{"id":1743,"date":"2017-04-25T04:17:12","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T04:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/?p=1743"},"modified":"2018-03-09T02:43:57","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T02:43:57","slug":"come-follow-me-songs-to-move-toddlers-along","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/come-follow-me-songs-to-move-toddlers-along\/","title":{"rendered":"Come Follow Me– Songs to Move Toddlers Along"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” text_font_size=”16″ text_line_height=”1.8em”]<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever walked with a toddler, you know how difficult it can be to get from one place to another. Go a couple steps, notice a bump of gum on a brick\u2026 Stop to examine it. Go a couple more steps\u2026 Spy a shiny gum wrapper. Stop to pick it up. Go another step, hear a dog tag jingle behind you, turn back around and start walking the other way\u2026 You get the picture!<\/p>\n

As beautiful as it is to watch our little ones explore, there are times when we need to move a little faster than the speed of toddler. This is another one of those times when a song can be really helpful. Instead of calling, cajoling or carrying them off shouting, try this, instead\u2026 Start in the direction of where you need your child to go, and sing a song to help\u00a0draw her attention to what you’re doing. \u00a0You’ll often find this works like a charm. \u00a0At least until the next gum wrapper!<\/p>\n

At the end of this post, I\u2019ll share a few songs to help you get from point A to point B a little more efficiently. But first, I want to talk a little about toddler development, to help you understand what makes songs so\u00a0effective as a parenting tool.<\/p>\n

Some\u00a0Background — Learning through Imitation<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"\"

Imitation in action, as demonstrated by my own two children. This was also the first time my son drew a face.<\/p><\/div>\n

Young children learn through imitation. This is one of the most important insights of Waldorf early childhood education. But you don\u2019t have to know anything about Waldorf education to appreciate this. If you\u2019ve spent time with a little one, you\u2019ve seen it in action.<\/p>\n

Young children imitate everything, even things we do not commonly pay attention to as adults. One morning, I noticed my one year old making a peculiar noise in her high chair. I stopped my snack prep to listen, and could now hear that she was imitating a large crow in the tree outside. Busy with my housework, I hadn\u2019t even noticed the bird. But my daughter was acutely attuned to it, and was already happily speaking in crow, imitating the precise cadence of each call.<\/p>\n

Our young children don\u2019t only imitate living things. They imitate inanimate objects as well. My four year old is fascinated by vacuums. There was a period of a year when basically anything he held, he would pick it up and vacuum with it, while making a machine hum sound. Kitchen implements, sticks at the park, stuffed animals, you name it. The world was his vacuum.<\/p>\n

The urge to imitate is especially strong between siblings. Yesterday I watched my daughter, now nineteen months old, pick up one my son\u2019s stuffed animals, a brightly colored turtle. She began to move the turtle over the floor, saying \u201cBszhhhhhhh.\u201d For a moment, I looked on, puzzled. Then I realized what she was doing, and I started to laugh. Of course, she was vacuuming with it. She\u2019s learned well from her brother– that\u2019s what turtles are for.<\/p>\n

\"\"

This Mexican grocery store was well equipped to help children learn through imitation. They had miniature shopping carts so that toddlers could shop alongside their parents.<\/p><\/div>\n

The idea that children learn by imitation seems simple at first glance, but this has profound implications for how we can best guide them. Think about it\u2026 what\u2019s your go to method when you need to get your child\u2019s attention? For most of us, the first instinct is to give a verbal directive. Now, it makes sense that speech is our go to, for in the world of adult interactions, words are often our best means of communicating.<\/p>\n

But have you noticed that with young children, verbal directives can be frustratingly ineffective? Do you ever find yourself repeating a direction multiple times, to no avail? Have you ever gotten so frustrated that you hear yourself saying, \u201cYou\u2019re not listening! I need you to listen!\u201d<\/p>\n

Have you ever wondered in frustration, why don\u2019t young children listen? (By which we usually mean, why don\u2019t they do what we say!)<\/p>\n

There are a lot of reasons why children may not do what we ask. \u00a0But for the purpose of this post, I want to just focus on one– young\u00a0children are simply not wired to respond best to verbal direction. \u00a0They learn through\u00a0doing<\/strong>, and they develop their understanding of what to\u00a0do<\/strong> through\u00a0imitating you and others<\/strong>. The surest way to get your young child involved in something? Start doing the thing you\u2019d like them to be doing with no more words than necessary. \u00a0When necessary, offer additional guidance through gentle touch, brief, warm words, or a song. You\u2019ll be amazed at how much easier it can be to get your child on board with things, when you try this simple method.<\/p>\n

