Add Meaning, Take Away Candy

In my thirty years of teaching piano to young children, there were two holidays I came to dread. On Halloween and Valentine’s party days, children would come after school for their lessons literally drugged. Hyper, logy, unfocused - tracking a line of music could be impossible.The siblings were challenged, too -  I remember a 3 year-old brother who spent the half hour literally bouncing from one side of the room to the other.

The effects would last for a week or two, as the children ate their ways through their trick-or-treat bags . . . or all the chocolate and candies hidden away in Valentines . . . or Easter baskets, or the birthday party goodie bags . . . the calendar is full of minefields!

We know that candy is bad for children; why do we give them too much of it? Aren’t we teaching them to reward themselves with things that make it hard for them to learn and sleep and think and cooperate and be happy healthy people?

I think that the answer may be a mixture of nostalgia, marketing, our own secret cravings, and inertia. But it may be time to get more creative about celebration, for health as well as for educational reasons. According to the Center for Disease Control,  childhood obesity has more than doubled in children, and tripled in adolescents in the last thirty years.

We start our habits of self-care and celebration at the beginning of life. Imagining celebrations sans sweets allows us to look more deeply into what really matters to children, and to us all.

Let’s start with Valentine’s Day. What a great window on the world! Valentine’s Day is all about love. Here are some ways to deepen the experience:

1. Make it personal. Have the children bring a picture or an object of something or someone they love. Make a Valentine for that person or thing.

2. Write a group poem as a class, with everyone contributing a line, filling in the blank in their own way.  I love ­­­__. Or, for older children,  I love ­­­__because ____.  Put it on the bulletin board. Draw pictures, and ring the room round with an illustrated group valentine poem. Turn it into a theatre piece, where each child recites their line. Sing or chant the poem with rhythm instruments or body percussion. (This can also be done as a list poem, with multiple items, created by each child. Or done as a dialogue between two children, or an adult and a child).

3. Here’s a hot-off-the-presses chant for Valentine’s Day – or any day!

Slap thighs, clap hands in steady beat (for more information, see Movement Matters: Slap Clap! Feb 2, 2011). Bold face means whole group, normal type means solo.

slap            clap            slap            clap           

I                   love the     sky

I                   love the     sea

I                   love the     earth

I                   love the     tree

I                   love            you            and

You             love             me!

What            do                                 you

Love?

I                    love                               my

Mom            my!

I                    love                               my

Mom            my!

I                   love                                my

Dog!

I                   love                                my

Dog!

I                   love                                my

Grand          ma!

I                   love                                my

Grand          ma!

I                   love the     sky

I                   love the     sea

I                   love the     earth

I                   love the     tree

I                   love            you            and

You             love             me!

And so on. The phrase, “What do you love?” can be varied with the name of a child, e.g.,  “What does Johnnie love?” It can also be used with categories: “What color do you love?” “What animal do you love?” “What food do you love?” This can make the improvisation come a lot more quickly and easily to the children.

4. And finally, the tried and true song Sharon, Lois and Bram made famous – with it’s wonderful, integrating hand gestures:

Skinnamarinky dinky dink
Skinnamarinky do,
I love you!

Skinnamarinky dinky dink
Skinnamarinky do,
I love you!

I love you in the morning,
And in the afternoon
I love you in the evening,
Underneath the moon…

Skinnamarinky dinky dink
Skinnamarinky do,
I love you!

If we celebrate in these ways, maybe children will learn some healthy habits about taking care of their emotional lives. Perhaps, when they need a treat, instead of going to the refrigerator, they’ll draw a picture! Or sing a song! Or make up a poem!

Or find someone to tell, “I love you . . . “

Comments

Susan Larsen Ogden Feb 13, 2013

Today in Kindermusik class, the first grade class was crazy!  TOO MUCH SUGAR….They were worse than at Halloween! I agree with you 100%
Thanks for your article….

Amy Conley Feb 14, 2013

Eve,
how wonderfully and concisely written!  i just sang skinnamarinky dinky dink with seniors yesterday and reminded them that Jimmy Durante made it famous (probably before Sharon Lois and Bram did, but of course they probably spread it all over the family audiences).  After years of following my own sugar addiction (read an article this week about our culture’s addiction and how it has made us all unhealthy), I bought my son Bananagrams yesterday for Valentine’s day, since he likes it and I thought, that’s something that can bring us closer together as a family!

Thanks for your wonderful blogs!  Sugar is a tough one.  But well worth fighting against as teachers, parents and individuals!!

Amy