Daily Archives: February 22, 2010

The Number One Way to Discipline A Child

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….is through connection and attachment, not through separation.  This is why threats, time-outs, and other traditional discipline methods fail.

Attachment and connection with your child is the number one way to guide a child.  You can sure  hold them when they cry because Grandma can’t come to dinner.  You can sure hold them as they learn it is hard sometimes to share.  You can help them adapt, but you cannot help them if you send them into a time-out.  You are not changing the realities of life, you are not  changing the boundary, but you are recognizing the very human struggle that goes into learning something.  You are  recognizing  the strong bond between the child and the parent. 

How do you connect?  A young child is in  their body – hug them, kiss them, rub their backs, massage their hands and feet, pat them on the back, tickle them, rough house with them, hold them, carry them, treasure them – and do it at the times when things are falling apart.  Get down to their eye level and love them and support them, even if you don’t feel they are being lovable.

The relationship with this child is what carries the discipline.  Help your child to learn and to grow; you are raising a child to become an adult of brilliance.

Peaceful guiding,

Carrie

Multiculturism in Waldorf Early Grades

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Annette wrote a lovely post about using stories beyond just The Brothers Grimm here:  http://natural-childhood.blogspot.com/  Please do take the time to go and read it; Annette has some great thoughts about how to bring all this to your children!

Please do keep in mind that modern Waldorf schools in the United States and Europe now pull from a variety of cultural traditions for fairy tales, folk tales and legends besides just the Brothers Grimm.   I know our local Waldorf school here in Kindergarten and First Grade uses a large number  of African and Asian fairy tales.  Besides that, different cultures, religions and places in world geography are addressed each year in the journey through the grades.

Luckily, in homeschooling, we can pick and choose the best for our family!

Here are some resources to assist you:

  • If you are Waldorf homeschooling, you really should have Betty Staley’s book, “Hear The Voice of the Griot!” which is a Waldorf  resource for teaching about  Africa for Kindergarten all the way through high school.    I wrote a review here:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/01/10/hear-the-voice-of-the-griot/
  • Here is a wonderful article “Diversity and Story in the Kindergarten” from Gateways:  http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/GW3303.pdf
  • Here is an article by Donna Simmons tracing geography through the grades:  http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/waldorf-homeschool-publishing-and-consulting/curriculum/subjects/geography.html
  • There is a wonderful little booklet called, (can you guess?LOL) Multiculturism in Waldorf Education…In it are fairy tales from around the world appropriate for the Kindergarten Years – the tales are from Africa, Zulu, East Africa, Japan, Tlingit, and Micmac traditions.  THere is also a list of multi-cultural picture books.
  • Teach your children foreign languages, there are several posts on this blog about that.  It is a great way to absorb information about new cultures.  We are learning Spanish and German in our homeschool and interact with native speakers from Spanish and German speaking countries. 
  • Cooking is a great place to add in different types of foods from different lands in connection with festivals from those places. 
  • Music is another wonderful place to add in languages and ideas about how people from other cultures do things.
  • Do work consciously to provide tales from many different traditions,and to really study cultures and geography in the grades.  There are many wonderful archetypal tales out there for the younger crowd; you see similar themes appearing again and again.

Many blessings,

Carrie