Some Interesting Children’s Health Notes: Zinc, Vaccinations, Flower Essences, Encopresis and More

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Due to my professional background, sometimes interesting things regarding the health of infants and children pass over my desk.  Today I have chosen a few of these items to share with you!

ZINC

I am over halfway through the book “What Babies and Children Really Need”  by Sally Goodard Blythe in order to write a review for Donna Simmons over at  Christopherus (so look for a review soon!).  In it was a very interesting quote about zinc, and I thought I would share it with you all:

“Boys need five times the amount of zinc in utero that girls need (for formation of testes), so commonly it is the boys who are grossly deficient.  This may result in poor growth and general development both before and after birth, colic and diarrhoea, poor sucking, late teething and other milestones and generally retarded development both physically and mentally.  Hyperactivity, dyslexia, and behavioural problems will mar the school career and general growth and puberty may be delayed and/or incomplete.”

This passage went on to say that many children diagnosed with ADHD have low zinc levels.  For girls, signs of zinc deficiency show up around age 9, when the ovaries begin to function in preparation for puberty years later.  Low zinc status may also linked to anorexia.

Very interesting stuff!

On to other health notes:

 ENCOPRESIS

The second piece of information that passed my desk regarding children’s health was one regarding encopresis.   For those of you who have never heard of this debilitating condition,  encopresis is an elimination disorder that affects up to 3 percent of children ages 4 and over and is found more commonly in boys.  It is essentially fecal incontinence over constipation.  The onset is usually due to chronic constipation which causes a stretching of the colon-rectum area, which leads to decreased sensitivity.  This results in the child not being able to feel the need to go to the bathroom and the softer stool starts leaking around the blockage of constipation.  This causes emotional distress for the older child who understands these “accidents” are happening, and really affects quality of life.

Traditional approaches such as stool softener and laxatives, regulation of fiber, scheduled toileting all seem to fail in treating this condition. 

Now a program at Saint Louis University Hospital is having some success with children ages 7 and up who have this condition in as little as 12 to 15 weeks with pelvic floor training.

This could be just the breakthrough parents of children with encopresis are waiting for!

(Addendum:  A lovely mother emailed me with some more resources for parents whose children are dealing with encopresis.  She writes there is an active forum on Yahoo Groups for parents of children with encopresis. There are over 400 members currently. It’s a great place for people to feel that they are not alone and share advice. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/encopresis_kids/

She also writes she has found one program to be quite helpful for parents who have tried everything (including treatment centers). The name of the program is Soiling Solutions. Here is the website: http://www.soilingsolutions.com/
This is a home-based treatment with an active parent forum that includes a GI doctor, a behavioral psychologist (founder of SS), a social worker, and many parents in the trenches of helping their children.

The other program you might want to refer folks to is the U Can Poop Too program. www.ucanpooptoo.com/  This is a study out of a university. Forget which one. The site is down temporarily today. Parents can participate in the study and get help for free. This is an online program —

LATEST UPDATE 7/13/10 – This came to me from one of the investigators of this study:  “The study is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the intervention was developed at the University of Virginia.  The purpose of this study is to determine whether an Internet-delivered intervention can help treat encopresis.  Thus, all families with access to the Internet could potentially be eligible to participate as there is no face-to-face involvement.
 
The link you have on your site is correct:
 
www.ucanpooptoo.com
 
But unfortunately, on the day of the posting we had severe weather that put our servers down for about 36 hours.  The good news is that all is back up and running smoothly.” 

Thank you so much for this update!! Hope this is helpful to some families!)

Thank you to my readers, who are the experts! 🙂  Many blessings!

 VACCINATIONS

Here is an one mother’s story regarding vaccinations from the Christopherus website:  http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/early-years-nurturing-young-children-at-home/the-waldorf-baby/thinking-about-vaccination.html

Here is a book regarding an anthroposophical view of vaccinations and you can read part of it on Google Reader:  http://books.google.com/books?id=-6NngjSbHIkC&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=vaccination+anthroposophical&source=bl&ots=EuuA2U9SQ6&sig=fCrJ9_DfL2xo747KbkE3NM8gF0A&hl=en&ei=8zM4SoTCIIzElAf3yu3pDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6#v=onepage&q=vaccination%20anthroposophical&f=false 

The other two books I like on the subject include “The Vaccine Book:  Making the Right Decision For Your Child” by Dr. Robert Sears and Aviva Jill Romm’s book, “Vaccinations:  A Thoughtful Parent’s Guide:  How To Make Safe, Sensible Decisions about the Risks, Benefits and Alternatives.”

