I often find parents who have small children are rather flummoxed by what they find on this blog.  I base my parenting upon development  – from streams of years of developmental testing from The Gesell Institute, from the pedagogical insights of Rudolf Steiner and the secondary pedagogical literature of the Early Years of Waldorf Education, from the research of Attachment Parenting, from my own experience as a pediatric health care professional and from just plain common sense.  And research – there actually is research in this area!

The Early Years is not a time of rocket science, yet we have strayed so far from what a small child needs in most countries across the world I think it would take massive public health campaigns to get back to having things be developmentally appropriate for a small child.   

The hallmarks of this campaign should be, for the Early Years child before first grade:  sleep and rest, time in nature, steady rhythm, protection from adult information and the seeping of adult and high school activities down to these tiny children, meaningful work, play, protection from all electronic screens, the building up of a healthy physical body and to model children reverence, and to provide children the sense that the world is a good place.

Play and School:  This is not the time for academics.  There is NO published research that shows a child who learns to read early does better in school later on, but there are studies that show the benefits of a play-based Early Years program.  Here are a few links on this subject:

https://deyproject.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/readinginkindergarten_online-1.pdf

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2011/03/why_preschool_shouldnt_be_like_school.html

The value of unstructured play:  http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00593/full

Value of play-based preschools over academic preschools: http://mhpcns.com/resources/play_vs_academic.pdf

Alfie Kohn’s case against direct instruction of academics in Early Childhood Education:  http://www.alfiekohn.org/article/early-childhood-education/

Homework:  Research regarding the unclear relationship between homework and academic achievement (and hint, this talks about the optimal amount of homework in studies of high school students, and the disparity of benefits homework provides across groups of people, and the lack of clear benefits of homework for small children):  http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Instruction/What-research-says-about-the-value-of-homework-At-a-glance

Pitfalls of homework from Stanford University:  http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/march/too-much-homework-031014.html

Benefits of homework vary across nation, grades from Penn State (again, most of the research is being done at the middle and high school levels, and I think homework is another seeping of adult and teenaged ideas down to the smallest level of our population.  Early Years children are not teenagers!):  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070227171018.htm

All parents who want homework sheets given to their kindergarten-aged children should have a look at these studies. 

The Value of Protecting our Children From ADULT information:

The value of protection for our children:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/11384246/Too-much-information-destroys-childhood-innocence.html

Study from Pediatrics regarding use of mobile devices by caregivers and children in restaurants:  http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2014/03/05/peds.2013-3703.abstract

Why are we in such a fearful place in parenting small children?  It is not a race to run as fast as possible to get to the next stage of childhood. It should not be a stage where the parent is so full of fear of parenting and uncertainty in  trying to hold a rhythm in the home and guide a small child that keeping the child busy every second  is the norm.    If we set an unhurried pace at home and are happy being in our homes and neighborhoods, our small children will be as well.  And they will have much greater health because of it!

Blessings,
Carrie

Although it is only September, we  have already endured bouts of cold weather around the United States and  The Farmer’s Almanac is predicting a colder than usual winter, especially for the eastern part of the United States.  Warmth is so important for our children.  Warmth allows our children to settle in, to not be restless, to rest and sleep and grow better, and to reach their fullest potential as human beings.

We see this in many cultures all around the world in the  dressing of babies warmly, even in subtropical and tropical climates.  When our children are warm enough, then energy will not be diverted from the growth and maturity of the nervous system  in order to just keep warm. 

As a rule, three layers on the top with one layer tucked in, and two layers on the bottom is recommended.  Here in Georgia I like two layers on the top and two layers on the bottom, just depending upon how cold and windy it is.  Contrary to popular belief, the Deep South does see snow and we do get freezing temperatures.   My favorite article about warmth by Mary Sutton, MD, appears in this back post  as reprinted with permission. 