Insights\u00a0from a Waldorf Kindergarten<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The first time I really felt what this looks like was about eight years ago, before the birth of my own children, when I took a job assisting in a Waldorf kindergarten. The first day I observed in the classroom, I was astonished. This early childhood environment was unlike any I\u2019d seen. Twelve children buzzed about, busy with play and work of their own choosing.<\/p>\n

Two were helping the assistant teacher chop vegetables for soup time. Another was building a block tower taller than he was. Three girls snuggled in a loft, pouring over a picture book. A teacher sat in a rocking chair, quietly humming to a little one on her lap.<\/p>\n

What made this classroom so unusual? \u00a0Well, yes,\u00a0there were those beautiful natural toys. There were soft colors and sheep skins, and sweet china\u00a0dishes, and organic food, and all those things that Waldorf is famous for. \u00a0But it was more than this. What was it? For a while, I couldn\u2019t put my finger on it. Then I realized what it was– the adults never raised their voices! When it was necessary to redirect a child, they did it through touch, gesture, or song.<\/p>\n

And the songs… The songs weren\u2019t like anything I\u2019d heard before in an early childhood setting. They weren\u2019t big, get-your-attention numbers that got feet stamping and hands clapping, like so much music for children aims to do. They weren\u2019t particularly entertaining, in fact. Instead, the\u00a0songs were peaceful– almost subliminal. Like fragments of an overheard conversation, they created a mood, and guided the children gently, subtly, and only where guidance was needed. I thought\u00a0this classroom was like an ashram, if ashrams focused on work like dressing dolls, grinding grain, and creating marvelous tea parties.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Classroom at the Brooklyn Waldorf school, where I first experienced Waldorf early childhood education.<\/p><\/div>\n

Needless to say, I was hooked, and I have been, to varying degrees, involved with Waldorf ever since.<\/p>\n

To access the powers of touch, gesture, and song to help guide children takes work, especially in our culture, which is so heavily speech centered. For Waldorf early childhood teachers, the work is ongoing. But once we\u00a0start doing it, we\u00a0notice every day how much more effective it can be, modeling for children and lovingly\u00a0bringing them along with us, versus telling them what to do.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example from my son\u2019s Waldorf inspired nursery school, Golden Bridges. One of my son\u2019s teachers is heavily pregnant. In keeping with the understanding I\u2019ve described above, she has embraced the inner work of guiding the children with as little speech as possible. This means that when a child is needs redirecting, she does so with touch, song, or just a few words- no more than necessary. At our last parent meeting, she described how as she\u2019s gotten bigger, she\u2019s more sedentary, and as a result finds herself relying more on her voice than she has in the past. What has she learned?<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that I\u2019m talking more, I can see the relationship so clearly,\u201d she explained. \u201cThe more I talk, the less they listen.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was a bittersweet revelation for a heavily pregnant mama to be who just wants to put her feet up!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Two Songs for Moving Little Ones Along<\/strong><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Peregrine scales a hill in Glen Canyon. What you can’t hear is that she’s singing “Come Follow Me” as she does it!<\/p><\/div>\n

So try this\u2026 The next time you need to get your child to do something, instead of talking, try modeling the behavior you want to see, and use gentle touch if necessary. \u00a0And as you do this… sing! \u00a0You\u2019ll be amazed how good it feels to engage with your child in this way. \u00a0And with any luck, you may even find you can get down a city block in less than an hour. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

So, without further ado, here are some songs to move your little ones along.<\/p>\n

Come Follow Me<\/strong><\/h2>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_code admin_label=”Code”]<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VTaBngVR6TM” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen><\/iframe>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” text_font_size=”16″ text_line_height=”1.8em”]<\/p>\n

Come, follow, follow, follow<\/p>\n

Follow, follow, follow me<\/p>\n

Wither shall I follow, follow, follow?<\/p>\n

Wither shall I follow, follow thee?<\/p>\n

To the greenwood, to the greenwood<\/p>\n

To the greenwood, greenwood tree<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jim Along Josie<\/strong><\/h2>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_code admin_label=”Code”]<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DJ-4JuZ5-vw” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen><\/iframe>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” text_font_size=”16″ text_line_height=”1.8em”]<\/p>\n

Hey, Jim along Jim along Josie<\/p>\n

Hey, Jim along Jim along Joe<\/p>\n

Repeat, replacing “Jim along” with whatever feels right to do.<\/p>\n

Walk along, jump along, hop along, dance along, skip along… \u00a0Whatever you like!<\/p>\n

