Waldorf in the Home

Welcome to my blog, for parents who want to bring more Waldorf principles into your homes, either to enrich family life or for home schooling.

Right now I'm excited to have finished the 3rd revised edition of You Are Child's First Teacher, which will be out this coming summer (2012); in the meantime the 2nd edition is still available from our online store as a resource for parents of children from birth through age six. Please comment or send questions with the Contact Tab--I'd love to hear from you!

A mother asked about why Waldorf waits until first grade to teach the letters.
Rahima replies:
In the Waldorf approach, reading and writing are introduced in first grade, starting with the letters; then children learn to read at the end of first grade, from what they have written. The letters are introduced imaginatively, through a story and a drawing in which the letter can be found in one of the figures that starts with that sound (for example, the letter "k" might be illustrated by a King who is standing sideways, with scepter raised, blessing his subjects.). [See the DVD of Kelly Morrow teaching "Teaching Reading and Writing the Waldorf Way."]

While this imaginative approach starts out a bit more slowly in first grade, it ensures that the children really understand writing and then reading, and it helps keep the love of reading alive for them throughout elementary school. (Children go from proudly reading what they have written to reading real books, not things that have been digested and "dumbed down" for beginning readers).

While it is important to nourish children's sense of anticipation for when they will learn to read, Steiner cautioned against sitting the young child down and providing lessons (and no worksheets or testing!). This is because the energy that is used for memory and intellectual work is the same energy that is needed in the early years for the healthy development of the body.

Our tendency to teach "more, sooner" is not necessarily what children need! I always wondered how children in pioneer days could start reading at age 10, and be reading the King James Version of the Bible! It turns out they hadn't missed anything by not having years of "Dick and Jane" or "Hop on Pop." The ability to read depends on several dimensions of maturity. Waiting until first grade is a real blessing for your children because it also provides them another couple of magical years of early childhood. Neuroscientists like Jane Healy have documents that the change in brain development around the age of seven is real; teaching reading before that isn't doing your child any service.

I wrote this article to describes the developmental changes of the nine-year-old child and how parents and Waldorf education meet this psychological stage. It first appeared in Motheringmagazine.
For further information we also offer a CD of a workshop by Daena Ross on "The Nine-Year Change: Leaving the Garden." Click here to see more information.

Parenting the Nine Year Old
by Rahima Baldwin Dancy

Parents of nine year olds often wonder, "What is happening to my child?" Children at this age can become very critical and argumentative, or very moody and withdrawn. Nightmares, irrational fears, headaches and stomachaches often arise. Some children feel as if no one at school likes them, or others become suddenly self-conscious about being rich, poor, or otherwise "different." Parents may be accused of being unfair or of not understanding, as the child rushes off and slams his or her door.

Searching for an explanation for the changes in behavior, parents sometimes blame a new teacher, a recent move, changes in the family such as separation or the birth of a sibling, or simply "growing pains". An understanding of what is actually taking place can help us avoid needless worry and provide the support and guidance that children need during this time.

What is Happening?
The special needs of the nine year old are the result of an important change in consciousness that marks the end of early childhood and the transition to a new developmental phase. Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education, states, "In the ninth year the child really experiences a complete transformation of its being, which indicates an important transformation of its soul-life and its bodily-physical experiences."

Earlier, before the age of five or so, the child has a dreamlike state of consciousness in which the outer world and inner experience end to flow together. Outer events are not "observed," but are deeply taken in through unconscious imitation. Whereas babies learn nearly everything through imitation, kindergarten-age children continue to imitate many aspects of their world, such as the movements of the teacher or parent.

While the power of imitation is so strong, the child feels united with the world and experiences no sense of aloneness. But with the loss of this power around the age of nine, the child feels separated from the world. Something that was hidden and slumbering begins to awaken. Nine year olds suddenly have a strong experience of themselves as separate beings, with a new feeling of distance from the world and other people. This sense of self, first experienced around age two-and-a-half, recurs now in a much deeper way, as the inner emotional life of the child begins to develop.

