Dreaming with my Kids! (A follow-up action from my recent participation in a SALT-CLCP Virtual Training)

[Myrna A. Maglahus]

“I am not SALTY at home.”

I realized, that although I have applied SALT in my work, I never gave a chance to share it with my family. There was that clear separation between home and family life. And although it works for some, it oftentimes gives me stress when these two worlds do not overlap. Just the mere switching on/off to work or family mode had become exhausting. I also realized that the dream I developed many years ago is only about work and only involves one aspect of my life (my work life). Through the years, as responsibilities became overwhelming, I had set aside SALTiness so I can be “a more responsible person”.

The pandemic offered the opportunity to look inwards (to myself and within my family) and forced work and life to blend. In the beginning, there was no balance at all. But when I began to slowly let go of things that do not benefit me (something I learned from yoga), I am slowly seeing how work and family life can overlap and how they can blend harmoniously.

“When dreams are shared, it becomes reality.”

I shared my personal dream for the first time this May during a recent SALT-CLCP Virtual Training and decided that I want to share SALT-CLCP with my family, primarily, because it would be harmonious if you live with people with more or less the same mindset. I attempted to share my personal dream with my sister. But told me that she is not interested to hear all of it, although she wants to be involved in one aspect of my dream. We are now collaborating and encouraging each other on that aspect.

Next, I shared the dreaming part with my kids. The thought of sharing the dream building with my kids came to me when they saw me drawing my personal dream. They got excited with the crayons and the drawing to the point that they also want to add drawings to my dream. So one Saturday, the three of us sat down to draw our dreams. The stimulating question I used was, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. My kids are 6 and 4 years old. And they drew a fireman and policeman as their dreams. Based on what they drew, I asked follow-up questions such as “What does a fireman/policeman do?”, “What happens on the street/home/family when they know that the firman/policeman are present?” I was surprised we finished quickly. We put the drawings on our bedroom wall as a daily reminder.

Because my kids would see their drawings every day, they began to add to their dreams the following weeks. They added clouds and nice sunshine and people in their drawings. I guess this is their way of seeing the bigger picture to include other aspects of their dreams. One Saturday was not enough for them to complete their dreams! I drew the common dream and they helped with coloring it. The common dream shows a safe and protected community with a space for interacting with neighbors and with nature and allows us to do our interests and hobbies safely. That common dream is also on our bedroom wall.

I am going to follow - up on our common dream with the Self-Assessment. I don’t know yet how to facilitate it, mainly because I don’t know what question to ask. I have never facilitated CLCP with kids, especially preschoolers with very short attention span. Maybe you have suggestions on how I can go forward. If you do, please let me know. I think starting them young and exposing kids to a SALTy mindset is one beautiful life skill we can impart to the next generation.

[Marie Lamboray]

Hello Myrna, what a treat to read you. My instinct would be to use the same questions as for adults in very short playful timespans.

[Myrna A. Maglahus]

Thank you Rituu for connecting me to Tricia and Avesha's stories.  I read them already and inspire me to continue CLCP with my family, taking this opportunity that we are always together at home because of the pandemic.  

[Rituu B. Nanda]

Second experience from India https://aidscompetence.ning.com/profiles/blogs/salt-ed

[Rituu B. Nanda]

Your experience is very powerful. Thanks Myrna.

Here is an example of CLCP in the family by Tricia (from Guyana) https://aidscompetence.ning.com/profiles/blogs/revisiting-our-famil...