Yesterday I dreamt that all humans become giraffes just like us and that they tell how they are doing and care how others are doing. I dreamt that we no longer hurt each other, laugh at each other or take things away from each other. In my dream, children in a kindergarten learned to speak and act like giraffes. They say what they need and listen to what the other one needs. Together they look for solutions so that everyone is well. Do you want to be with the group of children I saw in my dream?
Mama Giraffe
 

The Giraffe's Dream

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"Mama, we have a baby giraffe in our group!" With these words, Lisa welcomes her mum, when she is picking up her daughter from the kindergarten on Monday afternoon. "She's alone, but we all take care of her."
The teachers of the kindergarten began to implement the Giraffe-Dream Project. Together with the baby giraffe, the children will learn for the next 10 days  the so-called "giraffe language". The aim is to express yourself honestly, by describing what they have seen, to talk about their feelings and needs, and finally express concrete requests.
At the end of the first part of the project, the mother giraffe will come to the kindergarten and will tell the kids of her dream: "In my dream, children will have learned, to say what they need and to hear what the other needs. They look for solutions together, so it all goes well. "
In the following weeks, the teachers work with the kids on empathy and changing the perspective, mediation, conflict solution and living democracy in kindergarten.
In a lot of German and other European kindergartens, the non-violent communication has now become an integral part of the educational concept. Through parenting workshops also parents were are getting involved in this process and the giraffes are an indispensable part of the group.
The Giraffe-Dream Project is based on Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg.
The aim is to provide educational objectives, like:
    • to strengthen the self-confidence and resilience of the children, especially for stress and crisis situations,
    • the ability to communicate, to empathize and to interact in social groups
    • to promote conflict resolution skills and mediation.
    • In addition, it promotes language skills and empathy.
Quote from the Bavarian curriculum of education:
In the kindergartens, the children learn the ability to empathize with other people, to get an idea of ​​their motivations and feelings and to understand their actions. At the same time, the children learn to check their observations in conversation with the counterpart. Conflicts for example offer occasions for learning empathy - particularly when children who are not part of the conflict are asked for their opinion of the reasons, the motives of the conflict parties and their current experience.
The project follows a holistic approach: The educational staff is trained to be familiar with the basic principles of Nonviolent Communication. This was followed by the work with the children, on the basis of a predetermined outline drafted, the teachers perform independently. Parallel parenting courses are offered in order to bring these on board. While NVC is established in the kindergarten, trainers will accompany the teachers.
Meanwhile, hundreds of  kindergartens in the German-speaking countries have implemented this project and countless others engaged in the NVC. Nonviolent communication is introduced to the training for teachers and social workers, students, psychologists, .... The baby giraffe also went to Korea, Poland, The Netherlands, Spain, France, USA, Czech Republic, Belgium.
I'm excited to see where the giraffes go next!