Although children react differently to leaving the sweet, dreamlike world of early childhood, one response is nearly universal: children become more conscious of their surroundings. You will probably find that what was once passed by unnoticed is suddenly focused on and questioned. This awakening to the world may be met with quiet astonishment or sharp criticism, depending on the child's temperament.

A critical child may notice whether the statements people make are grounded in the real world or are a veneer. He or she may begin to question parents and teachers, wondering, "How do they know everything?" and, indeed, "Do they really know everything?" Something in the child is seeking reassurance that the authority of the adult will stand the test of quality, and that it carries an inner certainty.

In contrast, another child may become more withdrawn and start to look under the bed at night, or may have frequent stomachaches in response to this new sense of being alone. Parents whose children suddenly want to be alone often feel as if they are "losing" their children, as if the children no longer want to share their developing inner worlds. This is a time when intimations of mortality and death can enter a child's consciousness. Religious questions and concerns about good and evil may also emerge with the child's increased self-awareness and sense of choice and responsibility.

Usually, within six months after the ninth birthday (and sometimes earlier), the children are profoundly aware of this new sense of separateness between the self and the outer world. As the "I" penetrates into awareness, children begin to experience themselves as self-contained beings. The often feel as though they are in a threshold situation, poised, as it were, on the cusp of their own destiny. A 70-year-old woman wrote of this time in her life: "In this year I had a significant I-experience. I had just come from school in the city and had to change trams. In this moment of waiting, the complete certainty came to me that now all of life lay before me and that I was the one that must travel it.

Essentially, the nine year old is experiencing his or her own identity-to become a separate individuality, able to confront the outer world. Ideally, the child comes through this difficult time with a sense of connection with his or her higher self, a kind of "knowing" that will remain even after the heightened awareness is integrated.

My son spent many difficult months in the throes of "the nine-year change." One night, as he popped out of bed for the third time, I had to muster great self-control to say, "What now?" "I'm glad I'm me!" he announced, radiating like the sun. He went on to explain, "It's just like the song "The Age of Not Believing." The words of the Disney song ran through my mind: "You must face the age of not believing, doubting everything you ever knew. Until at last you start believing, there's something wonderful in you." We all shared in his joy and thanked God that family life could once again return to normal.

Parenting Tips
What can parents do to help their child through this important turning point at age nine?
- Understanding what is happening will help both your child and yourself as a parent. When both parents, or parents together with the teacher, consider a child and his real needs, it can help give the child balance. Be patient-- this, too, shall pass. Ten is a wonderfully harmonious time between the crisis at age nine and adolescence, when the next intensifying of self-consciousness occurs.
- Be willing to let your child have her own inner emotional life. You can't "fix it." Honor her need for privacy or her sudden impatience with a younger sister. Be willing to let go and tolerate distance. Your relationship is changing and will improve again once alterations have been completed. Be nearby with understanding and reassurance that she is still loved.
- Share your thoughts with your child about things that go beyond the every-day affairs of life. But don't limit your child by providing "answers" or definitions that can't grow within the child when asked about things like God or death.
- Have faith in self-healing, in your child's ability to come through this phase. Support individual artistic activity that attracts your child (writing poetry, keeping a diary, drawing or painting, music).
- Support your child's interest in the world by providing opportunities to build things, visit a farm, plant a garden, do work in the real world. Encourage a connection with the plant and animal kingdoms and with simple human creative activities now before the child explores the world of technology, which is more appropriate for adolescence.
- Nourish your child with stories that illustrate the interconnectedness of life and the powers of fate and destiny. The story of Joseph and his coat of many colors has this element of the dream heralding his destiny and the patience he needed to see it manifest. In the curriculum of the Waldorf schools, the Old Testament stories are .told in third grade because they mirror 2- the inner state of the nine-year-old child. The creation story, for example, describes the child's own experience of leaving the paradisiacal realm of early childhood, acquiring new self-awareness, and with it the added dimensions of choice and increasing responsibility for one's actions. In fourth grade the heroic tales of the Norse myths represent the exploits of the new ego in larger- than-life fashion. The Waldorf curriculum also introduces the child to the world through projects in house-building, farming, and the study of the plant and animal kingdoms, not as abstract sciences, but in relation to the human being.
- Recognize that the child needs to establish a new respect for adult authority that goes beyond the blind acceptance of the younger child. Parents can encourage this by honoring a child's new relationship with a teacher or other adults in his life. Steiner states, "What matters is that at this moment in life, the child can find someone--whether this be one person or possibly several persons is of less importance--whose picture it can carry through life."(3) Parents can also help themselves be this kind of authority by presenting a united front to the child and by both sitting down with the child when questions of discipline arise (single parents may want to bring in a teacher or other adult during this time).

