Has your 2010 begun like mine – full speed ahead? For many of us, it’s been a jolt back into days in which every minute is consumed by an obligation. This isn’t good, for adults or for children.
Our minds need to get off the Merry Go Round. We all need to make a point of scheduling in quiet time. This can be any number of things. For an adult, it might be reading, sewing or needlework, playing the piano, listening to soothing music, waxing the car, praying or meditating, light gardening, walking – just about any activity that requires focus and/or slow and methodical action.
Schedule quiet time
For children, quiet time is even more important than it is for adults. The whirl of activity in which they are engaged is more extensive than ever, with organized activities of one kind or another taking a huge chunk of a child’s day. Quiet time can easily get lost. Unstructured time alone — daily, not just once in a while — helps children learn self-reliance, enhances their abilities to make decisions, encourages independent thought, and fosters their imaginations. (Quiet time does not include outside stimulation, such as electronic games, DVDs or television.) Some parents say that quiet time makes their children both more thoughtful and more adaptive.
Adia and Luna the Turtle
Quiet time doesn’t necessarily mean idle time. Play is an important part of a child’s quiet time. Parents and grandparents can help by ensuring children have ready access to the right “tools” – a Storybook Quilt, for example. Making up a new story based on a Storybook Quilt would be a great way to spend quiet time – the fabrics in the quilt enhance an appreciation of color and making up a new story builds imagination. It’s also something the child can share, if he or she choses, when quiet time is over.
To see all our themes, visit our website at www.storybookquilts.biz
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