Waldorf in the Home

"Honoring Mother Spirit and Our Amazing Spiritual Feminine Gifts"
Keynote by Nancy Poer

We have spiritual gifts as women which we rarely realize or fully treasure. It is just those strengths and gifts these times call for as we face our intense, fear driven, patriarchal, materialistic culture that would sweep away even the sacred space of our homes and replace it with marketplace values and cyber life. This is about reclaiming our sacred power, speaking our truth, and bringing renewed life and light into a world of need.

The L.O.V.E. Approach to Discipline
Workshop by Cynthia Aldinger

Learn about this practical, multi-faceted approach to child guidance based on listening, laughter, order, objectivity, versatility, vulnerability, energy and enthusiasm.

Cynthia is the founder of LifeWays North America, and this popular workshop has been offered throughout the country. The workshop deals primarily with young children, toddlers through age nine.

Life as the Curriculum for Young Children
Workshop by Cynthia Aldinger

What young children really need can be provided through the Living Arts--domestic activity, nurturing care, creative exploration and social ability. Learn how the LifeWays approach takes home as the model and life as the curriculum to transform your experience with young children.

Cynthia is the founder of LifeWays North America, supporting parents and childcare providers in their work with young children (see www.lifewaysnorthamerica.org).

Nurturing Children and Ourselves
Keynote by Cynthia Aldinger

How can we find our way to simplicity in living that supports our own well-being and the well-being of the children we care for and about? How can we do everything we want to do and not exhaust ourselves and our children at the same time? This talk is filled with humor and practical suggestions, including how to handle a TOAD (The Over-Abundance Disease) in your life (hint: you can kiss it or throw it against the wall).

Cynthia is the founder of LifeWays North America, supporting parents and professionals in the vital work of being with young children.

Mothering Our Lively Sons!
Workshop by Janet Allison

Mothering a boy can be exhilarating and exhausting! Understanding the role of biology, testosterone, and environmental stresses means you can help him be his best. Effective language, practical activities and developmental insight can deepen your connection to all the boys and men in your life.

Embracing the Dark: Kali Energy in Life and Spiritual Practice
Workshop by Regina Sara Ryan

When we only look to the sublime and blissful images of the Divine for our consolation, we often fail to recognize the face of the Divine in those experiences and energies that do not fit our limiting stereotypes. However, the fierce and erotic Goddesses such as Kali and Smashan Tara must be approached with tremendous respect, awe, humility and caution. Using stories and the contemplation of sacred images of the Dark Mother, this workshop will provide an opportunity to reflect upon and rekindle our longing for Wholeness--for a deeper appreciation of full-bodied spiritual life and practice.

Becoming Mother--Spirituality, Femininity and Earth Transformation
Keynote by Regina Sara Ryan

Female or male, the task for each conscious human person is to "become Mother." Whether we have physically borne children or not, the knowledge of "mother"--as the one who facilitates birth, nurturance and maturation, and death and renewal--is present in the cells of the body.

Sadly, this knowledge of "Mother" often remains obscured and unavailable to us. We can, however, turn to one another, to the great "Mothers" from the past (women or men), and to the images and understanding of God as Mother to find the inspiration, courage and wisdom to transform our own hearts, to serve our children and families, and to ultimately celebrate and honor the Earth Mother on whom we all depend.

Regina Sara Ryan is the author of The Woman Awake. Feminine Wisdom for Spiritual Life

Mother-Lines of the Spirit
Keynote by Carol Lee Flinders

Biological mother-lines are the channels through which our evolutionary inheritance flows. Spiritual mother-lines come into existence when we take our evolution into our own hands. We will explore how they connect us with mothers, daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters in altogether new ways, and with women we may never meet face to face: a Dorothy Day or Aung San Suu Kyi; a Teresa of Avila or Wangari Maathai. They can render us fearless, resourceful and radiant. Distinct, yet joined like partners in a dance, the mother-lines of body and spirit turn and twine within us like the double helix of our DNA.

I recently read a quote by Rudolf Steiner that I had never seen before (unforunately, the person didn't give the source):
"Let us help children stay young, remember their youth impulses and intentions in adulthood, and find their true identity!"

To me, this covers it all, traveling from early childhood, through teen-age idealism, and into adulthood with the will forces to be who you are and do what you came here to do.

So many forces in our culture work against this, from the push for early academics, to the creating and marketing to the "tween culture" for 8-12 year olds, to the lack of support for teens making the transition into adulthood. When I watch the children at Rainbow Bridge (our LifeWays program in Boulder for 1-5 year olds) I am struck, again and again, by what a rare oasis of childhood and learning-through-play it is in today's world. Lucky kids!

Nielsen, the ratings company, recently reported that kids ages 2 to 5 spend an average of 32 hours a week in front of a screen, outpacing older kids (children 6 to eleven are second, averaging 28 hours a week, with researchers thinking that school keeps them from first place).

Thirty-two hours a week is practically a full-time job! Twenty-eight hours a week is more than a college education. Do we really want our children to be getting a degree in media watching???

Thoughts on the film "Babies"
I recently saw the film "Babies" and highly recommend it! There is a book called Birth in Four Cultures, and this film could be called "birth through walking in four cultures." The filmmakers follow four children, in Namibia, Mongolia, Tokyo and San Francisco.

Some things that jumped off the screen and caused me to ponder:
Namibia:
The baby is worn while the mother works, but once the child has learned to walk, the training shifts: he or she (I forget which) is getting tired. The mother, instead of picking him up, leans down and nurses him standing, for a moment of "I care, and here's a shot of energy," and then continues walking with him (you probably often need to keep walking in this culture. And now we know what long, dangling breasts are good for!).
I was impressed by the health and vigor (of those who survive high infant mortality rates) in a culture that can't shy away from dirt.
The culture of women: the two women seem to be mother and daughter. If so, I wonder about the culture of this tribe, as many women throughout the world must leavve their own women-folk and join their husband's family. The brood of children they tend is probably a mix of both of theirs, as it isn't uncommon for mothers and oldest daughters to be having babies at the same time. The men aren't visible at all--probably off with the older boys and taking care of business. Many interesting questions left unanswered!

Mongolia:
At the end, we see what this family has probably received for their year of troubles: the family in their yurt, gathered around a computer screen.
The brother, perhaps 2-3 years older, takes frequent opportunities to whomp on the baby. Both children often look at at the cameraman as if to say, "Why isn't this adult doing something?"
The two boys play with a bucket of water and make a mess on the floor. The mother returns and the older one skips out, leaving the toddler to take the heat. Because we don't understand the language, we are much like the baby, who doesn't have a clue why this source of all love is suddenly angry and rejecting him.
The relationship to animals: functional and unsentimental. As in Namibia, the slaughtering of a sheep or goat is matter-of-fact, with the mother doing the work while the toddler plays with the innerds.

Tokyo:
What a westernized, hip culture!
The well-known predicament of trying to talk on the phone or do anything while the baby is around.
The role of "classes" in bringing experiences to the children and creating community for the adults.
The frustration of the baby at "play time."

San Francisco:
The emphasis on books.
As in Tokyo, the role of classes.
When the mother sees her baby is occupied in the jumper, she tries to quietly disappear in the kitchen--the 24-hour-a-dayness of it.

If it comes to your area, see it--or catch the Netflix version.