Dancing the Blues Away

Last night my 5-year-old daughter had the blues, so I encouraged her to talk about her feelings and cry. She's remakably able to articulate exactly how she feels and why she feels that way. She asks questions and genuinely listens to the answers. I hope I'm setting the stage for her to be able to talk to me about anything, and to freely express her anger, frustration, saddness, etc. I'm sure it sounds a little strange to hear that a toddler has the blues and is able to work through the saddness, but she seems to have an old soul and advanced wisdom for her age.

Watching my daughter cry and talk about her feelings reminded me of my saddness when I was her age. Unfortunately, I wasn't given a stage to talk about what was happening to me, or cry and get through the confusion. Perhaps this is my chance to help the inner child in me as I help my daughter get through her blue periods.

Shortly after her episode, I asked her if she wanted to dance. This is something we do now and then just because we both love music and really like to dance. She insisted that I dance for her first and then she danced for me. I adore the way she's able to keep some of her trademark moves but still dance with abandon. She throws her whole body into it and seems to work through whatever emotional state has inhabited her at the time. I'm able to do that sometimes too. But from her, I'm learning to do it more often. She jumps up and down, swings her head around, and sometimes even contorts her face into several different expressions during the dance. In other words, she really gets into it.

I hope she retains that ability to let it all go when she dances. It's a great way to dance the blues away. She already has a ready made answer to the ups, downs, dissappointments, betrayals, triumphs, and roller coaster ride of live.