Thinking...How Children Think:

Young children think in pictures. You say "Dog" and they see an image of a dog in their mind. Some words just don't have pictures on their own and take time for children to develop a way to think these words. I remember the challenge Anne had with words like "yesterday", "before", and "no!".

Jill Molli spoke to Kindermusik educators last week at our international convention in Raleigh, NC. She is a dynamite speaker for Becky Bailey's Conscious Discipline approach to working with children. I was already a fan of Becky Bailey since she presented her ideas to us at last year's convention and I was so glad to hear Jill Molli... I'd listen all day for weeks...It's such good stuff.

So here's one tidbit about what she said for helping children learn when they still predominantly think in pictures. If you say "Don't run!" the only picture children will come up with is an image of their own feet running! There's no picture at all for "don't". What's so dangerous about saying "Don't run!" is that not only that they can't help but run, but mostly that we feel so strongly that they are disobeying the adult in charge. Things only escalate from there...and now we have a power struggle.

Let's head that tantrum off at the pass (my adult tantrum too!) and avoid expecting children to think more maturely than they are able.

Say:
"Eat your potatoes" instead of "Don't dawdle"
"Sit down" instead of "Quit bouncing around"
"Put your feet here" instead of "Stop fooling around"

Do you get the idea? It makes sense to me. Let me know what you think about this idea...I'd love to hear your comments.

Peace,
Yvette