Okay… if you are a mom or teacher of young kids, you know you’re totally singing “Let it Go” from Frozen right now, aren’t you?!  I love listening to my students wail on that song.  But have you ever really listened to the lyrics?  She’s basically saying, I’m not going to worry about whether I’m hurting anyone anymore.  It doesn’t help to worry.  I’m going to use my skills, whether they hurt someone or not.  Not exactly the message we usually send to our little ones.

    I, however, say, “You go, Girl!”  Maybe not in the destructive sense of things, but with the idea that her particular gift could be used for good… if she’d just use it.  She had so much fear that she would use it for bad that it crippled her for the first two-thirds of the musical.  She actually did more damage by trying to contain it (i.e., ignoring her little sister after the loss of their parents). 

    Our school is primarily made of kids who push limits.  They have big ideas and a love of knowledge and a great sense of humor and justice.  When we try to control them too much, they “buck.”  For instance, we usually lose about seven minutes of school time lining up after recess.  First there’s a couple of minutes of getting the little ones to the right lines.  Then there’s the silence that must occur before all may go in.  Inevitably, someone says something, usually with the intent to buck authority, and the process of getting to silence starts all over. 

    This year, we’ve decided to “let go” of our usual routine.  When we ring the bell for recess to be over, students will begin entering the school right then… as they come.  They will get a drink and/or go to the bathroom and then head to the next class.

    If you are the relative of a teacher, you know that very little trash is actually trash.  We can repurpose just about anything!  Then we guard it for dear life until just that right moment when someone utters the phrase, “Does anyone have the lid from a Cystal Lite container?”  We ride in and save the day!  So… my room is full of just such items.  I’ve been buying and collecting for twenty-five years, and I have to tell you, the cries for supplies are few and far between.

    This year, I decided to “let go” of my stuff and place it out for student consumption.  It’s so very liberating.  I anticipate still needing to yell at a kid or two who is wasting my treasures, but, for the most part, I expect to see some really great creating going on.

    In such a possession-rich country, “letting go” is not that welcome a concept.  Know-it-alls and talking heads will tell us to save up and protect and prohibit, but I’m with Elsa. Let it go!  Let your kindergarten self lead a little.  Remember that poem:  “Everything I Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten”?  Share a little more, let go of the need to be in control, and enjoy the freedom found in not caring quite as much as you’re supposed to.

-          Michelle