I remember walking to school with my mom; she walked so fast! I had to do a double step to keep up with her! And somewhere along the line of life, I kept this pace of walking too fast, and rushing everyone around me.

In a recent podcast by Kim John Payne, he describes his experience of rushing around in a classroom with young children, and how the children also tended to be slightly anxious, extra boisterous and excitable. The seasoned teacher, whom he was shadowing, slowly took a washcloth to wipe the lunch tables, and moved around the room slowly and with purpose.

The effect, he says, was almost magical. The children become less vivacious, slowed down and become more peaceful (as much as a kindergartener can be!) When the adult is not “rushy-rushy” the children feel that the adult is in control, there is a order to their schedule, and there is time for them.

Anyone who has been around children for even a small amount of time know they do not hurry. Leaving the house? Trying shoes? Brushing teeth? They can take an agonizing amount of time. But when we, the parent, can be calm and collected in these moments, we can show them the proper way of needed to go somewhere or collecting a task, but without being “rushy” or frantic.

I always laugh the the name of the childhood injury “nursemaid’s elbow” because it’s just so apt- we yank the children to get them to follow our orders. But, it only causes harm to the child, and to ourselves and our own schedule!