Transcending Transitions

By Anne McCarthy, Cattails teacher

​Children in deep play are like whales who only come to the surface, every once in a while, to breathe—out of sheer necessity. Children want to stay deep, immersed in the waters of their imagination, only coming out when a need arises. That’s why ending play abruptly must feel like a small trauma to them, a sudden yank, crumbling the place they had been before to nothingness. Like waking up from a dream, you wanted to last just a bit longer… How then can we as parents transition our children gently when the time comes to end play?Singing to them—putting your request in song—is a wonderful method. Singing carries children from one state to the next, allowing them to come to the surface slowly. They have time to acclimatize, realize, and are therefore much more willing to transition out of play and into what’s next.