Little Stories that are Worth Our Attention
As humans, our everyday experiences make up our lives. Often, we spend our time and attention focused on the big stories or major moments in life. Think of these like waves in the ocean, rising and falling one after another and carrying us along with them. But all the while, it’s our little stories of minor moments that capture the depth and breadth of life. These ripples are what create the shimmer and sparkle over the water that surrounds us.
Over the last few days, I made a list of a few of the little moments that made up my lived experiences.
Watching a swallowtail butterfly landing briefly on meadow flowers.
Enjoying how my son dangles a feathered toy on a stick to engage playful kittens.
Contemplating the phase of the moon and constellations as the night comes.
Inhaling the sweet smell of roses in the local rose garden.
Savoring a cup of Earl Gray tea with cream and local honey.
When we pay close enough attention, curiosity, wonder, awe and delight can be found everywhere at any time. And, luckily for us, parenting and teaching allow adults to bear witness to many hours of lived experiences for the children close to them.
Creating safe spaces and opportunities to observe and share thoughts and feelings shows how our everyday experiences are valued. What inspires you? What inspires your child?
To practice, make a list each day of at least ten moments that caught your attention. Some people keep a journal, fill a jar with slips of paper, or make notes. Capture your precious – and simple – observations with short stories, anecdotes, pictures, sketches, or video recordings. I invite you to gather your little moments in a way that best fits your preferences and give it a try. If it works for you, that’s great; it might work for your kiddos, too.
You can support your children’s early journaling by offering them paper and art materials to document their experiences through writing or drawn images. For very young children, adults can write down what the child dictates. The end of the day is often a great time for reflection and capturing these little moments, and it supports a positive rapport between the child and adult and builds greater capacity for connection.
Gratitude and mindfulness go hand in hand, because they're both about raising our awareness and becoming more present to the meaningful little moments in our lives. A simple practice that we can use to support mindfulness is called the 5-4-3-2-1 technique, which includes taking several deep breaths and then tuning into our environment through our five senses.
First, take three slow belly breaths.
List 5 things you can SEE
List 4 things you can FEEL
List 3 things you can HEAR
List 2 things you can SMELL
List 1 thing you can TASTE
Lastly, take another three slow belly breaths.
Being grateful and present with our children is a gift for us all. Children often require us to slow down and take note of the many little moments. Perhaps the glacial pace of a fully lived moment is an antidote to the frenzied pace of modern life.
Resources
Want some inspiration on capturing the beauty of nature and cultivating gratitude? Louie Schwartzberg offers us a beautiful reflection through his story and deeply touching video images in the TED Talk on Gratitude.
To learn more about gratitude and related activities that parents and teachers can do with children and adolescents, please check out the links below.
1. Positive Psychology shares their 20 Gratitude Exercises and Activities to Boost Well-being.
2. At We are Teachers, adults who support elementary and middle-school children might want to explore the 36 Meaningful Gratitude Activities.
3. Pathway to Success offers 30 Gratitude Activities for Children and Teens
Aoife Rose Magee, PhD, earned a doctoral degree in Special Education from the University of Oregon Early Intervention Program. Her personal and professional interests have been largely focused on the social-emotional development of young children and how positive parenting and teaching practices may contribute to healthy development, promote resiliency, and mediate risk factors. Aoife is professional development specialist for students and practitioners in the areas of Early Childhood Education, Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education and Parenting Education. Aoife serves as a Master Trainer for the Oregon Registry and frequently provides community based and private workshops for early childhood educators, parenting educators, and other professionals. For more than thirty years, she worked directly with families as a parenting educator, and she is a former Oregon Parenting Education Collaborative Hub Coordinator for the Parenting Success Network. She currently teaches as a full-time faculty in the Early Childhood Education Program at Lane Community College. She is also the mother of a fantastic young adult son and enjoys nature and creative pursuits in her spare time.
