For those of you new to Children's Garden, our school embraces a mix of Montessori and Reggio approaches to education. Unlike the more Montessori founded classrooms, the studio doesn’t have a set curriculum. We begin the year with a question and follow the children to see where it will take us. Each year’s question is a response to my observations, reflections and wonderings. This year I found myself reflecting on the impact the global pandemic has had on people in relation to learning approaches and a current concept that children are falling behind. There is a growing pressure on schools to demonstrate results and academic gains. This tendency to focus on assessment and structured approaches to education assumes these procedures will lead to academic success. But all too often they don’t. Why? Humans need unstructured, unplanned, open-ended opportunities to play, imagine and discover. This is not just a childhood need, it is a human one. Imagination and play allow us to make sense of our world and integrate our experiences. Brains are always changing. Adult brains might be more fixed but the brains of young children change with each new experience. As it turns out our proclivity toward fun is linked to neuroplasticity and a positive sense of purpose and well being across ages.
If we rush toward “normal”, we inevitably leave behind many complex emotions. This can have some pretty negative results. Unintegrated emotions can take our imaginations on a dark twist, leading to anxious ruminations, catastrophizing about the future, void filling and numbing. This is true of children as well as adults. We may become more risk avoidant, distractible and intolerant. We need a healthy imagination, one freed from fear. How do we get there? We play. Yep. Imaginative, unstructured play can lead to emotional integration. And integration shepherds in a healthy world view, seasoned with hope and possibility.
My reflections on the importance of imagination brings to mind a story I read about the holocaust in Frank Ostaseski’s book, The Five Invitations. In his retelling, the war is ending and there is a frenzied rush on the part of the nazi’s to empty the concentration camps before the allied troops arrive. On a gray day, a somber train packed with men rattled over worn out tracks. They knew the fate that awaited them. The mood was heavy. Even the guards fell silent. I can imagine no greater fear and yet, amidst the crowd there was a poet. Overcome with sudden inspiration, he turned to the man beside him and said, “Give me your palm.” The man obliged. The poet leaned close, nose nearly touching hand, examining palm lines. Suddenly, he stood beaming, face spread in a grin, eyes locked on the man. He exclaimed. “You will live a long, full, happy life. You will marry and have two beautiful children. You will! I see it. Right here!” Tapping the man's palm confidently. The man’s eyes sparkled with hope as he closed his fingers, pressing the promise to his chest like a talisman. Another man nearby thrust his hand forward, “Read mine!” The poet complied and after a brief study of the lines he announced with elated confidence a similar vision of good fortune. Joy emerged in that crowded boxcar as men pressed hands forward and were met with possibility. Hope had arrived where the certainty of despair had reigned just moments before. The guards felt it too, at least I imagine they must have, because no one had ever returned from that one way train ride, not until that day. When an entire boxcar of men boarded the returning boxcar to a camp that was liberated less than three weeks later. Many of those men survived.
This is the power of positive imagination.
My young niece read the story of The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (watch the video above alongside your child if you need a refresher.) A story all too familiar these days, amidst news of climate change. She was upset and crafted her own ending:
After the Once-ler gave me the seed of the very last Truffala Tree.
I thought about how all of those trees were in need,
So as fast as I could I planted that seed from the one very Truffula tree.
So that Truffala grew it grew and it grew until the seed was no seed but a full Truffala true.
But I realized it was not enough, I needed more than just one Truffula tuft.
So I planted and planted some more and soon there were four.
Then I saw the brown bar-ba-loots come, they were ready for fun.
We planted and planted and soon we were done.
There were exactly one hundred and one.
Then I saw the humming fish coming! And soon I saw all the animals come. From one to one hundred all in a row,
I saw it I swear! Soon my job was done.
I saw the world, it was different but… fun!
If we rush toward “normal”, we inevitably leave behind many complex emotions. This can have some pretty negative results. Unintegrated emotions can take our imaginations on a dark twist, leading to anxious ruminations, catastrophizing about the future, void filling and numbing. This is true of children as well as adults. We may become more risk avoidant, distractible and intolerant. We need a healthy imagination, one freed from fear. How do we get there? We play. Yep. Imaginative, unstructured play can lead to emotional integration. And integration shepherds in a healthy world view, seasoned with hope and possibility.
My reflections on the importance of imagination brings to mind a story I read about the holocaust in Frank Ostaseski’s book, The Five Invitations. In his retelling, the war is ending and there is a frenzied rush on the part of the nazi’s to empty the concentration camps before the allied troops arrive. On a gray day, a somber train packed with men rattled over worn out tracks. They knew the fate that awaited them. The mood was heavy. Even the guards fell silent. I can imagine no greater fear and yet, amidst the crowd there was a poet. Overcome with sudden inspiration, he turned to the man beside him and said, “Give me your palm.” The man obliged. The poet leaned close, nose nearly touching hand, examining palm lines. Suddenly, he stood beaming, face spread in a grin, eyes locked on the man. He exclaimed. “You will live a long, full, happy life. You will marry and have two beautiful children. You will! I see it. Right here!” Tapping the man's palm confidently. The man’s eyes sparkled with hope as he closed his fingers, pressing the promise to his chest like a talisman. Another man nearby thrust his hand forward, “Read mine!” The poet complied and after a brief study of the lines he announced with elated confidence a similar vision of good fortune. Joy emerged in that crowded boxcar as men pressed hands forward and were met with possibility. Hope had arrived where the certainty of despair had reigned just moments before. The guards felt it too, at least I imagine they must have, because no one had ever returned from that one way train ride, not until that day. When an entire boxcar of men boarded the returning boxcar to a camp that was liberated less than three weeks later. Many of those men survived.
This is the power of positive imagination.
My young niece read the story of The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (watch the video above alongside your child if you need a refresher.) A story all too familiar these days, amidst news of climate change. She was upset and crafted her own ending:
After the Once-ler gave me the seed of the very last Truffala Tree.
I thought about how all of those trees were in need,
So as fast as I could I planted that seed from the one very Truffula tree.
So that Truffala grew it grew and it grew until the seed was no seed but a full Truffala true.
But I realized it was not enough, I needed more than just one Truffula tuft.
So I planted and planted some more and soon there were four.
Then I saw the brown bar-ba-loots come, they were ready for fun.
We planted and planted and soon we were done.
There were exactly one hundred and one.
Then I saw the humming fish coming! And soon I saw all the animals come. From one to one hundred all in a row,
I saw it I swear! Soon my job was done.
I saw the world, it was different but… fun!
Imagination, positive or negative, is arguably what makes humans human. We can use it for good or to terrorize one another. We have the ability to imagine and create the future we would like to see! I have taught children for twenty years and I know without a doubt that each of us possess an innate ability to plant that seed and read those palms. But our imaginations may become hindered by unmet fears and feelings.
My question is how to support emotional integration and encourage healthy imagination, collaboration and well being. I suggest we can all benefit from a prolonged Pause. A time to allow our proverbial shadow to catch up. A time to feel the feelings we pushed aside in our efforts to blend or appease or just keep going. This pause is the foundation for learning and growth. It allows us to integrate the past and the present, freeing our capacity to imagine the future we’d like to see. If we pause to feel the feelings and welcome any exiled aspects of self, our imagination is freed from the confines of fear. We reclaim our intrinsic capacity to imagine a sustainable tomorrow, where children’s laughter fills the clean, fresh air alongside bumble-bees and song birds in a nature that flourishes amidst the kindness of everyday strangers.
Join me for a year of slowing down as we come together to create a future of shared belonging.
Welcome to our school.
Stay Curious and Full of Wonder,
Your Studio Teacher, Angelina Lloyd, MPsyEd