The magnitude of the changes that a child of this age is going through can be better understood if you contemplate the differences between the child of seven and the child of twelve. The seven year old is light-hearted and always in movement. The limbs are active for learning (through touching, doing, walking the times tables, and so forth). In contrast, the head is relatively large and still dreamy. The seven year old is just beginning to get adult teeth. His or her emotions are easily influenced by impressions from the world, with tears changing to smiles relatively easily.

The twelve year old, on the other hand, has a head that is very awake for thinking and longer limbs which seem heavy, tired, and often awkward to control. There is a rich and sometimes over-powering inner emotional life; the older child brings a great deal more to each experience. Physically, the sexual organs are beginning to mature as the child enters puberty.

The nine-year-old is in the middle between the world of early childhood and the world of adolescence. The physical and emotional changes which you may observe in your nine-year-old child are the outer manifestations of the tremendous change in consciousness which is going on within the child's expanding inner world. By understanding the nature of these changes, we can better provide support in parenting the nine year old.

Awakening to the world and a new sense of self brings with it a new need: to understand the real world of everyday life, while at the same time long for intimations of something beyond ordinary life. As parents and teachers, our task is to become loving authorities for the growing child, sharing both a true picture of the world and a sense of our own inner striving.

Notes
1. Quoted in Hermann Koepke, Das neunte Lebensjahr (Dornach, Switzerland: Philosophisch-Anthroposophischer Verlag, 1983), p. 41.
2. Ibid., pp. 32-33.
3. Rudolf Steiner, Soul Economy and Waldorf Education (Spring Valley, NY: Anthroposophic Press, 1986), p. 167.

For More Information
Branston, Brian. Gods & Heroes from Viking Mythology. New York: Schocken,1982.
Colum, Padraic. The Children of Odin: The Book of Northern Myths. New York: Macmillan, 1984.
Crossley-Holland, Kevin. The Norse Myths. New York: Pantheon, 1981.
de Paola, Tomie. Parables of Jesus. New York: Holiday House, 1987.
Horn, Geoffrey, and Arthur Cavanaugh. Bible Stories for Children. New York: Macmillan, 1980.
Stoddard, Sandol. The Doubleday Illustrated Children's Bible. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1983.
Wilkinson, Roy. Old Testament Stories and Commentary on the Old Testament Stories. Available from Rudolf Steiner College Bookstore.

[This article is copyright 2012 by Rahima Baldwin Dancy and may be reproduced in full as a handout if reference is given to www.waldorfinthehome.org]

When Rudolf Steiner described something in 1909, it can sound as if it's coming from left field: for example, that for the young child, love, "pleasure and delight are the forces which most rightly quicken and call forth the physical forms of the organs."

What does that mean? And then, as with so much leading edge brain imaging today, we hear something that sounds remarkably similar: that the young child's brain is actually measurably different depending upon how much loving nurturing he or she receives.

In this latest research, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that when young children get plenty of nurturing from their mothers, they end up with a bigger hippocampus in the brain by the time they reach school age. The hippocampus is an importnat structure related to learning, memory and stress response.

It's an interesting study, whick you can read more about at medicalxpress.com; the research was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.
Here's more from Steiner:
"The joy of the child in and with his environment must be reckoned among the forces that build and mould the physical organs. He needs people around him with happy looks and manners and, above all, with an honest unaffected love. A love which fills the physical environment of the child with warmth may literally be said to "hatch out" the forms of the physical organs. The child who lives in such an atmosphere of love and warmth and who has around him really good examples for his imitation is living in his right element. One should therefore strictly guard against anything being done in the child's presence that he must not imitate."