 

FLOWER ESSENCES and ANTHROPOSOPHIC MEDICINE

Here is a link for you:

http://www.anthromed.org/Article.aspx?artpk=256

VITAMIN D AND BREASTFEEDING

Vitamin D deficiency is turning out to be HUGE here in the United States, and is of great concern for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.  Here is a good summary of information from La Leche League:  http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVIss1-2009p2.html

Happy investigating!

Many blessings,

Carrie

Gentle Parenting and Boundaries

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I really like this quote by Gary Chapman, author of  “The Five Love Languages” and “Love As A Way of Life”.  He writes in the Foreward to Susie Larson’s wonderful book, “Growing Grateful Kids:  Teaching Them to Appreciate An Extraordinary God in Ordinary Places”:

“Children who are indulged by parents, given whatever they request and allowed to do whatever they desire, are likely to have major problems in establishing healthy adult relationships.  The absence of boundaries does not equip children for the real world.  These children will become “takers” rather than “givers”.  Consequently they fail to find the deep satisfaction that comes from genuinely loving others.”

Many times when parents ask me about gentle parenting, they are asking from one of two perspectives.  The first perspective is a perspective of guilt because they think they yell too much or are essentially too hard on their children.  Their household is not peaceful and they are frustrated with that and want things to change, but they are not sure how to change.  The second perspective parents ask me from is where gentle parenting is equated with no boundaries at all, and they are intrigued but  skeptical.

To me gentle parenting and boundaries involves several steps.  The first step is to get clear with yourself as to what the values and rules are for your family.  The second step is to figure out how you will hold this boundary in the moment, in a calm and unflappable way,  and what are the tools you will use to help your child (hint:  yelling is not a tool .  :))  And, what will you  do if you feel as if you cannot hold the boundary anymore but you know you need to for your child’s sake?  What is your plan?  Third, what does your child  learn from pushing against the boundary – what active ways do you have to help your child make restitution?

Let’s look at each step briefly:

First of all, gentle parenting starts with knowing yourself and what you model for your child through your ACTIONS.   You must have thoughts regarding what the most important things are in your life.  What are the values of your family and what are the rules of your house?  After those boundaries and  rules of the house are established in a Family Mission Statement, in your head, discussed with your spouse, then you must think through how to be consistent with those boundaries and what will happen when a child pushes against the boundary.  Will you be a wall that falls when they push against it (and this “falling” could be giving in or just falling apart and yelling or crying yourself!)…. or will you be solid and calm but not moveable?  Can you hold the boundary because of your love for the child and because you know this is what this child needs in order to grow up and be a wonderful adult? 

So, how will you hold the boundary in a calm way?  Many of us have what I call a ” breaking point”. What is yours?  Is it after your child has been on the floor screaming for over an  hour?  Is it your child hitting you?  Is it your child hitting the baby?  Is it running around the house?  How will you deal with your own breaking point?  We are all human, so what is your plan for when the breaking point occurs?

What does the child learn by pushing against the boundary?  In life, every decision has pros and cons and trade-offs and I think we need to with these small teachable moments.

Sometimes in gentle parenting we hear a lot of talk about “natural consequences”.   With children under the age of 5, they cannot think ahead to consequences at all.  I have one friend who told me once that small children who don’t want to brush their teeth are not choosing cavities.  She is correct, and I think we must be careful with the idea of “natural consequences” for very small children.   With a child under the age of 5, it really  is up to you to help your child meet the boundary that you have decided upon  by regulating the environment, the rhythm of eating and sleep, the amount of physical activity, the amount of supervision you are providing.  Even a  four or five-year-old left to their own devices is probably going to get into trouble left on their own for too long!  Remember, a child needs pretty constant checking in and supervision up to the age of 10 according to The Gesell Institute books.  Other tools include singing, fantasy and movement, your gentle hands, distraction and giving the child a job to do.  Perhaps your most important tool for the child is that of restitution.  The child will need your help with this, but it is important for a child to see how they can fix something instead of hearing a lecture about the problem.  Things like yelling and such on your part typically indicate you yourself have either no other tools in your toolbox or that you reached your breaking point and perhaps the behavior needed to change for the sanity of the family before it all got to that point. I have written quite a bit about anger and parenting, and feel those back posts could be of service to you.  The posts regarding self-care may also be helpful.

With a child of six, you have the above tools, plus you can add a few more choice and more pointed sentences about what we do where.  I direct you to the fine book, “You’re Not the Boss of Me! Understanding the Six/Seven Year Transformation” as available through www.waldorfbooks.com  Story-telling can become a fine way to assist your child in seeing the situation from a different persepctive.  I recommend Susan Parrow’s “Healing Stories for Challenging Behaviour” as a reference. 

