Skip to My Lou (Who is Lou, Anyway?)

I was thinking joy thoughts yesterday while watching the toddlers in my music class learning to skip. Skipping is one of the important life skills that I teach in the class. It's right up there with marching, galloping, waiting your turn and sharing.

Parents think they are signing up for only a music class, but they get much more for their money, including a chance to skip again, because most of us, as adults, have left our skipping days behind us, probably somewhere about the age of junior high.

Kelton loves to skip, but he takes it very seriously. It takes his full concentration to coordinate his young muscles and brain to remember to step first and then hop on that same leg before moving onto the next one. Step-hop. Step-hop. His little forehead is furrowed and his face is solemn. It's a lot to remember when you are only three!

But soon the music of his heartsong takes over and his spindly arms begin swinging to the rhythm. His knobby legs follow the beat as his entire body begins moving with abandon, limbs swinging in time, as he circles the room. Kelton makes my heart smile.

My friend, Nathaniel Dunigan, director and founder of AIDchild, defines skipping as "the perfect interpretive dance for the joy that we feel." Children feel that joy and aren't afraid to express it, when given an environment of acceptance and love. I think as adults it would do our souls good to lay aside our inhibitions occasionally, listen to the inner music, and let our legs start moving. Step-hop. Step-hop. Step-hop.

If you don't remember the joy of skipping, maybe you need to find a young child and have him teach you. Some life skills should not be forgotten.