The number of homebirths reached its highest level since researchers began collecting data 20 years ago. After declining from 1990 to 2004, the percentage of US births that occurred at home rose 29% from 2004 to 2009.

The research was released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. The numbers are still small--in 2009, 29,650 births, or .72 percent of all births, occurred at home. However, the increase is a rapid change in direction, after declining for 15 years. Home births tend to be more common among non-Hispanic white women who are 35 and older and among women with several previous children.

I would imagine one contributing factor was the debut of the film "The Business of Being Born" in 2008 (by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein). This film by a noted television celebrity addressed today's young professionals who are having babies and presented options in a contemporary way. It engendered enough interest at the time to get the attention of the AMA and motivate them to launch another attack on homebirth. in the meantime, women love it, and Lake and Epsteiner have produced another film "More Business of Being Born" about birth options (released November, 2011). The films can be purchased for download or you can learn more on their website, www.businessofbeingborn.com.

I've written a long segment in First Teacher on how to select stories to tell with younger children--they especially like simple stories with repetition, like "The Gingerbread Boy" or "The Three Little Pigs." But what about sharing longer stories, especially if you have a mixed-age group?
Our group of 1- to 5-year-olds is a younger mix this year, so when I first told "The Snow Maiden" after Christmas break, I was losing them. Even using the adaptation by Bronja Zahligen in the WECAN book Plays for Puppets, this is still a fairly complex Russian tale.

When I found the first day that I wasn't holding their attention, I stopped right away and said, "And tomorrow I'll tell you what happened when...." The next day I condensed what I had told them up to then and continued in a different style, basically changing the "Waldorf ideal" of "relating what you are seeing in a very melodic voice" to being much more conversational. By being more conversational in tone--talking directly to them and being less dreamy and descriptive--I found they stayed with me. Now, having told the story every day for two weeks, I 'm doing the puppet play and find I can be much more lyrical when they have the images in front of them and are already familiar with the songs and story.
With the mixed ages, we sit in a circle with 12 children and 3 adults, and the littlest ones (under two years of age) sit on our laps--they're clearly not tracking, but they stay with us. I insist that the other children sit up because once one lies down everything is lost. But, in general stories are very successful: the older ones still like the simpler stories, and the younger ones are (usually!) carried by the group when I'm telling an story for older children.
Another example: I wanted to tell the Rapunzel story for the older children, so I decided to do it at the lunch table. This is a great time for stories because the younger ones are occupied with their food. But, even with the help of being at the table, I simplified the story to start with "Once upon a time there was a girl named Rapunzel" and then went back to her mother's craving for rapunzel (a type of lettuce, rampion) and the promise the father had made to the witch, rather than being completely chronlogical in the story. The reason this was simpler was because I was "talking" to them rather than relating a dreamy tale that went on and on.
In addition to telling fairy tales and simple children's stories, I also continue a tradition that y daughter Faith started two years ago: telling a story about "Pirate Jack" during snack (it always starts the same way, and then tells Jack's adventures discovering distant lands, treasure and foods). Or a story about the adventures of Mauwie the Cat. They still love these ongoing stories and ask for them.
What do you find telling stories for children of mixed-ages. Be adventurous--the children will let you know what works and what doesn't!

[Note: LifeWays offers a video of putting children down for nap in a childcare setting.]

It's always nice when science and academia support what we already know: toddlers need naps! A recent study at the University of Colorado showed that missing just one nap can cause toddlers to be more anxious and frustrated when faced with a challenge. Children in the study were 2-1/2 to 3 years old, and missing just 90 minutes of sleep brought similar results to what adults experience when they pull an all-nighter.

The researchers videotaped the expressions of toddlers given two different kinds of simple puzzles--one had all the correct pieces, but the other was insolvable, with a piece that wouldn't fit. They found that sleep-deprived toddlers were less likely to act confused--an adaptive emotion that signals an understanding that something is not right--and more likely to show no emotion or to become frustrated.

