Q and A from Parents/Grandparents Lecture on Children’s Brain/Body Balancing on April 28

What an exciting morning sharing Children’s Brain/Body Balancing with all of you beautiful, bright parents, grandparents and children! Thank you so much for your participation. You all did such a great job learning and teaching each other the movements.

Now you know firsthand that these simple, easy-to-do controlled movements help “switch on” the brain, break up old behavior patterns, and support brain/body balance and self-regulation. I hope you will join me for an in-depth study of Children’s Brain/Body Balancing on June 16 at the all-day workshop at the African American Performing Arts Center, 310 San Pedro NE, Albuquerque. Reserve your spot! Call 949-468-9841 or email solutions4kids@yahoo.com.

Here’s a great question I received from a parent who attended the Children’s Brain/Body Balancing Workshop on Saturday:
Q. – When the movements feel so good to the children that they don’t want to stop as soon as the adult-in-charge asks them to, do you have suggestions on how to ease them back to their learning tasks?

A. – I truly believe that children know instinctively what they need for their own growth and balance. As long as the movement is safe, I let them continue. SAFETY FIRST!

I don’t know how much of a particular movement their bodies and brains need; they do. If I pushed them on to the next activity too soon, chances are they would not be ready to focus anyway.

Obviously I ask children to stop any unsafe movement immediately. I also spend a lot of time setting out the safety and cooperation rules of movement before we ever start. I discuss these rules and techniques thoroughly in the longer workshop.

In the case of spinning, for example, my approach is to let them spin themselves out. I ask them to stand in a nearby area for spinners. I take the rest of the class onward to the next movement and also keep an eye on the spinners. The spinners join back in when they’re done and/or when they don’t want to miss out on the fun the rest of us are having with the next movement. I do not demand control or perfection. My goal is balance – self-generated balance.

Recognizing children’s need to balance themselves through movement is also a demonstration of respect for children as individuals. Not making them bad or wrong for who they are and what they want or need. It demonstrates my support in their development of self-awareness which then leads to voluntary self-regulation. I have never had a child abuse the freedom when I honored theirs.

Helen Cordero Primary School – First APS School to Implement Children’s Brain/Body Balancing

The Albuquerque Public School District is the largest school district in New Mexico. Helen Cordero Primary School, in the southwest part of Albuquerque, NM, has over 40 teachers and 20 EAs teaching almost 800 children in grades pre-K through 2nd grade. This school has a very active parenting community as well. On March 6th, Ellen Griffiths, principal, and half of the teaching staff broke new ground by training in Children’s Brain/Body Balancing.

Children’s Brain/Body Balancing (CBBB) supports the Nurtured Heart Approach used by the teachers at Helen Cordero School. The CBBB movements help children focus and self-regulate which makes it easier for them to communicate and understand the principles of the Nurtured Hearth Approach, helping children feel positive, creative, and cooperative.

Gaby Vera, the Helen Cordero School Community Liaison, has begun teaching some of the Children’s Brain/Body Balancing movements and ideas to parents of students. Both parents and teachers have seen immediate positive changes in behavior and learning! Barbara Brandon, an APS Early Childhood Office Social Worker, has reported similar success with parents and students at Kit Carson Elementary School.

Here’s what the Helen Cordero teachers had to say after their recent training in Children’s Brain/Body Balancing:
“Easy to learn and fun to do activities to share with my class immediately!”
“I enjoyed all the material and movements.”
“The actual demonstrations and being able to do each movement was great.”
“I truly enjoyed learning positive methods of calming students.”
“The most useful parts were the research behind brain/body balancing, the various breathing and movement exercises, and the information about health and nutrition.”
“Wonderful workshop! Families need this information!”
“I think this is excellent information that I’m hoping has a big impact on kids!”
“I can’t wait to see how this works with my class!”
“Offer this to parents!”
“It’s great for the overall well-being of body, mind, and soul of students and teachers. It helps eliminate stress.”

Contact Marcia Lee at 949-468-9841 for information about bringing Children’s Brain/Body Balancing to your child’s school and parenting community. Enjoy the benefits of happier, confident, focused children.