Did you study anything as a child? An instrument maybe, or a sport? Some of us were lucky as children to be sent off to ballet or football. Some of us might have attended Scouts, others to Guides. Perhaps we had classmates who went to art classes, or tried out for the gymnastics team.
It may not have been quite so common to have spent our Saturdays with the circus, unless we were sitting watching in tents, on ring benches! However, circus is increasingly becoming one of the most popular hobbies on offer, with a significant rise in the pursuit of circus arts in the last ten years. Few of us might have spent our weekends learning to juggle, or indeed to fly. But our children now have more opportunities than ever to do exactly this!
So – why choose CircusMASH? And how might it be of benefit to our children in terms of their social skills development?
Our worlds are drenched in social media posts and the resulting comparison games. It could be argued that this is one of the hardest times to be a child, in terms of social confidence and communication. Playground friendship making has been replaced by ‘friend adding’ and internet chats. But the need for connection hasn’t gone anywhere.
Circus is not a world where the regular is expected. It is not a world where comparison is encouraged. Contrarily, it invites exploration of the unusual, and celebration of the irregular. In this way, our children can have space to breathe, and to explore, while surrounded with others who are doing the same.
This isn’t a space where we are going to be pitting one student against another to ‘build’ their resilience. We build this seedling power through peer to peer encouragement practice – along with quite a bit of strength training!
At CircusMASH we build these values into all that we do. We believe strongly in the positive effects of integrating skills levels and disciplines with a variety of young learners. Discipline and technique is vital to development. But equally so is the experience of overcoming fears and self doubt through being around others who encourage an individual past them.
Children today have quite enough pressure in their classrooms and on their computers. At CircusMASH we bear witness everyday to the positive changes in our youth community, who continue to amaze us with the friendships they develop and the confidence we see growing within them as they journey forwards using circus as a mode to do so.
Perhaps it isn’t just a case of what we can teach our children, but what they might teach us. Now there’s a thought…
https://circusmash.co.uk/kids-classes/
For further information on youth classes, drop us an e-mail!
www.circusmash.co.uk | 0121 439 2530 | info@circusmash.co.uk