With a chid of seven and eight, now we are moving into even more of the why’s in simple terms.  Logical reasoning is not present, but as children approach nine, they do understand a bit more about what will happen when they do something.  Their responses are immature, often riddled with emotion, but they are learning.  Criticism will tear them down, as they cannot separate your criticism of their behavior from themselves, so do be careful to speak with your child simply when things are calm and to  help the child to make restitution.  Start empowering them to be able to think about fixing a problem rather than just hearing a lecture about the problem.    Children from nine to twelve are really in the beginning of the foundation years for character development as we know it, and the teenaged years even more so.  So much work for the parent to do!

The point is, though, that gentle parenting and boundaries do co-exist.  Parenting is hard and challenging work!  You have to love your child so much that you will put everything else aside when your child needs your help. In this way, they can learn to be a  good human being and how to live and work with other people of all ages. 

Live big and love your children,

Carrie

Reflections on Baptism and Parenting

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Many of my faithful readers know that at this time we are in beautiful St. Croix with family to celebrate a fiftieth wedding anniversary and our third child’s baptism.  This rite of baptism was profound for me personally this time around, and I thought of several parallels to baptism and parenting to share with you all.

Baptism involves water.  Down here in the tropics, water is extremely important.  Fresh water is scarce, the ocean is just outside the window, and the power of water is around day in and day out. We think of drinking water, water for the health of the sea creatures and for humans, water for recreation and beauty.  Water has the power for cleansing, and also for drowning.  Baptism is profound in that we are taking a vow for our children, as parents and as a congregation, that the child themselves will re-affirm at the time of confirmation.  It is a direction in the Sea of Life that we start and our children fulfill.

Isn’t parenting like this description in so many ways? 

From the cleansing power of water to drown our old selves, where we emerge a new and wondrous creation, we really can take the oppression of our old  parenting ways and get rid of them!  Every day is a new day.  We have the power to become the parent we want to be.  It is a long journey, we are still only human, but we can keep striving and we can keep showing our children what life looks like when we try.

The connection between baptism and confimation reminds me of this:  there is no way we can be all things to our children.  We cannot be perfect parents and we cannot make childhood perfect (as much as we try).  We start in our children a good work, we give them the best foundation that we know how to give, but the child has to step up to fulfill their own destiny.  The child eventually will take  control of themselves, their gifts and talents,  and use the positive things they have been given.  I can give my child opportunities, I can nurture the gifts that I see my child has, but ultimately what the child does is build on what we start with them as a family.

This summer, I asked you all to consider finding a way to actively and concretely demonstrate your spiritual and religious beliefs to your children.  I have also written time and time again as to the value of a Family Mission Statement and a Personal Vision Statement.  These things are so important.  You cannot start teaching your child if you do not know yourself what is most important to you and how you show this through action in your life.

How do you structure your life around what you profess is most important to you?  How do you use your time?  You all know I am Master of The Use of Small Chunks of Time (I think you have to be when you have very small children!  It is possible to accomplish great things in only ten minutes here and there).  How do you show your children your worldview?  What is your worldview?  Are you anxious and complaining and grumbling or do you greet each day as the gift that it is?  How do you demonstrate love and compassion and forgiveness?  How do you teach your child out of sheer love  how they are going to grow into compassionate adults with something wonderful to offer the world (or do you try to intimidate them to be better?) 

Live big and love your children,

Carrie

How To Work With The Love Languages of Children

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We took a brief look at “Loving Children In Their Love Language” in our past post and today we are going to delve even deeper into the five love languages and how to apply them to your children.

Remember, we want to use ALL of the love languages and be familiar with all the love  languages as mentioned in the book, “The Five Love Languages For Children” by Gary Chapman and  Ross Campbell.  However, if you can identify your child’s primary love language and keep the child’s emotional love tank filled, it helps decreased behavioral challenges and it helps you to think carefully through how you discipline.  The authors bring up such things as if your child’s love language is quality time and you are using time-out (and you all know I do NOT believe in time-out, please see back posts) as a way to discipline the child, then you are using that child’s love language in a negative way.  There are many examples in this book; I encourage you to get a book and read it!

To review, here are the five love languages and a few notes about each love language:

1.  Physical Touch – the authors note many parents only touch their children when necessary (ie, to help them get dressed, etc).  I like this quote: “Babies who are held, hugged, and kissed develop a healthier emotional life than those who are left for long periods of time without physical contact.”

