The Importance of Stillness & Silence

In our very busy, fast-paced world it is important to find ways to encourage stillness and silence in our lives. The need for this comes naturally as adults, but children should be given the space and time to recharge and recuperate as well. and to build it into your daily routines as soon as possible.

Composure is a reflection of a balanced nervous system and without this skill, other ways of coping are inevitable, for example, aggressive behaviours and irritability. The first three years of life are the most critical periods in human neural development and so it is important for us to show and teach our children by example and teach them ways to recharge by appreciating stillness and silence. Routines are an important way to incorporate this into our day and children will learn that they are safe and secure as they begin to depend on these routines and moments of stillness and silence in their day.
In our classrooms (or at home with your children), it can be powerful and often more effective to lower the volume in your voice (we naturally want to raise the volume to get their attention), to get your children to pay attention and listen.  In our preschool classes, we will often whisper, “Children come close, I have something very important to tell you” and wait for them to gather.  If there is a child who still is not approaching the group, often by saying ‘we are so sad that you will not hear the special thing I have to tell you”, it will bring them close.  You also could to sit with your class (and at home an imaginary friend or doll) and wait, and in doing so, start to tell a verbal story or rhyme very quietly so they are paying extra attention as you are waiting for the straggler to come to find out why you are whispering.  Of course, like anything, this is not foolproof, but worth a try!! Not to be overused or it will lose its effectiveness!

Children will also sit quietly to listen to what you may be able to hear outside the classroom.  When needing a moment of silence, we will often say ‘did you hear that?’ (Very enthusiastically). ‘Did you hear that car, (bird, someone talking, etc.)?” ‘Let’s listen again and then you can tell me what you heard’.  At certain times of the year, we will turn off any fans or noise in our room and be very still and very quiet to hear what we can hear, (and maybe turn off the lights).  We might also go to different places in the classroom or studio to explore the silence.  Children love to pay attention to what may be happening outside of the class or studio and it will give you a moment of silence and to regather your thoughts! It can be so much fun and the children (and teachers) enjoy the break to find the quiet!

We hope you enjoy exploring ways to be still and silent with your children.

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