And here’s one last useful song – this one is great for folding laundry, putting things away, or whatever chores around your house need doing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_code admin_label=”Code”]<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CNqHBOFnYzA” frameborder=”0″ allow=”autoplay; encrypted-media” allowfullscreen><\/iframe>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_cta admin_label=”Call To Action” url_new_window=”off” use_background_color=”on” background_color=”#9cd8a9″ background_layout=”dark” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” custom_button=”off” button_letter_spacing=”0″ button_use_icon=”default” button_icon_placement=”right” button_on_hover=”on” button_letter_spacing_hover=”0″ saved_tabs=”all”]<\/p>\n

If you enjoyed this post, here are a few ways to go deeper:<\/span><\/p>\n

Wherever you live, you can\u00a0download our latest album<\/strong><\/a>. \u00a0It’s free \/ pay what you want!<\/p>\n

You can also\u00a0join the conversation via our\u00a0online community, Deep River Families<\/a><\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n

And.. \u00a0If you’re in the\u00a0SF Bay Area, we warmly invite you to join us in person!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Meadowlark Music Class<\/strong><\/a>, my weekly music class for children and caregivers, meets W, TH, and F mornings at indoor and outdoor locations around San Francisco. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My outdoor Waldorf parent child class, Apple Star<\/strong><\/a>, meets Tuesday mornings in Glen Canyon. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And Mothersong Chorus<\/strong><\/a>, my\u00a0women’s singing circle, meets Sunday afternoons at Community Well.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_cta][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” text_font_size=”16″ text_line_height=”1.8em”] If you\u2019ve ever walked with a toddler, you know how difficult it can be to get from one place to another. Go a couple steps, notice a bump of gum on a brick\u2026 Stop to examine it. Go a couple more steps\u2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"If you\u2019ve ever walked with a toddler, you know how difficult it can be to get from one place to another. Go a couple steps, notice a bump of gum on a brick\u2026 Stop to examine it. Go a couple more steps\u2026 Spy a shiny gum wrapper. Stop to pick it up. Go another step, hear a dog tag jingle behind you, turn back around and start walking the other way\u2026 You get the picture!\r\n\r\nAs beautiful as it is to watch our little ones explore, there are times when we need to move a little faster than the speed of toddler. This is another one of those times when a song can be really helpful. Instead of calling, cajoling or carrying them off shouting, try this, instead\u2026 Sing one of the songs in this post. You may just find your child moves easily when she has a little music to motivate her. \r\n\r\nAt the end of this post, I\u2019ll share a few songs for this purpose. But first, I want to talk a little about toddler development, to help you understand why songs can be so effective.\r\n\r\nA Little Background -- Learning through Imitation\r\n\r\nYoung children learn through imitation. This is one of the most important insights of Waldorf early childhood education. But you don\u2019t have to know anything about Waldorf education to appreciate this. If you\u2019ve spent time with a little one, you\u2019ve seen it in action.\r\n\r\nYoung children imitate everything, even things we do not commonly pay attention to as adults. One morning, I noticed my one year old making a peculiar noise in her high chair. I stopped my snack prep to listen, and could now hear that she was imitating a large crow in the tree outside. Busy with my housework, I hadn\u2019t even noticed the bird. But my daughter was acutely attuned to it, and was already happily speaking in crow, imitating the precise cadence of each call.\r\n\r\nOur young children don\u2019t only imitate living things. They imitate inanimate objects as well. My four year old is fascinated by vacuums. There was a period of a year when basically anything he held, he would pick it up and vacuum with it, while making a machine hum sound. Kitchen implements, sticks at the park, stuffed animals, you name it. The world was his vacuum.\r\n\r\nThe urge to imitate is especially strong between siblings. Yesterday I watched my daughter, now nineteen months old, pick up one my son\u2019s stuffed animals, a brightly colored turtle. She began to move the turtle over the floor, saying \u201cBszhhhhhhh.\u201d For a moment, I looked on, puzzled. Then I realized what she was doing, and I started to laugh. Of course, she was vacuuming with it. She\u2019s learned well from her brother-- that\u2019s what turtles are for.\r\n\r\nThe idea that children learn by imitation seems simple at first glance, but this has profound implications for how we can best guide them. Think about it\u2026 what\u2019s your go to method when you need to get your child\u2019s attention? For most of us, the first instinct is to give a verbal directive. Now, it makes sense that speech is our go to, for in the world of adult interactions, words are often our best means of communicating.