“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity” – Simone Weil Our capacity for attention evolves as we grow from baby, to young child, to teen, to adult, to elder. It is one of the unique gifts of being human – our flexibility in how we can attend to the world around us, ourselves […]
Parenting
Seeing Myself in the World – the importance of dolls in Waldorf Early Childhood education settings
“Shhhh…. The babies are sleeping! Now it’s time to wake up and eatyour breakfast…” The busy work of looking after the dolls has begun. Serious work for the child that requires the caring “parent” to be vigilant, empathetic and engaged. As a teacher I feel that I am a witness to something sacred and precious. […]
Sensing our life
The original concept of five senses has been expanded to include proprioception (sense of movement) and the vestibular sense (sense of balance). But there is one more that is recognized that is important to consider in the early years and that is INTEROCEPTION, or a sense of life. This sense refers to our perception of […]
Cleaning as Blessing
Home making involves a lot of time spent on cleaning and caring. We clean our houses, our clothes, our cars, our food, our bodies and help our children care for their bodies. We care for the environment, the home and our family through our cleaning activities. Sometimes it seems like a never-ending treadmill! Cleaning has […]
Caring
Care moments with your baby are the most important times for building relationships. This is a time to enjoy each other and learn together! Care moments include feeding, diapering, bathing, changing clothes. I will focus here on diapering and dressing your baby. When you dress or undress your baby you are caring for his/her wellbeing. […]
Moving to learn
Support your child’s unfolding learning by encouraging them to move! How does movement help development in these early days? The baby is born into gravity, into a relationship to the earth. This relationship is what they have come here for! During this first year it is helpful to allow the baby to explore gravity and […]
Nourishing your family
When we think of nourishment we think of food. This plays a big role in family life! How can we make this a joyful part of our daily routine? A good question to ask yourself is What do you enjoy about mealtimes? Some people enjoy cooking, others enjoy the artistic aspects of presentation of the […]
Incarnating
The spiritual child begins to make their body their home. This is the process of incarnating – coming into the body. How do we support the body’s growth and wellbeing during these early days and years? Two things are important: rhythm and warmth. In this article I will focus on warmth. It is most important […]
Connecting
From the beginning (and probably even before conception) you have a relationship with your child and the most healthy relationships are those that are RECIPROCAL. When both parent and child contribute and are openly receptive a wonderful flowing bridge can be created. On the one hand this means that both feel seen, recognized and appreciated. […]
Birthing
When you are pregnant you stand on the threshold between the earthly and spiritual worlds. You are the doorway for a new soul to enter earthly life. A ceremony to bless the mother can help and support this rite of passage, usually a circle of women who will stand with and around you and the […]
The Path to Birth
What happens before we are born into our body? The spiritual path to birth is a complex and wonderful journey. It is helpful to our incarnating child to live into pictures of this starry world in a dreamlike way. As adults we can feel constricted by our everyday consciousness, however it is good to remember […]