Another funny story happened recently in a class of kindergarden’s this summer at a daycare.
It shows a couple of important points for teaching children’s yoga:
1. Don’t swear in front of kids
I’m sure this sounds obvious, but I’ve found out that each daycare has their own version of swear words. Once when I was telling a story about how we talk to each other – I used an example of someone saying “Shut Up.”
The kids were mortified, uncomfortable, and aghast each time I used the example until I finally figured out what was happening. It turned out you could get in a lot of trouble for saying “shut-up,” regardless of the context this was a big No-No. So it is important to be aware of the different cultures of each school or daycare.
2. Choose Your Alternative Expressions Carefully
I’ve taken to the habit of saying “Oh Rats!” when someone tells me something bad/sad/upsetting. I find it fun and expressive and generally non-offensive.
In this class one of the girls has quite a few scrapes on the left side of her face. Eventually it came out that she was walking the dog and the dog took off and dragged her down the street. I replied my usual, “Oh Rats!”
She thought intensely for a minute with her head cocked, remembering the incident, then looked me straight in the eye saying, “No, it wasn’t rats, it was a dog.”
Dog-gone, I’ll have to be more careful next time!