Things you can do in this language:  Greet or say good-bye to your children by hugging them; picking natural toys (hhmm, sounds like Waldorf!); ask your child if they want to be held; holding hands whilst saying blessings or prayers

2.  Words of Affirmation – this means expressing love and appreciation for the child themselves, not words of praise for what they do.  This does include using words that encourage.

The authors note:  “ The greatest enemy toward encouraging our children is anger.  The more anger present in the parent, the more anger the parent will dump on the children.  The result will be children who are both antiauthority and anti-parent.”

Also included in this category are words of guidance:  positive and loving guidance. 

Things you can do in this language:  encourage your child daily, and find the things your child is good at and tell them something positive whilst they are doing it;  call your child when you are not home to tell him you love him; leave your child notes saying you love him or her. 

3. Quality Time – this includes being present with each child individually and sharing thoughts and dreams and eye contact. 

Things you can do in this language: include your child in your daily activities and chores; stop what you are doing and make eye contact;  cook together; play with your children;  take family vacations together; hike together

4.  Gifts – “Yet for parents to truly speak love language number four-gifts- the child must feel that his parents genuinely care.  For this reason, the other love languages must be given along with a gift.  The child’s emotional love tank needs to be kept filled in order for the gift to express heartfelt love.”

My note is that for children who enjoy the love languages of gifts, these gifts do not have to be expensive store-bought gifts.  They will admire a flower from the garden left on their pillow, a unique small crystal, a feather you found, a picture you drew for them, etc.

Things you can do in this language:  make special snacks for your child, find things from nature as gifts, keep small gifts tucked away for rainy days or other occasions.

5.  Acts of Service- the authors talk about how parenting is the ultimate act of service, and that in order to do this, we must ourselves be balanced since serving is physically and emotionally demanding.    What is your own physical and emotional health like in this moment?

I thought this was a great quote: “the ultimate purpose for acts of service to children is to help them emerge as mature adults who are able to give love to others through acts of service.”

Things you can do in this language:  regular involvement as a family in volunteering; setting up play scenarios for your children to find and play with; assist a child in fixing something or doing homework together.

There is a whole chapter on how to discover your child’s primary love language; I highly recommend it! 

Here is a link to this book on Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Five-Love-Languages-Children/dp/1881273652/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276710971&sr=8-1

Connection, love and helping the child make restitution are the big keys to discipline…Bring on the love!

Many blessings,

Carrie

Individual Assessment for Homeschooling Success!

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I hope you are well on your way with home school planning for fall; I have planned about six weeks’ worth of lessons so far myself. 

One thing that does not always get mentioned among the Waldorf forums and websites is this notion of INDIVIDUAL ASSESSMENT.  Very often we know WHAT to teach (ie, Norse Myths in the Fourth Grade, Modern History in the Eighth Grade); hopefully we have the pieces to know HOW to teach (through movement, through whole to parts, through oral to written to reading, through a rhythm that includes sleep). Maybe we even know WHY we teach what we teach – based upon the development of the human being.

But we still need the piece of individual assessment in order to plan for the school year.  And who knows your child better than yourself?

Here are some areas I might consider for the Kindergarten-aged child (those aged 5 and 6):

  • Physical Appearance (this often provides insight into the speed of incarnation into the physical body – ie, tall and thin?  how do they walk and move?  loss of teeth yet?)
  • Gross Motor Skills/Fine Motor Skills
  • Reaction of Child to Rhythm
  • Imagination/Creative Play
  • Artistic Abilities/Handwork
  • General Personality (adaptability, perseverance, inquisitive or not, how do they do with other adults, how do they do with children, etc)
  • Spirituality (does the child show reverence? when? how?)
  • Health (how many times sick this past year? with what?)
  • Academic Areas (are they able to catch onto oral rhymes that you are doing?  how do they order things outside and inside?  do they understand sequencing of a story?  attention span? etc.)
  • Practical Life Skills

You may also want to assess yourself:

  • What qualities do I need to work on bringing to my family through my modeling?  Where did I succeed as a homeschooling parent this past year?  Where were my weaknesses?
  • How did I arrange our days at home and our days out?  How was the flow on the days we were home?
  • How did I cultivate protection and development of the 12 senses for my small child, both in physical and emotional ways?
  • What was my inner work? How did I do this?  What did I learn from it?
  • What do I need to read over the Summer to prepare for the upcoming year?
  • What skills do I really need to learn in order to help my children?

