Daily Archives: April 2, 2009

Your Super Seven-Year- Old: Traditional and Anthroposophical Viewpoints, Part One

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We spent four posts looking at the six-year old, the six/seven year old transformation and the “how’s” of doing Waldorf Kindergarten, specifically the six-year old year, at home. If you missed those posts, here is your chance to go back and read them here:

https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/23/the-six-year-old-waldorf-kindergarten-year-at-home/

https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/20/the-six-year-old-an-anthroposophical-view/

https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/18/the-snazzy-six-year-old/

https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/23/peaceful-living-with-the-six-year-old/

There is also this one about understanding the six/seven year transformation:

https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/01/15/understanding-the-sixseven-year-old-transformation/

Those may be of help to you and put in in the right framework to study more specifically about the seven-year old.

The Gesell Institute’s fabulous book, “Your Seven-Year- Old” brings some of the characteristics regarding the seven-year old to light:

  • In general, this is an age of inwardness and withdrawing.  However, the seven-year-old doesn’t know where to stop with that and seems to often appear so silent and withdrawn that “ it seems that he might be more comfortable and content if there were actually no other people in the world.”
  • People do not behave in a way that pleases a child of this age.  The child thinks people are mean, picking on him or her, unforgiving, unfair, hateful.  The child also thinks people do not like them.
  • The child of this age is an intense worrier – more worries and fears than any other age.
  • Moody, morose and melancholy are other adjectives the Gesell Institute uses to describe this age.
  • The Seven-Year-Old feels strongly that parents like the other children in the family better than him. 
  • It is an age of easy crying, easy disappointment. 
  • He lives in a world of thought where he likes to think things through, and he takes in everything around him and reflects on it although he may not talk about it to you!
  • There is a new sense of independence, but also a sense of not being especially adventurous.
  • Seven is not known as an age for humor per the Gesell Institute (although I personally think that this may depend on the temperament of your child!)
  • Less selfish than at six, but very self-absorbed.
  • Time alone with special pursuits is prized, as is a room of their own to “retreat and protect their things.”
  • Has high standards, high ideals, wants to do everything right.  Some teachers call this the “eraser age” as they erase so much, are anxious, want to do everything right.
  • Increasing control of the body, the temper, the voice, the striking out of six
  • An age where the child can fatigue quickly and may need help in protecting themselves from their own demands.
  • Gets along well  with mother at this age, less demanding of their mothers, although there can be arguing with mother and the child can engage in a real battle of wills.  The child cares what the mother thinks of him or her.
  • Fathers are needed.  Girls are very sensitive to reprimands by their father, and may be jealous of the attention their father gives to their mother.  Boys enjoy their fathers and time alone with him is greatly treasured.  Both genders will seek out their fathers for information on things outside of the home.
  • Seven fights less than age six with siblings.  They are at their best with babies age 2 and under.  The most enthusiasm is for a baby not yet born!  Seven also is good with siblings much older than they are.  With siblings close to the same age, the argument is that things are not fair.
  • With friends, less fighting and squabbling although play is still not completely harmonious.  The good news is that Seven is starting to be aware of his friends’ reactions to things.  Group play can still end with destruction of materials or fighting – this age needs adult supervision.

OTHER AREAS: 

  • Eating:  May leave the table frequently if distracted by something, but better able to sit still and eat. 
  • Sleeping: Most seven-year olds are headed to bed around 7:30 and can often get ready for bed by themselves
  • Health: Tend to be healthier than at six.  Fewer colds usually.
  • Increased understanding of sense of time – clock time, months, season, birthdate,
  • Academic work:  It is important to keep in mind that  a seven-year old is easily fatigued and must be protected from so many demands.  Reading may be coming along at this stage, spelling is usually not great, a seven year old is typically not ready for cursive, far fewer number reversals,  requires the teacher to be close.

In Part Two of this post, we will look further at the anthroposophical point of view of the seven-year-old.

