Teaching Children Joy: Spontaneous Delight

Teaching Children Joy: Spontaneous Delight

There are many ways to encourage and sanction a particular behavior; perhaps the best way of all is by participating in that particular behavior yourself.  (And perhaps the great benefit of preserving the natural, child-like joys in children is that we may recapture them ourselves)  (Teaching Children Joy Pg. 49)

 Some ways to find joy in being spontaneous are:

1. Get excited with children

- When they say "Oh look,"  you say, "Wow, yes."  Don't say, "Calm down, son," or "Not here, dear."  Let them be your teachers.  

2.  Help them relive spontaneous joy moments by remembering. 

  

3.  Do spontaneous things with them. 

-Instead of the regular routine at bedtime, take them our for ice cream.

4.  Surprise-oriented games

-Play hide and seek,  musical chairs,  etc.  

My girls love to play hide and seek.  They request at least 1 game right before bed.  It's really fun.  Especially when they are doing the counting and mom and dad are hiding.  

5.  Engage in the kid of play that produces exciting and unpredictable results.

- Blow bubble with a straw

- Finger paint

- play in the water with cups and funnels.

Today was a made bubble with straws and dish soap.  This was the first time I've tried this with Rarity.  She really did well with blowing through the straw.  After we played with the bubbles we tried a new game of ABC Bingo.

Fluttershy really enjoyed playing this new game and Rarity had fun just putting bingo markers on each square.  

I try to make sure we do something spontaneous every day to through some fun into the day and make it unique.