Recording Transcript

This afternoon I went swimming. And when I got to the swimming pool, they were about to start a lesson for two little kids. The little girl, she must have been about three or four, she was tiny and she was so excited on the side of the pool before going in. And then, oh, my goodness, once that lesson started – the look of delight on her face – you couldn’t help smiling at it!

And then when they were testing stuff, just testing out the water, and the instructor was holding her so she could kick her legs and get used to the water. Her face just lit up at the thought of that and she had, (I’m assuming it was Mummy and Daddy) that were by the side of the pool supporting.

And then later on, she didn’t seem as happy. She wasn’t in the water anymore. It was the other little boy that was in the water, and she was staying very, very close to Mummy.

It really made me think about these attachment needs that little kids have. That all of us have, really. There’s this beautiful video on YouTube called “The Circle of Security”.  And it’s all about how children need to have someone around who is bigger, stronger, wiser and kind. And then when there’s someone bigger, stronger, wiser and kind, they’re kind of holding this circle of security.  The kids need to go out and explore.  They need someone who’s delighting in their exploration, like, “oh, wow, you found that, did you? Wow, that’s so amazing.”

But then there comes a point where it’s too much, and they need to come back in again, and they need a little bit of help regulating their emotions after that.

And so when she’s there and she’s delighting in the lesson, that’s her going out on the circle. And then when it’s all a bit too much, it’s all a bit new, she’s had enough. That’s when she needs that support. And it was really lovely to see it.

But it’s the same with all of us. That’s for little people. But we all need someone there who’s bigger, stronger, wiser and kind in the sense that they’re not judgmental, they’re bigger in the sense that they’re further along, perhaps in something difficult that we’re facing. And we need those times of exploration, but we also need those times of kind of integration, and we need to feel into the emotions and let ourselves rest and come back to ourselves.

So, yeah, it was just a really lovely little story that just so beautifully illustrated that circle of security and just that need, that cycle of exploring and learning that we all go through.

So that’s just my little story for today.