This week and last week in kid’s yoga class, I taught two classes from my Grace + Zen Kid’s Yoga Curriculum. The themes were “recognizing gratitude” and “expressing gratitude.” The overall idea behind both themes is to get kids to understand that they can have a happier life if they realize everything pthey have to be grateful for, and to recognize all the people who are grateful to have them as a part of their life.
Sadly, a main reason why I want kids to learn about “recognizing gratitude” is because of the child/teen depression and suicide rates. My hope is that if they learn from an early age to know and remind themselves of the people who are happy they are in their life, that they would be less likely to feel alone, or like no one cares about them, during dark moments.
During class we always have mindful discussion and thinking points. This week we had the kids really think and journal about how you feel when you are with the people you are thankful for, and how the people who are thankful for you, make you feel. This should point out to the child that they feel good/happy when with these people, therefore they should keep these people close. It’s hard as a child to know who you should be spending most of your time with, if you’re not being taught to think about these things. Some children of course have no choice, they are with a caregiver who maybe does not have the child’s best interest in mind, and this is of course sad. But if this is the case, maybe we can get the child to start thinking about who does care for them, so they can express to this person how happy they are to spend time with them, and hopefully gain the confidence to one day tell this trusted person that they don’t enjoy spending time with a certain caregiver who does not have their best interest at heart.
These are deep, psychological childhood concepts, but they are concepts that I am passionate about. I want every child to be as loved as possible, and I see my yoga classes as just one small effort in creating happiness for all children. Over my years of teaching I have seen happy kids, loved kids, spoiled rotten kids, sad kids, overwhelmed kids, lonely kids, and sadly - neglected kids. We are all born the same innocent humans. No specific child “deserves” more love than another. So these two weeks of class are one small example of how we can get kids to appreciate the love from others in their life, understand why it’s important to make others feel loved, and maybe to speak up one day to make steps toward more love in their own life if needed.
Grace + Zen Kid’s Yoga Curriculum includes 25 one-hour lessons in children’s yoga and Social Emotional Learning. The curriculum comes with a journal for each child that teaches topics such as the one explained above. To learn more about bringing this curriculum to your school or community, email me at info@graceandzenoc.com. -Nikki Curry, founder of Grace + Zen, kid‘s yoga and dance.