 

For older children in the grades, I might consider all of the above plus some of the following areas:

  • Very specific academic and artistic skills for goals for the school year
  • Areas of challenge within the personality/temperament areas that need harmonizing and balancing during the school year (this could be done through your selection of stories, your own modeling, setting up situations or opportunities for this to occur)
  • Do I have a theme for the year or a quality for the year that I want to work with and run as a theme through my year? 

And finally,

  • As a family, what do we need to have more of?  to see more of?
  • What are our challenges as a family?
  • What do I need to do artistically or through my inner work?
  • What do I need to be successful as a homeschooling mother?

 

Just a few ideas to get you started, please do feel free to share some of your planning tips below!

Blessings,

Carrie

Loving Children In Their Love Language

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Many of you have heard about the book, “The Five Love Languages:  How To Express Heartfelt Commitment To Your Mate” by Gary Chapman.  It was a runaway success, and after that book Gary Chapman teamed with Ross Campbell to write “The Five Love Languages of Children.”

The thought behind this book is that each child has a “primary language of love, a way in which he or she understands a parent’s love best.”  When you read this book, you go through ALL the love languages, because children benefit from all expressions of love, and also because over time your child’s love language might change. 

I like this particular quote as to why love and connection are important: “In this book we will emphasize the importance of love in rearing your child.  The ultimate goal is to rear your child (or children) to become a mature adult.  All aspects of a child’s development require a foundation of love.  For instance, a child’s feelings of anger can be channeled positively when he senses a parent’s love.  He is more likely to consider and accept your suggestions when he perceives your love as genuine and consistent.”

The five love languages are

1. Physical Touch

2.  Words of Affirmation

3. Quality Time

4.  Gifts

5.  Acts of Service

Loving your child in their language on a consistent basis helps a child feel loved through the more challenging times.  Loving your child in an unconditional way and keeping that connection filled, but still holding fast to the boundaries you set, is very important.  These principles hold the  keys for good parenting; I have written about this time and time again on this blog.  Gentle parenting does not mean an absence of boundaries.

You are the parent.  You have more life experience with which to guide your children.  You should know yourself what boundaries there are in your own home and with each other.  Children without any boundaries do not grow up to do well in the world because they have had everything handed to them on their whim and demand.  You can be a gentle parent, an authentic parent, AND you can still do the hard work of keeping the boundaries you have set in your home.  In fact, this is a must for your children to grow up to be healthy adults.

However, your children must feel loved in order for these boundaries to work, and  love languages are a huge piece of this.  You can say you love your child all you want, but if they do not “feel” loved, that is their perception.  Love languages can be this bridge between your world and the world of your child.  It can help provide that connection that forms the basis of a healthy family.

In the next post, we will take a peek at the characteristics of all five of the love languages.  In that, you may learn something about your child, your spouse and yourself.

Many blessings,

Carrie

The Cardinal Rules Of Waldorf Education

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Mrs. Marsha Johnson posted this on her Yahoo!Group and I thought is was well-worth sharing as mothers start to plan for homeschooling for the fall.

These are the wise words of Mrs. Johnson:

Cardinal Rules of Waldorf Education

1. Work with the WHOLE CHILD
2. Always begin from the child’s point of view, i.e., do not tell space stories to 4 year olds who have no concept of space, etc. but do tell nature stories about animals s/he sees on a regular basis. Think LOCALLY and expand gradually.
3. Use imitation in birth to 7, imagination in 7 to 14, and inspiration in 14 to 21.
4. Be creative and artistic in your lessons. Avoid abstract concepts, try to find hands on interesting ideas to present your material. 
5. Include movement in nearly every activity, recognize and use in-breathing and out-breathing rhythms to the day
6. Remember Head (morning), heart (rhythmic activities middle of the day) and hands (afternoon activities).
7. Set a home rhythm, get rid of excess material goods, and insist on regular rising and resting times, ensure the children have 11-12 hours of sleep per night and eat as close to Mother Nature fresh as possible!
8. Rid your home of televisions, video poisons, and insist on outdoor play, go camping, hiking, food gathering, and exploring. 
9. Pray before meals and before bed, find a spiritual path and STICK TO IT. Celebrate regular festivals
10. Develop a social network of like minded families anf gather regularly to share, support, care, and enjoy one another. Invest in these lifelong friendships.
11. Care for yourself, pursue a daily lesson for YOU, and invest time in educating yourself and enhancing your skills/abilities/ capacities.
12. Use heart seeing, heart thinking, and heart visioning. Show a warm interest in every single encounter on the physical plane, whether with a weed, a person, a pet, a sunset, or ? Empathize with the Other and teach your young to do so, too.
These are my TWELVE CARDINAL RULES OF HEALTHY WALDORF PARENTING AND LIVING…..
Love, