JOY ... Wonder Arts Last Class 2012

JOY

"Nothing without Joy" is a famous quote on the Reggio frontier. 
It's one of the tenants of their philosophy on educating young children.  

I couldn't agree more...my desire for children is... to be in a place where they may experience the pursuit JOY.

Joy has a different definition for each child (and grown-up ;).

Many of us are still on our journey to discover what gives us joy.

How do we assist our children in their own journey to discover what gives them joy?

Obviously, Joy is not a gift you can give your child.  Joy is something only attainable deeply within your very own soul.

Leading us back to...Where is our place in aiding our children in this pursuit?

Last night, at dinner prep. time (and seems to be every child's witching hour!), my daughter wanted to glue papers together on her bedroom floor.
It's a hard one for me to turn down (being that I tend to be "Arts" focused) but I knew if we went down this road, Glue would get on the floor, her 21mos. old little brother would get a hold of it (always), and I would end up cleaning it all up instead of preparing dinner for a very HUNGRY family.
SO...I said the dreaded word...

NO.

Well, that little word simply SUCKED all the joy out of that 5 year old little girl.
She yelled, screamed, told me she didn't like me, told me I was mean...
Many times, I was tempted to respond to this outburst in an effort to STOP her pain...but this time, I really didn't have the energy or time (as I knew dinner needed to be on that table or the little guy was going to be joining in on this tantrum fun).

Finally, after about 20 minutes of her "Freaking out"...she said, "I just want to cuddle Mama."  Luckily, dinner was ready...so we sat and cuddled. We didn't say much but we just experienced the Joy in acceptance and forgiveness.

I hear people all the time (including myself ;) who want to stop Temper tantrums...they don't want children to cry...they try and distract their child...all in an effort to Sustain joyful children.

However, life is not always joyful...and experiencing certain miseries allows us to understand what Joy really is.

With that understanding in place...

We enter into the season of "JOY"...the idea that the perfect gift can be given.

I am reminded of the best Present we can give to our children is...

Time.

Time to play...

and just as important...

Time to cry.

Sometimes, it's only through our tears that we begin to see more clearly.

And this special sight allows us to truly feel... 

Joy.