The joy of the rain and what learning looks like while it is pouring.

By: Laura Burki
September 17, 2019

When it rains outside, kids don’t want to stay inside. They like to put on raincoats and boots — and purposely go out into the rain to play. They stomp in puddles. They find little streams that run down the side of the street and build dams. They turn umbrellas upside-down to see how much water they can catch. And they don’t care if they come back in soaking wet.
​
Now think about how we adults act when it’s raining...

Imagine you’re getting out of your car in a parking lot, it’s a 50-yard walk to the store, it’s pouring down rain — and you don’t have an umbrella. What do you do? Grab your jacket and tighten it up around yourself like a shield? Put your hand over your face, as if a 6-inch visor will keep you dry? Run as fast as you can, mentally dodging raindrops as you go?

In the end, you’re still wet.

Lets learn from our kids, our students, our children and lets take from their perspective on the rain and how much fun we can really have.

What all of this amounts to is the importance of learning how to change our perspective.

When you are out in the rain trying to dodge every raindrop, your body is tense, your heart rate is up, and the stress-inducing part of your nervous system is turned on.

But if you stand there and recognize the fact that you are simply going to get wet — it’s freeing.

You can feel the tension release, maybe even imagine it being washed away.

A tiny shift in perspective can have a huge impact on your mind, your body, and your day.

Perhaps our kids, playing out there in the pouring rain, have more to teach us than we know.