Inspirations from Tapestries: Ages 28-35

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Betty Staley entitles the chapter about this age range, “Trying to Organize Our Lives,” and discusses how around the age of 28 many of us feel it is time to become more conscious about our lives, our decision-making, our plans and goals for the future.

She talks about for some people how around age 30, some men realize already they are having more physical limitation than in their twenties and some women notice their bodies are changing.  I personally was curious about this from the perspective that we are certainly living longer than in the time of Rudolf Steiner, so I wondered how many of you found this to be true.  I have heard more women comment to me about their bodies changing and about it being harder to lose weight and such closer to the age of 40 than 30.  I wonder also if this is because so many of us are delaying childbearing until our 30s.  Please leave a comment in the comment box and share your experience.

Betty Staley writes that there are not only physical changes to be reckoned with, but changes within the way we relate to others. She writes, “The bold confidence of our twenties starts giving way to more sensitive awareness of ourselves.  We may no longer be satisfied by just relying on our feelings:  we become more inward, perhaps more subdued.  It is time to become realistic and practical, to take stock of what are we doing and organize our time.”

She talks about how we use our critical intellect to help us organize things, but how this can also be something that pierces and wounds the people around us as we step back and see more and more faults and imperfections and become cold and critical.  We have to work hard in this stage to look not just objectively at others, but also at ourselves.  How do we learn to appreciate other people?  How do we develop concern and compassion for others that transcends our own feelings of woundedness and loneliness?

The thirties can be a positive time of life as things settle down, become calmer, become more focused.  It can be a time to look deep within one’s self at one’s current situation.    “There can be a conflict here between our previous dreams and ideals, and present realities.  How can we realize both?”

Typically there are no easy answers to this question.  Men in particular can have competing desires and wishes.  Daniel Levinson writes about the ages of 21-35 being the “Onward and Upward Phase” for men.  He writes:

“Fatherhood is not the all-important role in a man’s life.  His starring role as he sees it during the Onward and Upward years is that of the promising young man on his way up.  He has important tasks to accomplish.  He is driven by the need for achievement.”

Betty Staley writes that this can be an age where many friendships break apart, and there can be loneliness.  She also writes about the importance of having a mentor and building relationships with friends who have similar values to you.   Do you have a mentor in the areas of parenting and homemaking?  This could be something important if you are in this age range of 28-35 years.   

Rudolf Steiner saw the period of age 30-33 as analogous to the last three years of the life of Jesus Christ, often a period of being in the “valley of the shadow of death.”  Perhaps renewal is around the corner if we can progress past the challenges of this phase:

“The great inner challenge during this phase from 28-35 is to transform critical judgment into thoughtful consideration, allowing emotions to ripen into feelings; to take more time to make decisions, and to bring to the light of the mind and warmth of the heart together in a more conscious way.”

This has implications for both marriage and motherhood.  For mothers in this age range, Betty Staley writes about the importance of strengthening themselves during this time.  She writes of the importance of having private time everyday for “inward activity”.  She also writes about the importance of learning how not to use the sharp-edged intellect of this phase to judge our partners and spouses. 

She writes on page 130 that we do not need to explain or apologize for the things our spouses do because it is not our place to judge, nor do we know our mate so very well that we need to protect other people from his or her faults.  “A point comes in a relationship- and in this case it can be in a close friendship as well as in a marriage – when we let go.  We no longer ask, Why am I with this person?  We no longer add up the irritations, marking them in some invisible account book.  The moment arrives when all that disappears and we acknowledge he is our partner or friend, and accept him totally.”

When people marry in their thirties instead of their twenties, then neither person has formed the other.  The ideas and habits of each person are more set, that as partners they tend to respect one another but humor and tolerance are needed.  More freedom is needed in some ways.  She writes that second marriages often have these characteristics as well.  She also talks about the research showing people born after 1966 are tending to study until age 30 or live at home for longer periods, and how this may postpone the entrance into adulthood by ten years.

A very full chapter with lots of food for thought.

Thanks for reading,

Carrie