Our days feel like one commitment after another with every minute allotted for something pressing or precious. What happens if we take advantage of the unexpected unscheduled moments? Where will that lead our teaching? Where will that lead our children?
Today–the most gorgeous of sunny spring days in weeks–I took my over-scheduled daughter to school. She is 4 and a half, creative, independent, driven…and hates schedules.
We pulled into a parking spot right on time. I had about five minutes to get her out of the car along with her car seat and into school on time.
But…
The sun was shining and I saw the tap of her toes on the back of the seat. Instead of pulling the key from the ignition, I turned the music up and unclipped her from her seat, opening the car doors so the music cascaded out to meet the sun. There we were, in a parking lot, dancing to Irish fiddling simply because we could. We had three extra minutes so why not?
We both walked into school with our toes still tapping and a smile across our faces.
All because we gave ourselves three minutes of unscheduled artistic creation. We moved our bodies in the sunlight. She didn’t see the grimaces of stressed parents as they drove by to drop off their own children. She didn’t see the crumbs under the car seat or my pile of work papers in the front seat. She didn’t see the foolishness of dancing in a parking space. She saw the creative moment, and took it for her own.
If a three minute creative dance break can work wonders for just one child and mother, what can it do in an entire classroom? Or an office? Or your lunch room? You tell me.