"If you have a problem, let's say you can't find your way and you're lost, the response is confusion, and that's a good thing," Monique LeBourgeois, leader of the study said in the article. "When (toddlers) don't get enough sleep -- in this case from a nap--they don't show that response. What they show instead is a flat response or a neutral response--they're just blank--or they show more anxiety."

This study is being published in the Journal of Sleep Research; to read the full article, see the Boulder Daily Camera from Jan. 4 2012. LeBourgeois is now recruiting 40 toddlers born between March 2009 and October 2011 to study how sleep restriction may affect emotions and cognitive abilities; the study will take place over four years.

The children at Rainbow Bridge felted wool coverings for bars of soap--making "soap in a sweater"--as presents for their parents. It becomes soap and washcloth in one, and works best with a soap dish in which it can drain. We used Ivory soap, wool roving for the first layer, and colored wool for the outer layer. Here's a picture of them unwrapping the soap when the felting process was finished.

To make your own, here is what you will need:

• Bars of soap. We use Ivory, but scented or rounded soap works well, too.
• Wool roving.  Wrap the soap with three layers of wool roving (we used white, but colored wool would also work). Wrap in alternating directions.
• Colored wool: then let the children add thin layers to form a beautiful package.
• Sections of pantyhose, tied at one end. You'll need to help them put it inside and pull it tight, tying off both ends. 
• Tubs of water, as warm as the children will use. Use a few drops of dish soap (optional) and lather up a bar; let a child play with one as long as possible to felt the fibers. Depending on the age and energy of the child, you may need to rework this yourself so the fibers tighten around the soap and felt together 10-15 minutes?).

• Rinse and let air dry. Drying can take a couple of days, depending on the weather. 
• Remove from the stocking, and voila!

I was recently interviewed by folks from Michele Obama's initiative for preschools, called "Let's Move!" As part of her program to overcome obesity in children, one of the key points of Let's Move! is limiting screen time. They were interviewing in-home providers who have been succesful in limiting screen time or those that are screen free.

Children want to be in movement. Never having had "screens" as part of our LifeWays/Waldorf program for 1-5 year olds, I had to think about what makes it possible--the differences with conventional programs. Here are some of the key points that make for an enriched program:
~ We are set up for free play--everything invites the children's imaginative play.
~ This makes it easy to do focused activities with smaller groups.
~ We have two 45-minute periods of outside play, which includes not only large-motor activities, but things like gardening, walks, moving wood, and so forth.
~ LifeWays' emphasis on including the children in "The Living Arts" means that they help with food preparation, setting and clearning the table, doing the dishes, folding the laundray, and so forth. We're not trying to "buy time" in which to get things done.
~ There is a dynamic rhythm and daily schedule that breathes with the children.Long periods of movement (free play or outside time) are punctuated by shorter periods of sitting at the table or listening to a story. Activities such as movement game circles are half-way in between--moving, but requiring the children to focus on what we're doing.

When the American Academy of Pediatricians recommended no screen time for children under 2 years of age and limited time for preschoolers, they got a lot of flack from parents who "needed" the time that it bought them. I think this is because they are trying to "on" all the time, entertaining their children. A real key is involving the children in The Living Arts, which include nurturing, domestic, creative and social activities--the stuff of everyday life. I was glad to hear that this government agency was also working to help childcare providers (and parents) limit screen time!

Eight principles for inspired parenting:

1. We need to accept who we are and build up the support we need.

2. We need fathers to be actively involved with children.

3. We need a true understanding of children and their world.

4. We need to trust the natural process of development and not interfere with it.

5. We need to trust ourselves and our children and to let go of guilt.

6. We need to trust our children as individuals.

7. We need to value our parenting.

8. We need to value our home making.

Cynthia Aldinger has contributed many articles to this blog. She is the founder and Director of LifeWays North America and worked for many years as a Waldorf early childhood and parenting educator. She writes:

When I was pregnant with my firstborn son about three decades ago, I developed a passion for learning all I could about Waldorf education and child development. When he and his brother were 9 and 7 years old, his father and I had the privilege of moving to Sussex, England where I completed my Waldorf teacher training at Emerson College.

