As the director of a preschool and writer for teachers and parents, Bev Bos is seen as a leader in conscious education for children. She was in town for an early childhood conference, and put aside two hours to do a presentation of her principles for growing self-aware and wiser beings. It was a whirlwind of information, games and songs but the essence was: give kids more unstructured play.

But to do so most parents, including myself, have to be willing to let kids get riskier and dirtier. I am reminded that parenting for me is often about letting go, not trying to control a situation more.

Here are Bev’s Conditions for Growing Wise:

1. Belonging – to family, neighbourhood and the global community.
2. Risk – Intellectual, emotional, physical, social and spiritual. [Play's Place in Public Education]
3. Passion – Children need passionate role models.
4. Power – you get personal power by making decisions based on your values and your desires. You give up personal power by letting others make decisions for you. We are giving up to much power to fear.
5. Presence – Stop worrying so much about your to-do list. Nurture, don’t control imaginative play. [Joseph Chilton Pearce]
6. Productivity – Learning new things.
7. Support – There are 12 people everyone should have in their life. I’ll get it out to you later..
8. Solitude – kids are over-scheduled and need down and alone time to process learnings and gather energy.
9. Mentors & Roll Models
10. Humour – not laughing at the child, not sarcasm which is beyond comprehension when young
11. Gratification Deference – teaching kids to wait for gratification
12. Re-Seeding – reinforcing learnings

Play feeds all of these needs. It is a sculptor of the social brain and drives neural development. Struart Brown, M.D.

TED Video: Stuart Brown, M.D. from the National Institute of Play – Play is more than fun.

I am also reminded about a talk David Suzuki gave at a local high school a few years ago. He said that his parents are responsible for who he is today. One of the most important things his mom did for him was to let him run into the house all excited about some discovery from outside, and not require him to take his muddy boots off.

Written By: Nicole LeBlanc Charlwood