Because of the importance warmth plays in the health and well-being of our children, I am excited to announce Green Mountain Organics (my favorite place to get woolens)  is offering the readers of The Parenting Passageway 20 percent off woolens for winter through next weekend with the code pp20.

Many blessings, happy woolens,

Carrie

Here are a few upcoming events that could be helpful to some families.  Please take what resonates with you. 

One is this free teleconference dealing with Rites of Passages for boys and girls: http://www.ritesofpassageevent.com/.  The event runs from October 22 through November 2nd if you are interested in signing up.

Melisa Nielsen sent me a note that A Little Garden Flower is running a bootcamp for planning.  You can see the link for that program here:  http://waldorfessentials.com/blog/2012/10/planning-bootcamp-pass-it-on/ 

Here is the link to Suzanne Down’s upcoming book, “The Adventures of Old Gnome Through The Year” : http://junipertreepuppets.com/the-adventures-of-old-gnome-and-frog-from-the-log/   I just love Suzanne Down; if you get a chance to take a class with her, just run to see her!   You can access her list of what cities she is visiting and more about her puppetry training course on her home page here:  http://junipertreepuppets.com/events/

Many blessings,

Carrie

The winner of the Sparkle Stories giveaway, chosen by a random number generator,  is Star from Faerymother blogspot:  http://faerymother.blogspot.com/

Star, thank you for being my reader, and I  thank everyone for their interest!

Many blessings,

Carrie

As generated by a random number generator, the winner is Irene!

Irene wrote:  congrats! ❤ I would love to get some kite paper and make window stars to brighten up our home as the days get shorter and shorter and to give away as gifts for the Holidays.

Thank you Irene, and thank you all for participating, and all your kind wishes for The Parenting Passageway.  The past three years have been fun ones!

Much love,

Carrie

THE GIVEAWAY is now closed…will be announcing a winner in a few hours!  Thank you all for your enthusiasm, kind comments and well wishes!  Love, and many blessings to you all!  _ Carrie 12:24 EST Friday October 21, 2011

Welcome to Monday with a lovely giveaway from Bella Luna Toys in honor of The Parenting Passageway’s third anniversary!  Please head on over to www.bellalunatoys.com and feast your eyes upon the magical toys, high quality art supplies and other goodies there.  Once you have in mind what you would like to spend a $25 gift certificate on,  please share that with me in this space in the comment section.   The drawing will be on Friday, so plenty of time to enter!

Thank you again to Bella Luna Toys and wonderful owner Sarah Baldwin. I look forward to hearing from you all.  A jump start on holiday shopping, anyone?

Many blessings,

Carrie

PS.  Just a fast note to my many international readers:  this giveaway is open to you as well as Bella Luna Toys is willing to ship internationally, but the shipping costs are to be paid by the winner….

Lovely things are happening on Monday: Continue reading →

Or will be as soon as this is published.    I hope you all have a blessed and wonderful week of summer, and I will see you back soon!

In the meantime, if you would like to drop me a comment as to things you would like to see addressed in future posts, please feel free to do so.

Many blessings,

Carrie

Please feel free to stop over and say hello:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Parenting-Passageway/197493306934950

Thank you for your support!

Many blessings,

Carrie

Again, a big thank you to Dr. Rick Tan of Syrendell (www.syrendell.com) for The Parenting Passageway’s lovely new logo.  You will notice things are much easier to find as listed under “Development” by age and “Homeschooling” by grade.  “Development” also includes Adult Development as the human being is continually changing and growing throughout this life, so you can find posts on inner work and personal development there.

“Discipline” is divided into authority (so all those back posts on holding the space, boundaries, etc are there), general support and tools.  “Family Life” includes many things, including sibling relationships, anger,  festival life, homemaking, dealing with sleep challenges, and more! 

The book study series are now in one place divided by book, along with those one-post reviews, and “Twenty Days Toward More Mindful Mothering” and “Back to Basics” series are now available under the “General Wisdom” tab.

Thank you for being my reader, I hope you like the new ways to find things!

Blessings,

Carrie