Since then I have been involved professionally in Waldorf, first as the founding teacher of Prairie Hill Waldorf School in Wisconsin and now as Executive Director of LifeWays North America. You can learn more about LifeWays at www.lifewaysnorthamerica.org. I also served on the Board of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America for fourteen years.

I loved being a kindergarten teacher--especially the nature walks, the stories and the festivals. However, when I was on my sabbatical in England, a good friend, a successful businessman, asked me one of those life-changing questions. The question: "What are you going to do about child care?" He and a number of his business acquaintances were concerned about the quality of child care in Great Britain and the States, feeling that childhood itself was at stake. They felt there was too much emphasis on formal learning and not enough on quality of life and practical life skills.

In 1998, with the help of many individuals, I opened the first LifeWays Child Care Center in East Troy, Wisconsin, supporting families who needed care for their children from three months to six years old. I also began laying the groundwork for the development of a LifeWays training for parents, grandparents, child care providers, parent educators and preschool teachers. Since that time LifeWays has grown in response to the tremendous need for support for childcare providers and for parents.

In 2000, I moved with my husband back to my birth State of Oklahoma and became an active LifeWays consultant, traveling throughout North America and abroad. We now have trainings in six locations. Recently, I was blessed by the opportunity to live with my parents and my grandmother who is 104. Having the chance to help with the care of my grandmother reminded me of the importance of having predictable routines and rhythms in daily life. They provide a sense of security to both young children and the elderly. In many ways, it truly is the simple things in life that count!

A regular lifestyle, like the pattern of life in the womb, offers a stable environment during the rapid growth and changes in rhythm of the body during childhood. Children provided with this regular life feel confident about their world and are not concerned by uncertainty about when the next thing will happen. Rhythm in home life can also help to calm a nervous or difficult child by turning the child's life into a series of events in which he participates, and from which he gains a new sense of security and competency.

Regular mealtimes and regular nap- and bedtimes help to start orienting the child to a natural feeling for the passing of time. They go a long way toward preventing discipline problems, because bedtimes become something that happen as regularly as the sky turning dark--there is no one to argue with or complain to each night.

Elizabeth Grunelius, the teacher in the first Waldorf kindergarten, summarizes, "The rhythm then becomes a habit, is accepted as self-evident and will eliminate many difficulties, struggles and arguments about eating and going to bed. . . . Regularity should prevail in as many of the child's daily activities as possible. It is the key to establishing good habits for life." (from her book, Early Childhood Education and the Waldorf School Plan).

Rhythm is also a blessing for parents, because it enables the daily activity of life to flow more smoothly, require less energy, and become a platform that supports the family, its activities, and interactions. Many mothers don't discover the secrets of rhythm until they have two or more children, and suddenly there isn't enough time not to be organized! Regular meals prevent constant feeding and cleaning up or over-hungry and whiny children; regular bedtimes suddenly free the evening for adult conversation and life again as a couple. The benefits are many, and yet it is often difficult to create rhythm in family life--it requires an inner discipline of its own!

Creating rhythm in one's life doesn't mean being rigid and dogmatic. There is still plenty of room for special activities and surprises (and sometimes the piper to pay the next day when the child has missed a needed nap or had a late, exciting evening--but it's worth it!). But freedom is not without form, and one is truly free when not hampered by a disorganized life. The rhythmic structure imposed on a young child and permeated with the parents' love is a discipline in the most positive sense of the word. And as your children become older, they will transform this outer structure into an inner self-discipline that will be invaluable for homework and getting other jobs done. Putting attention into these areas can help the quality of life for both you and your children from the time they are toddlers until they leave home.

