Do as I say and not as I do .. ?
For us oldies, we may remember our parents saying ‘just do as I say not as I do’,
when we were cheeky enough to mention that we noticed they were telling us to behave a certain way when in fact they didn’t behave that way !
It is quite the opposite in Kids Yoga, as we teach children by DOING not telling as this is the MOST effective way for a child learning from us. Yes you got it-a small child learns by mimicking what they see around them.
In psychology, it is called modelling or conditioning and we touched on this in our last blog . Of course, we all behave according to our surroundings, the people that we are with, and how safe we feel.
Children are no different. It is our job as grownups, to help children be positive and happy in life. If they see us stressed and unhappy it very unlikely that they will be positive and happy in their life’s.
So how do we do this when often our life’s are so stressful and fast paced?
Kids yoga is one way we can achieve this goal.
You see, in any kids yoga class our main objective is to have fun and to be kind to one another. So here, we set the precedent. When designing the Mini Me Yoga Programs and classes, I wanted to make sure that we could show children activities and games that they could mimic in their everyday life to bring them joy, calmness, peace, and happiness anytime they felt they needed it based on this observation. But I knew that the kids wouldn’t do this if us grownups just told them to do it-they needed to watch their parents or teachers being positive and being happy for this to really take effect. The 2 hr workshop for grownups was born and the results were amazing!
I found that when doing these practices with a parent they were so much more effective and even more effective when done on a regular basis. In the classroom or home are equally as good.
Not only do we instill fun practices which are foundational life skills into a daily routine but it also helps children to see that those they trust are asking them to DO as they DO, NOT do as they SAY.
Peace, Love & Sparkly Diamonds,
Kate Bartram Brown
Founder – Mini Me Yoga
