Oh yeah, I've got the hula hoop going again. Our old one bit the dust in an unfortunate grilling incident, and I couldn't find any new ones all winter. Now that Spring is back at Target, we have some new hoops. They are doing double duty these days. Not only do the kids get to hula (and Liam and Natalie are doing so much better this year! Liam has the body motion down!), but I also introduced them to the Hula Personal Space Meter. I read somewhere recently about a tip for making "personal space" more of a visible, physical entity for kids who have issues respecting personal space. Not that anyone around
here has those issues...ha ha ha ha ha. OK, some of us, in particular one small one of us, has some major personal space boundary issues. So far the jury is still out on the long-term effects of the hula. I think they all thought it was funny when I instructed Natalie to sit inside one hoop and Owen to sit inside a different hoop, and I told them that if either of them crossed into the other's hoop space they would have to go to time out. Even Owen understood the concept. He sat right in the middle and said "This is my SPACE. Stay out of my SPACE!" Yes, well, until I left the room for a minute and they picked up their personal space and tried to hula with it, knocking into each other and getting angry. sigh... But, I will say that now if they are getting in each other's business (so I get to try this technique a LOT), I can say "OK,
pretend you have the hula hoop around you and that is your space." and they can visualize that. They even make little noises like they are zipping themselves up in their space. Until, of course, one of them pulls out the invisible light saber or samurai sword (can I count on two hands the number of times I've heard Owen say "fwing" as he pulls out his imaginary samurai sword out of it's imaginary sheath this week and approaches me in a warrior stance, thank you very much Samurai Scooby Doo) and tries to slash through the personal space barrier. Well, I guess it's all a work in progress. If all else fails, at least they may learn to hula hoop. Owen tries to hula too, and it's amazing how many times the hoop will go around him before it falls. He keeps his body perfectly still, but he gives the hoop such a strong fling that it zips around his body half a dozen times before it falls. Still not sure how he does that. Small body, strong arms, I guess.
Oh yeah, I've got the hula hoop going again. Our old one bit the dust in an unfortunate grilling incident, and I couldn't find any new ones all winter. Now that Spring is back at Target, we have some new hoops. They are doing double duty these days. Not only do the kids get to hula (and Liam and Natalie are doing so much better this year! Liam has the body motion down!), but I also introduced them to the Hula Personal Space Meter. I read somewhere recently about a tip for making "personal space" more of a visible, physical entity for kids who have issues respecting personal space. Not that anyone around here has those issues...ha ha ha ha ha. OK, some of us, in particular one small one of us, has some major personal space boundary issues. So far the jury is still out on the long-term effects of the hula. I think they all thought it was funny when I instructed Natalie to sit inside one hoop and Owen to sit inside a different hoop, and I told them that if either of them crossed into the other's hoop space they would have to go to time out. Even Owen understood the concept. He sat right in the middle and said "This is my SPACE. Stay out of my SPACE!" Yes, well, until I left the room for a minute and they picked up their personal space and tried to hula with it, knocking into each other and getting angry. sigh... But, I will say that now if they are getting in each other's business (so I get to try this technique a LOT), I can say "OK, pretend you have the hula hoop around you and that is your space." and they can visualize that. They even make little noises like they are zipping themselves up in their space. Until, of course, one of them pulls out the invisible light saber or samurai sword (can I count on two hands the number of times I've heard Owen say "fwing" as he pulls out his imaginary samurai sword out of it's imaginary sheath this week and approaches me in a warrior stance, thank you very much Samurai Scooby Doo) and tries to slash through the personal space barrier. Well, I guess it's all a work in progress. If all else fails, at least they may learn to hula hoop. Owen tries to hula too, and it's amazing how many times the hoop will go around him before it falls. He keeps his body perfectly still, but he gives the hoop such a strong fling that it zips around his body half a dozen times before it falls. Still not sure how he does that. Small body, strong arms, I guess.
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