The Power of Poetry for Our Kids
The term poetry might possibly conjure up numerous stuffy feelings for you and your kids, and perhaps vague feelings of confusion. What do those lines mean, anyway? Renewed interest in the value of poetry in the lives of children is stepping forth by several individuals and groups, among them a new group, Poetry at Play. This organization is energized about and focused on bringing poetry back to the literary forefront of children’s education and lives. They aren’t the only ones who are struggling to bring attention to the need for and positive response to the rhythm of poetry for young people. Are you fostering your children’s exposure to poetry, or running from its stuffy name and giving up the idea of raising a new generation of Shakespeares?
According to Morag Styles, a Professor of Children’s Poetry at Cambridge University, “Children’s responses to poetry are innate, instinctive, natural – maybe it starts in the womb, with the mother’s heartbeat?” Styles and other proponents of poetry for youth often refer to the natural rhythm of the verses that draws children into the language, even if we are unaware that it is poetry. You can see it in the line at the grocery store, singing a hymn at church, or in a pediatrician’s waiting room. Mothers sway. Even if they aren’t even holding babies, their bodies sway to the sometimes unheard patterns of language. Perhaps we are singing songs somewhere deep within our subconscious, but there is a rhythm there.
Children respond to those rhythms, and often seem to crave them. It might be a silly song we make up to sing to our infant to calm a middle of the night crying session, or the goofy story we make up about the mashed banana flying into our baby’s tiny mouth. Whatever it is, we create rhythms for our kids and they respond to it. As they get older they incorporate poetry into their own games – What Time is It Mr. Fox?, Red Rover, and any multiples of jump rope songs require the cadence of poetry. Your tweens and teens most likely listen to poetry every day, coming across their MP3 players in song.
Mother Goose is the ultimate example of poetry for children, but it is so much more than that. Styles also cites research that refers to an international and universal response to poetry, steeped in the tradition of oral storytelling. Listen to a child recite a familiar story that you have told her since she was a baby, and you will most likely hear her invoke the same pauses and rhythm that you use. The same emphasis you place on syllables will be the ones she enunciates with enthusiasm. This is a root feature of poetry.
Not only do children respond to the rhythm of poetry, but learning to recite poetry is a perfect way to learn language and speaking skills. My 8th grade son is using an English curriculum produced by the Institute for Excellence in Writing that requires the memorization of poetry as one of the components. The memorizing of poems aids in the study of linguistics and helps to increase vocabulary.
Fun and Easy Ways to Incorporate Poetry into Your Children’s Lives
- Find authors who speak children’s languages – Shel Silverstein is a great example of a poet who can make children smile and want to hear just one more poem.
- Play a game around the dinner table where you work to create a joint poem. Have one person begin with one or two lines, then have it move on to the next person. The crazier the better!
- Instead of a storybook every night, switch it up by reading poetry.
- Invest in inexpensive refrigerator poetry magnets – they are small and are just random words and phrases that can begin an evolving work of art on the fridge to which everyone in the family can contribute.
- Read song lyrics with your kids. You will probably see them tapping their foot to the familiar ones.
- Expose your kids to different types of poems and try with them to create some. Haikus and Acrostic name poems are great ways to begin. For an Acrostic poem, write your child’s name vertically on a piece of paper. For each letter of his name have him come up with a word or phrase that describes himself. This can be a real window into his soul, or sometimes it can just be a silly way to communicate. Do the same for your own name and get in on the fun with your kids. You don’t have to be Shakespeare to have poetry make a positive difference in your life.
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