Kids These Days!

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction-Teens 5-week workshop

New Year’s Eve celebration with my mom on the Central Coast!

 (allowing ourselves to be playful)

Kids these days!

When I think of this phrase, my first thought is that the child, no matter the age, should be reminded of what it means to be a kid.

“Firefighter’s Christmas” (December 25th- dinner at the station)

I have often said that firefighters are just big 12-year-olds. You won’t find many people to contest this… just ask any spouse or child of a firefighter! There is an old joke, “A child touring the firestation with a firefighter is asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The child enthusiastically responds, “I want to be a Firefighter!” The firefighter looks at the child and says, “Well that won’t happen”  Somewhat appalled with the response and with a sad look on his face the child is left somewhat speechless. The firefighter continues to say, “You see, you’ll grow up but you can’t grow up and be a firefighter because all firefighters are just big kids!” The child’s smile returned with a nod of confirmation - he understood exactly what he meant.

This year we celebrated a Firefighter’s Christmas; which in our household simply means Christmas on another day other than December 25. My husband and daughter were both working on the 25th, so my son and I ate dinner at the firestation. When we showed up, the firefighters were shuffling chairs around the table and juggling place settings in a teasing manner so that the youngest of their crew would be eating at the head of the table. (I’m sure this had some special meaning to the crew - clearly seeking an irritated response from their co-worker) I had surmised that giving him a hard time was for the sole purpose of playful annoyance; one that would often be witnessed between my own two children. 

An adult who has a playful quality is often labeled as childlike or kid-like, which I don’t find to be a negative thing. Conversely, there can be a  maturity in a 10-year-old, wise beyond their years. This wisdom would be a refreshing quality to be duplicated, cloned and injected into all adults.

When I seek answers to things that perplex  me, I often find them in the simple words of a fifth grader.

Social Emotional Development of 8-10 year olds

Seeking Independence

One component of social and emotional growth in eight to ten year olds is their desire for increased independence from parents and siblings, and their increased desire to be seen as intelligent and knowledgeable.

Children this age enjoy sharing their point-of-view and can more easily manage emotions to fit the situation. They are better able to select and adapt coping strategies to the variety of situations they now find themselves in. For example, your child may hold in their feeling of injustice until they get home, or until they're alone with their friends. In this way, your child is able and ready to learn new ways of successfully interacting with both peers and adults, and benefit from adults’ continued efforts to connect with and guide them.

Our Kids bring out the Child within us all.
(when it time to let the children lead)

What I find refreshing is that they help remind me how to stay young and to believe that it is the simplest acts that are the most rewarding. There is a give-and-take between me and my students. Recently, I had read some news that saddened me and while walking off-campus with my students toward our gym space, I brought it up. (I often call this the “Therapy Walk”; most of the time, my students are processing a concern that they have with me, but on this particular day - the rolls had been reversed and I was airing a concern that troubled me. Maintaining professionalism, I simply talked about my feelings on the topic “...what was the right thing to do?” My students listened thoughtfully and responded with their words of wisdom, “Sometimes doing the right thing is paying it forward toward someone else; it kinda balances all things out.”

I never want to outgrow the qualities that they bring to our relationship. I continue to learn from them. My students show generosity and patience with one another more so than not. Needing a writing utensil, sharing warm sweaters and coats, offering to share their lunch with one another when a lunch is forgotten. Remaining consistent with one another by showing simple acts of kindness,