Raising Awe Seekers: Why Wonder Belongs in Every Childhood
Raising Awe Seekers: Why Wonder Belongs in Every Childhood by Carrie-Lee Touhey
Training conferences were held all over the world this past Saturday for International Nanny Training Day! So I decided to head up to Boston to attend the local event, get some good food, listen to some good stories, get to meet some really good people, get a sweet swag bag and learn some good things to add to my caregiving toolbox.
I was surrounded by likeminded, forward thinking childcare providers who were also looking to up their game and enjoy a day together. The speakers included a LICSW who specializes in Perinatal Mood Disorders (PMADs), a professor whose presentation was on gender expansive behaviors in young children and what that does and doesn't mean, a doctor of child psychology who has years of experience as nanny for ultra high net worth families and using professional language and working within an estate dynamic, a band tour nanny who took us through her years on the road, and an educator who spoke to us about handling tricky conversations with confidence and fairness (and had us all in stitches the whole time! What an excellent speaker!)
They were all truly terrific. I learned something new from each and every single one of them. I think for the purposes of this blog I’ll touch on Deborah Farmer Kris, an author and educator whose presentation was on Raising Awe Seekers. I feel this one resonated with me the most because as she said, awe is the most overlooked and undervalued emotion. Did you know that tears in moments of awe and wonder are physically different from those of sadness? Yes, their chemical composition actually differs from tears of pain and sadness which have cortisol and stress hormones. Did you know that children who are encouraged to seek awe young in life are more curious, have intellectual humility and academic engagement? That there are health benefits such as better mental and emotional wellness, improved sense of wellbeing and even reduced inflammation? Did you know there are many societal benefits such as a propensity for generosity, kindness, fairness, and a disposition towards the greater good?
Why did I feel so drawn to this speaker and her subject? Because that’s how I was raised. I was raised to run out of the house in the cold to see a brilliant full moon or watch for a shooting star. I was raised to love and find satisfaction in tending a beautiful garden or find peace in a stream running through the woods behind our house. And I realized as I listened that that’s how I nanny as well. That’s what I do and that’s why it resonated with me. I might not have a great fondness for making slime or bargaining over iPad use (who does?!), but man if I don't want to get down in the dirt and see a kid discover how much an ant can carry at once. I want to teach them a deer versus rabbit track (or poop!) in the woods and watch their gears turn as they come across the next track and try to decipher it. When it comes to infants I get just as excited to watch them begin to hold their head up, to coo, to discover their hands or smile as their mom or dad walks through the door. I live vicariously through their little firsts. I not only do this with my precious charges but I did with my own kids as well who still run out with a telescope to see a full moon, get on a train just to see the mountains in Switzerland or hand build a yurt in the Maine woods.
I’ve had the privilege of having an incredible family that I’ve worked with for the last three and a half years. I mentioned to the twins mother about the speaker and how I felt like this was how I nanny, that this is how I approach childcare and I got the biggest compliment of all… She said ¨Oh! I just got chills as you said that. That’s you! That’s who you are!”
