So I have been absolutely obsessed with Pinterest lately. For those of you unfamiliar, it is a smorgasbord of all things awesome! People pin a bunch of great ideas for having young kids..and I take full advantage of their FREE ideas.
So I came across something called a mind jar. Honestly, I was attracted to the glitter, cause that is Cara's weakness, next to candy. A mind jar, is basically a way to get kids to calm down and take a deep breath. So the premise is when kids are losing it i.e. having a meltdown because they want to do anything they want without rules, you shake the jar. Once shaken, all the glitter loosens and matches the craziness of the child. But as you watch it, in complete silence, you watch the glitter swirl and swirl until it settles at the bottom. And by the time it's done, ideally the kids have calmed. I saw this concept and went to the store immediately to get materials. I got a small ball canning jar. Added a tbls. of glitter glue to a cup or 2 of warm water. I also added some red food coloring and extra glitter to make it more appealing. We tried it out last night..and it was awesome. I set a rule that once the jar is shaken, no one talks until the glitter settles. They both sat on the ground and just watched it. It was awesome. I have yet to use it during a meltdown, but surely it will relax them, even if for only a moment so I can gather my thoughts!
Cara just completed her second session of Gymnastics this week. She's in level 2, and I must say I'm pretty impressed. Most classes, the parents sit in a room and observe through a big window or watch the kids on the tv's..so you can't hear them. Well, for her last class, they let the parents sit in the room and take pictures and video. It was such a great experience. I am amazed sometimes how smart 3 year olds are, more amazed at their memory! They warm up playing a bunch of different games. It's funny cause sometimes randomly Cara will say "what do you wanna feed the alligator" and will spread out her arms and legs. I just go with it and feed the thing. It all makes sense now that I saw them do that in warm up. Their teacher is fantastic! She really engages the girls. I captured a pretty awesome video of Cara doing a flip over the bars. Please excuse my video quality though..it's terrible!
Enjoy!
This is the alligator game. Also worth noting, Emmy and Cara, best friends, insist sitting on top of each other.