\r\n\r\nBut have you noticed that with young children, verbal directives can be frustratingly ineffective? Do you ever find yourself repeating a direction multiple times, to no avail? Have you ever gotten so frustrated that you hear yourself saying, \u201cYou\u2019re not listening! I need you to listen!\u201d\r\n\r\nHave you ever wondered in frustration, why don\u2019t young children listen? (By which we usually mean, why don\u2019t they do what we say? ;) \r\nThere are a lot of reasons why children may not do what we ask, and there are many important ways to frame and address this question. But for my purposes here today, I want to focus on one reason that is not often talked about. \r\n\r\nOften times, children don\u2019t do what they say simply because we\u2019re giving a verbal direction, and verbal direction is not the way they best learn. Rather, they learn through imitation - through doing what they see you and others doing. The surest way to get your young child involved in something? Just start doing the thing you\u2019d like them to be doing with no more words than necessary. If it\u2019s needed, offer additional guidance through gentle touch, brief, warm words, or a song. You\u2019ll be amazed at how much easier it is to guide your child when you follow this simple advice!\r\n\r\nThe first time I really felt what this looks like was about eight years ago, before the birth of my own children, when I took a job assisting in a Waldorf kindergarten. The first day I observed in the classroom, I was astonished. This early childhood environment was unlike any I\u2019d seen. Twelve children buzzed about, busy with play and work of their own choosing. \r\n\r\nTwo were helping the assistant teacher chop vegetables for soup time. Another was building a block tower taller than he was. Three girls snuggled in a loft, pouring over a picture book. A teacher sat in a rocking chair, quietly humming to a little one on her lap.\r\n\r\nWhat made this classroom so unusual? Yes, there were beautiful natural toys. Yes, there were soft colors and sheep skins, and sweet little dishes, and everything felt like it was out of a Grimm\u2019s fairy tale. But it was more than this. What was it? For a while, I couldn\u2019t put my finger on it. Then I realized what it was-- the adults never raised their voices! When it was necessary to redirect a child, they did it through touch, gesture, or song. \r\n\r\nAnd the songs... Naturally, as a musician, I was especially fascinated by the music. The songs weren\u2019t like anything I\u2019d heard before in a early childhood setting. They weren\u2019t big, get your attention numbers that got feet stamping and hands clapping, like so much music for children aims to do. They weren\u2019t even intended to entertain. Rather than raising the energy of the group, the songs were peaceful-- almost subliminal. Like fragments of an overheard conversation, they created a mood, and gently got the children\u2019s attention when necessary. I thought to myself that this classroom was like an ashram, if ashrams focused on work like dressing dolls, grinding grain, and creating marvelous tea parties.\r\n\r\nNeedless to say, I was hooked, and I have been, in various ways, involved with Waldorf ever since.\r\n\r\nSo how do teachers learn to do this? And how might this influence how we parent?\r\n\r\nTo access the powers of touch, gesture, and song to help guide children takes work, especially in our culture, which is so heavily speech centered. For Waldorf early childhood teachers, the work is ongoing. But once you start doing it, you\u2019ll notice every day how much more effective it can be, modeling for children versus telling them what to do. \r\n\r\nHere\u2019s an example from my son\u2019s Waldorf inspired nursery school, Golden Bridges. One of my son\u2019s teachers is heavily pregnant. In keeping with the understanding I\u2019ve described above, she has embraced the inner work of guiding the children with as little speech as possible. This means that when a child is needs redirecting, she does so with touch, song, or just a few words- no more than necessary. At our last parent meeting, she described how as she\u2019s gotten bigger, she\u2019s more sedentary, and as a result finds herself relying more on her voice than she has in the past. What has she learned? \r\n\r\n\u201cNow that I\u2019m talking more, I can see the relationship so clearly,\u201d she explained. \u201cThe more I talk, the less they listen.\u201d\r\n\r\nThis was a bittersweet revelation for a heavily pregnant mama to be who just wants to put her feet up!\r\n\r\nSo try this\u2026 The next time you need to get your child to do something, instead of talking, sing! You\u2019ll be amazed how good it feels to engage with your child in this way. Whatever you need them to do, just do it yourself, and sing gently and joyfully to call their attention to the activity.\r\n\r\nI think you\u2019ll soon find your child will be sweeping, washing dishes, or setting the table right alongside you.\r\n\r\nWith any luck, you may even find you can get down a city block in less than an hour. :)\r\n\r\nSo, without further ado, here are some songs to move your little ones along.\r\n\r\nEnjoy!","_et_gb_content_width":"","_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[53,3,7,9,1,5,11],"tags":[91,92,62,83,13],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1743"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}