Musings On The Feast Of Pentecost: Whitsunday

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One Anglican resource that is made for children, The Sunday Papers, always has a little note for parents on the back to help families garner a deeper understanding of the festivals of the year.

I especially loved this quote:

We do not have clear and emotionally affecting mental images of the Spirit, because the Spirit is the very power working within us that enable us to image and love the Father and the Son.  The Spirit is the voice of prayer, prayer through us when we turn with love and longing to our Creator and beg to be made new in the image of Jesus…..the Spirit is what connects us to each other and to God, so that a movement of atoms in my brain becomes living speech, understandable to you.  The Pentecostal images of fire, wind, and speech are all forces that move, invisibly, to animate and set in motion.

I love Pentecost. My favorite part in the whole Mass is the simultaneous speaking of The Gospel in many languages.  It is astonishing, confusing perhaps even, a most surprising liturgy.

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Tech Families and Waldorf

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I think there seems to be a high percentage of technologically-oriented families who are attracted to Waldorf Schools or Waldorf homeschooling.   I often wonder if families who are involved in technology are attracted because they need the balance in their lives,or because they may be creative people in general.

However, technology and Waldorf Education is an area where many families can quickly feel out of place.  It can be frustrating for parents who have paid a great deal of money to send their small children to Waldorf schools and hope to have their children interact with children who are not partaking in much media to have this hope be dashed.  It can also be hard for the technologically- oriented family who feels they “are not Waldorf enough” because they have jobs involving computers and work from home on their computers.  Such is a sign of the times.  They compare themselves to the Waldorf families who don’t own a TV and sigh.  Some Waldorf families I have met have a large gap in ages of their children, and so the younger members of the family are a bit  along for the ride when the technology rules relax some for the older children.

Do any of these scenarios sound like your family? Continue reading →

A Summer Story By Christine Natale

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(Christine remarked to me that this Summer story would be appropriate for those over age three; if I was telling this to my own family I probably would mark it for my five and a half/ six year olds if they were the oldest in the family). 

Magic Pennies by Christine Natale

Once upon a time, when a penny was worth a dollar and a dollar was worth a great fortune, there were three poor friends.

Being poor back in those times was very common. There were very rich people, like kings and dukes, a few wealthy merchants and landowners and almost everyone else was poor. Being poor back in those times meant that a person had to work hard to have a small house or cottage, some furniture and a few clothes and their daily bread. There was never very much left over for anything else. Even so, people managed to have fun playing music, dancing and playing games.

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“Love And Anger: The Parental Dilemma”–Chapter 9: “Eight Weapons In The War On Anger” Part Two

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So, picking up where we left off:

5.  Stay short and to the point.  I like this point on page 196, Kids have endless time to play point-counterpoint, in an effort to wear you down.  I know many parents whose children are ready for law school by age five!  They are the ones whose parents often overdo reasoning and explaining, in hopes that if only they give their children enough explanations, the kids will stop wanting what they wanted in the first place. “

They point out it is okay to stay short and sweet, repeating the same phrase, being very specific as to what is needed, and the use of one word to communicate what you want (which can work well with those over seven in my opinion).

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The Angry Six-Year-Old

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I find many of the boys and more physically-oriented girls seem to enter an angry phase around the age of six.  Door slamming, yelling, stomping of feet, true

Six-year-olds can become frustrated rather quickly, so rhythm and connection are so important.  Modeling what you want to see, and ignoring what you can, is also important for this age.

One thing that seems to work exceptionally well for this phase is to make sure that this child is really getting their physical energy out – lugging, tugging, pushing, pulling, really working hard and sweating!  Think of what physical projects you really could do together around the house or yard. 

I think work also can work as restitution as well.  If a six-year-old’s temper tantrum (and yes, six-year-olds can still have temper tantrums and other physical expressions of their anger)  really disrupts the whole family’s rhythm and work, that child can work in  practical ways to help you, with you,  around the house in exchange for that time.

Anger and aggression are not the same things.  If a six-year-old is being aggressive due to frustration and anger,  then it is our job to step in and help that child through physical activity and restitution.

Many blessings,

Carrie

How Do You Like Me Now?

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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

Guest Post: Creating A Magical Summer

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I would like to thank Waldorf teacher Christine Natale for this guest post chock-full of magical summer ideas.  You can find Christine’s book of fairy tales here:  http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/fairy-tales/12093029 and her blog here:  http://threefoldwaldorf.blogspot.com/.  She also recently wrote an article about … Continue reading →

What’s Frustrating You?

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Sometimes we just yearn for peace and all we feel is frustration. Maybe we are frustrated with the developmental stage of our child – you know, that rough patch that we hope will pass soon, or maybe we are frustrated with our partners or spouses.  Our bodies, our lack of exercise, our homes, our less than perfect lives. Did I cover it all? Continue reading →