Thursday 26 January 2012

Alternative Music Therapy

I purchased the book Playful Parenting (by Lawrence J. Cohen) a good while ago, and have found it very helpful. It looks at discipline in a very different way. Anytime LM is out of sorts and acts up, I go back to it for inspiration.
In line with this, one idea that we thought of, with a playful approach, was to use music to help LM express his feelings and relive any frustrations or annoyance. A while ago when he was a good bit younger and I originally introduced him to Nirvana, he decided they were very “angry”. And I just remember jumping up and down around my parent’s house when no one was home with the music blaring, lucky we were in a detached house!! It was a great stress reliever during exam times or when you were just royally p*ssed off at the world. So if LM seamed very frustrated or obviously had some strong feelings about to boil over, we put on some Nirvana.


So I thought the same may apply to my LM. As he often does seem like a temperamental teenager, unable to understand the strong emotions, unable to express them, unable to control them. I get flashes of me as a teenager throwing remote controls across the room, slamming doors- oh how your past actions bite you in the bum!

So now if LM gets to that stage/ mood we put on some Nirvana and jump and dance around the family room. It helps to get out all the pent up emotion and energy.

Running around the table also does some good… usually racing, and chasing LM.
Anyone else have any strange and wonderful ways to gently discipline their little ones?

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