Helle Heckman, the founder of Nokken in Denmark, states: "Everyday chores and rhythms of the day can be the same though a child's first seven years. As a child grows, and because it grows, it will get a more nuanced experience of its surroundings. Therefore, a one-year-old and a seven-year-old will look at everyday life very differently, even if they live in the exact same surroundings. They grow into life and notice how the world becomes larger and larger, but the world becomes larger in a recognizable way. It creates security for children to find out how life affects them if they can do it by themselves and in their own tempo. Children need to seize the world before they can understand it." See the full article.

We are pleased to announce that a revised and updated edition of You are Your Child's First Teacher will be available in the summer of 2012. (The second edition--with the pink cover--will still be available until then). 

In the third edition I've updated all the references (including web addresses) and added two chapters that have grown out of my work with parents and with LifeWays over the past five years.  The new chapters are on "Home Life as the Basis for All Learning" and "Rhythm in Home Life."

I'm excited that the editors at Celestial Arts contacted me to do a new edition at a time when I had been working with 1-5 year olds and their families through Rainbow Bridge LifeWays Program in Boulder. I'm excited about reaching an expanded audience with this new version!

Check out the new table of contents:

CHAPTER 1

You Are Your Child's First Teacher

~ A Unique Opportunity ~ Parents' Dilemma Today ~ Cultural Dilemmas ~ Lack of Support for Mothering ~     A Way of Seeing Children's Development: Children Are Not Tiny Adults! ~ The Child's Changing Consciousness ~ Whose Consciousness Is Changing? ~ Our Task as First Teachers ~ Trusting Ourselves ~ Recommended Resources ~

CHAPTER 2

Home Life as the Basis for All Learning

~ Having an Adult Life to Imitate ~ "Homemaking 101 for Busy Parents" ~ Life as the Curriculum for the Young Child ~ Four Levels of Home Life ~ Resources on Conscious Home Making ~               

CHAPTER 3

Growing Down and Waking Up

~ Growing into the Body ~ What Is Your Baby Like Between Six Weeks and Eight Months of Age? ~ Learning to Walk ~ The Second Year: Mastering Language ~ The Emergence of Thinking ~ Stimulating and Protecting the Young Child's Senses ~ The Emerging Sense of Self ~ Recommended Reading

CHAPTER 4

Helping Your Baby's Development in the First Year

~ Who Is This "Intimate Stranger?" ~ The Sensitivity of the Newborn ~ What Is It Like Being with a Newborn? ~ What Is It Like from Months 2-12? ~ Physical Development ~ The Development of Intelligence ~ The Development of Intelligence ~ Toys for the First Year ~ Recommended  Resources ~

CHAPTER    5

Helping Your Toddler's Development

~ Encouraging Balanced Development ~ De ing with Negative Behavior ~ Encouraging the Development of Language and Understanding ~ The Beginnings of Imaginative Play ~ Providing a Rich Environment for Your Toddler ~ Toys and Equipment ~ Recommended Resources

CHAPTER 6

Rhythm in Home Life          

~ Creating Rhythm in Daily Life ~ The Rhythm of the Week ~ The Rhythm of the Year ~ Celebrating Festivals and the Course of the Year ~ Celebrating Birthdays ~ Recommended Resources ~

CHAPTER 7

Discipline and Other Parenting Issues

~ The Question of Discipline ~ Why Does Parenting Take So Much Energy? ~ Can You Work toward Rhythm with an Infant? ~ What About Weaning? ~ Crying Babies ~ What About Going Back to Work? ~ What About Immunizations? ~ Do the Toddler's Senses Still Need Protecting? ~ What Makes Children So Different from One Another? ~ Toilet Training ~ Separation Anxiety and "Helicopter Parenting" ~ Cabin Fever ~ Recommended Resources ~

CHAPTER 8

Nourishing Your Child's Imagination and Creative Play

~ Three Stages of Play ~ Experiencing the World Through Play ~ The Importance of Play ~ Ways to Encourage Your Child's Creative Play ~ Nourishing Your Child's Imagination through Stories ~ Recommended Resources ~

CHAPTER 9

Developing Your Child's Artistic Ability: Coloring, Painting and Beeswax Modeling

