Play Skillfully

This episode was originally recorded a few years ago for my podcast, The Real Kathy Lee. Lesli and I loved this episode so much that we thought it needed to be added here, too. In this episode, Lesli and I talk about the importance of including art in your home. We discuss process driven art instead of product driven art for young children under the age of six. Process-oriented art develops the structure of a child’s brain, releases endorphins, and encourages the child to take risk when creating. Art for young children should be open ended and parents should not have an expected result (eyes in a certain place, looks like a picture, etc...). Parents should invite children to create with a variety of materials, leaving the results up to the child.

For more information, check out Kathy's book, The Homegrown Preschooler and curriculum, A Year of Playing Skillfully.

Thanks for listening. If you have topics you would like for us to discuss or people you would like to hear from, let us know at [email protected] or shoot us a message on social media.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review on iTunes!!! Also, to thank you for listening, you can receive a 10% discount on any purchase at The Homegrown Preschooler by using the code, PSPODCAST.

Kathy and I recorded this podcast several weeks ago, BEFORE we knew how much patience the world was going to need. We hope this timely episode on patience fills your cup today, and helps your last nerve stretch a little bit farther.  This is the first in our series of podcasts on Character traits. We will be adding one per month to go along with the character traits in our curriculum A Year of Playing Skillfully and A Summer of Playing Skillfully.  We hope you enjoy this podcast!

Tips for building patience in yourself:

1. Relationships over results. Also consider the fragility of the people you are dealing with. Be gentle. You honestly never know what other people are dealing with at home, or what broken system they are trying to work within. The way we respond to others is on display to our children. 
   
   
2. Educate yourself in the developmental stages of your kids, so that your expectations are reasonable. 
   
   
3. Check yourself first:  Are we frustrated with them because we were unprepared, disorganized or unrested? Are we communicating clearly what our expectations are? Are we expecting others to read our minds?  Do we need some self-care?
   
   
4. Be mindful of the verbal and non-verbal cues we are giving.  (Eye rolling, sarcasm, belittling people, sighing heavily, foot-tapping,)
   
   
5. Protect your own quiet prayer time. There is nothing that makes me gentler with people than spending time with my gentle Lord. He is so so patient with us and I need to keep that conduit open in order to pour it out on others.  My kids have occasionally looked at me wide-eyed and said “Did you miss your quiet time today?

A note on the spiritual implications of impatience………

We are not inclined toward patience.  And we can let our impatience masquerade as righteous anger and justify it. The biblical meaning of patience is not passive waiting. The Greek word implies an active enduring and persevering through irritation and trials.  So trust in the Lord, He’s working all of these things for our good. 

Building it within your kids:

1. Observe potential triggers and target them specifically. These could potentially be: turn taking, losing at games, hunger, perfectionism, frustration with building new skills, keeping up with siblings, etc.
2. Validate their feelings of frustration. Usually the FEELING behind the frustration is valid, but maybe not the BEHAVIOR.
3. Problem solve out loud to yourself when you are feeling impatient. “This traffic is so hard to sit in! Let’s make it more fun by playing our favorite songs. Everyone choose one!”  “I am so hungry right now, but it is still one hour before dinner! Maybe I will drink a big glass of water!” Use humor whenever possible. 
4. Honor your commitments. Minutes are meaningless, especially when we say “in a minute” when we don’t really mean it.  They are not dumb. Use visual timers such as hour glasses or

For more information, check out Kathy's book, The Homegrown Preschooler and curriculum, A Year of Playing Skillfully.

Thanks for listening. If you have topics you would like for us to discuss or people you would like to hear from, let us know at [email protected] or shoot us a message on social media.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review on iTunes!!! Also, to thank you for listening, you can receive a 10% discount on any purchase at The Homegrown Preschooler by using the code, PSPODCAST.

Lesli and I decided it was time to join the world of podcasting. If you know us, you know we both love to talk and share our passion about play and early learning. Since we decided to take the year off from conferences, we figured this was the perfect time to get this podcast party started. In this episode we give you a little background about us and our curriculum, A Year of Playing Skillfully. We also share our vision for this podcast moving forward. It is our desire to inspire and encourage you on your parenting journey. Between the two of us, we have seen it all and we plan our sharing our stories of successes as well as failures. We will definitely be keeping it real! 

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Some fun facts about Kathy:

* Kathy's childhood crush was Mr. Rogers.

* Kathy's go to Starbucks order is a Triple Venti Vanilla Bean Powder Almond Milk Latte.

* Kathy loves hoop earrings, turquoise, nature, and sunsets.

* Kathy is often described as a mixture of Jen Hatmaker, The Pioneer Woman, and The Super Nanny.

* Kathy usually describes herself as a hot mess, who is thankful for grace!

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Some Fun Facts about Lesli:

*Lesli does not have and “e” at the end of her name

*Lesli was born and raised in California but was meant to be a Southern Belle. 

*Lesli loves books and will never Marie Condo them. 

*Lesli went on a few dates with Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove before marrying Mr. B.

* Lesli and her daughter Rosie rescued and rehabilitated 30 feral cats in 2019.

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Thanks for listening. If you have topics you would like for us to discuss or people you would like to hear from, let us know. Just email us [email protected] or shoot us a message on social media. 

Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review on iTunes!!! Also, to thank you for listening, you can receive a 10% discount on any purchase at The Homegrown Preschooler by using the code, PSPODCAST.

For more information, check out Kathy's book, The Homegrown Preschooler and curriculum, A Year of Playing Skillfully.

Thanks for listening. If you have topics you would like for us to discuss or people you would like to hear from, let us know at [email protected] or shoot us a message on social media.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review on iTunes!!! Also, to thank you for listening, you can receive a 10% discount on any purchase at The Homegrown Preschooler by using the code, PSPODCAST.