Friday, March 3, 2017

Loving Weaving

 
 
The kids have seen each others' work and almost everyone wants to try making something useful with some sort of weaving. Even the littlest got into it, some finding it difficult and some like quicksilver fish - they are all such individuals.
 
And then there are one or two who want only to make cats, cats, cats. Miss M. has made a paper brooch to pin on her shirt . . . ha ha I will show her how to weave a cat on a peg loom,   
which in turn will exercise her brain in new ways. While weaving and other types of handwork help develop manual dexterity and manipulative skills, other things are happening . . . handwork helps integrate all types of learning experiences, including reading and other academics. Making useful things extends the benefits and satisfaction of practical life skills. Continuing to develop fine motor skills and concentration, with the ups and downs of failure and success, builds self-awareness and confidence. It is beyond great to start all this when children are young. They can take these things into their futures and continuously be enriched because they have already mapped skill-building and the well-being it provides. Viva! the arts and humanities!

A post script here: In Iceland, some people took a strong look at what was making their teens do drugs and other destructive things:
 
“We didn’t say to them, you’re coming in for treatment. We said, we’ll teach you anything you want to learn: music, dance, hip hop, art, martial arts.” The idea was that these different classes could provide a variety of alterations in the kids’ brain chemistry, and give them what they needed to cope better with life: some might crave an experience that could help reduce anxiety, others may be after a rush. . . . At the same time, the recruits got life-skills training, which focused on improving their thoughts about themselves and their lives, and the way they interacted with other people."

What this meant is Iceland's teen addiction rates dropped:  The percentage of 15- and 16-year-olds who had been drunk in the previous month plummeted from 42 per cent in 1998 to 5 per cent in 2016. The percentage who have ever used cannabis is down from 17 per cent to 7 per cent. Those smoking cigarettes every day fell from 23 per cent to just 3 per cent.

Read the full article here. Feel free to let me know what you think in the Comments Box below!




3 comments:

Windy Dixon said...

Good golly Miss Molly you've done it again! Wonderful photos, inspiring little article that packs a big punch besides.

Alana said...

This is really important stuff you know that dont ya? Sharing this with my parent friends.

Sara said...

Your the best Jeannie. Your kids faces show it. And there work is gorgeous. Love the article.