~ Understanding Children's Drawings and Development ~ The Experience of Color ~ Watercolor Painting with Young Children ~ Metamorphosis in Later Stages of Life ~ Modeling with Beeswax ~  Making Things with Your Children ~ Freeing Your Own Inner Artist ~ Recommended Resources ~

CHAPTER 10

Your Child's Musical Ability: Songs, Nursery Rhymes and         Circle Games

~ Make a Joyful Noise ~ Music and Cognitive Development ~ Singing with Your Child ~ Movement Games and Fingerplays ~ Pentatonic Music and the "Mood of the Fifth" ~ What About Music and Dance Lessons? ~

CHAPTER 11

Cognitive Development and Early Childhood Education

~ Academic vs. Play-Based Approaches ~ Why Not Introduce Academics Early? ~ The Value of Preschool ~ Evaluating Early Childhood Programs ~ LifeWays and Waldorf Early Childhood Programs ~ LifeWays and Waldorf in the Home ~  The Value of Mixed-Age Programs ~ When Is Your Child Ready for First Grade? ~ What Happens Around Age Seven? ~ Beginning Academic Work: The Waldorf Approach ~ What About the Advanced or Gifted Child? ~ Recommended Resources ~

CHAPTER 12

More Parenting Issues

~ Preparation for Life ~ Computers ~ Balanced Development ~ Television ~ Toys ~ Video Games ~ Immunizations and Childhood Illnesses ~ The Sick Child ~ Religion and Young Children ~ Conscious Parenting ~ Recommended Resources ~

Igniting the Inner Life
Book by Regina Sara Ryan
The inner life is the intrinsic spiritual dimension of existence. To ignite it is to make a pilgrimage within--to move from "out there" to "in here" in the orientation of life, work, choices and relationships. This book is immensely practical and is directed to anyone with a focus on spirituality, self-understanding, contemplative prayer, God or the awakening of the heart's knowledge regardless of the religious tradition they follow.

Regina has been a keynote speaker at our conference on "Mothering and Spirituality" and led a teleseminar with us around the chapters of her book The Woman Awake. She will be a featured presented, along with Rahima Baldwin Dancy at a workshop in February, 2011 on "Igniting the Inner Life through Parenting."
From the table of contents of Igniting the Inner Life:
• Love in the Time of Terror
• The Inner Life
• Self Observation, First and Always
• The Prayer Alternative
• The Art of the Heart
• Barriers to the Inner Life
• Pilgrimage and the Inner Life
• Kill Your Darlings--On Attachments
• Broken, Everything
• Practices and Prayers

Home Away from Home. LifeWays Care of Children and Families
Book by Cynthia Aldinger and Mary O'Connell

Have you heard about LifeWays and want to learn more? The LifeWays approach to childcare could--and should--revolutionize childcare in North America. LifeWays, founded by Cynthia Aldinger and based on the work of Rudolf Steiner and others, fosters relationship-based care that takes home as the model. Children in mixed-age groups stay with the same care giver from infancy through age 5, providing the continuity and caring of an extended family unit. This approach is adaptable to large centers, such as those run by Mary O'Connell in Wisconsin, as well as to small, in-home programs. Because it is based on what children need for healthy development, it also provides many valuable insights for parents.

Home Away from Home describes the many nurturing elements of LifeWays programs, including the Living Arts, creating a rich environment, and creating daily and weekly rhythms. Practical aspects of LifeWays training and opening an in-home program or even a center are also considered in detail.

Anyone involved in the care of young children should read this book--it is clearly written, well illustrated with photos, and holds the reader's interest throughout. Chapters include:
1. What is LifeWays Child Care?
2. The Many Faces of LifeWays
3. Other Facets of LifeWays (playgroups, forest kindergarten, preschool and parenting)
4. Home Away from Home--Rhythms, Routines and the Living Arts
5. Finding Your Colleagues
6. Protection: The Safety and Health of Children in Relationship-based Care
7. Creating Your Community of Care
8. Regulatory Bodies and Professional Support
9. Business Questions
10. Supporting You in Your Work--LifeWays North America

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.

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???

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!

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.