Article by Kathy Dellamia, Master Level Storytime Yoga® Instructor. (First in a series on Toddler Yoga)

Toddler YogaTeaching Storytime Yoga® to Toddlers is its own animal - a mythic one, of course.  It’s one that has wings, a tail, paws, fur, feathers, gills and can talk.  Toddlers are energetic, mostly clumsy, deeply entrenched in concrete reasoning and so close to spirit you can practically play freebie with their halos.  Many delights and challenges arise with the noble (and sometime futile) task of teaching yoga to these toddlers, including the challenge of parental or caregiver involvement.

Toddler Yoga really is ‘Family’ or ‘Parent and Child Yoga’ and the education of the parents/care provider is as, if not more, important as guiding children in games, poses and songs.  Depending on who you are, this can be a big or small challenge.

One of the greatest difficulties to teaching toddlers (walking to about age 3) is that they come with a parent or care provider.  Having adults present is yet another mythic animal- one with protective instincts and a developed ego.  Parents and care providers are, in general, children’s greatest supporters and biggest obstacles.  Having a parent present  in class creates a dynamic of authority that you, as the STY teacher, must navigate gracefully to have success and satisfaction in the class.  Just know that the parent always trumps the teacher’s authority with the child, and should since the bond between parent and child is the most foundational relationship there is.  For many toddlers this is the first exposure to having any direction from someone other than their parents. That alone is a huge learning process and benefits from a light, entertaining and interactive approach.  For the adult, they often are unsure how best to support their child and are looking to you for guidance.  This places a pressure on you, as the teacher, to provide structure and engaging material for adult and child in class as you deeply journey the mythic path of Storytime Yoga.  That’s a big container to hold.

To find a solution, the first thing is to set your mental attitude and approach.  Answering the following questions will help guide you through this step.  As in yoga, this is noncompetitive and there is no one way to do it.  Be honest with yourself and open to the possibility of discovery.

  • What is your initial attitude about having parents and care providers participate?  Even if it is positive, how can you improve it?
  • How actively involved do you want the adults?  Sitting in the circle on the mat with the child?  Should they be mostly on their own mat? Observing, or fiddling with their phone?  Giving physical adjustments to their child to make their poses more precise?
  • How comfortable are you setting expectations for other adults?  Would a ‘rules’ sheet be helpful or can you speak directly with them? Do you have well thought out reasons for your expectations?
  • What are or what do you think the expectations are of the adults?  Are the goals of the participants aligned with the objective of the class?

Answering these types of questions will help you create a foundation for your classes, provide emotional safety for your students and knit strong bonds and relationships.  There are many ways to implement and structure what you have discovered with these questions. Your approach to involving adults into a toddler or family yoga class will continually be refining and knowing your unique attitude will help smooth this challenge and befriend these mythic animals.