson, began researching, printing, diagramming, and helping the children mix colors for painting worms. The children were so excited. And, the teacher was able to introduce vocabulary words “anterior and posterior”, discuss the letter W and so much more. As you can imagine, the more excited the children, the more they absorb the lesson.
I would encourage each of you to seize that “teachable moment” when it arises. See what your child sees. Open their eyes to something new. If your child sees someone speaking sign language in the mall and she is curious… Teach a few simple signs; Everything is so easy to access from your phone these days. If your child skins his knee… while you are treating his wound, talk about the other name for skin “epidermis”. There are so many ways to plug into your child’s learning. Start today! Make each day a new opportunity to embrace your child’s curiosity and feed that giant brain! New beginnings don’t have to wait!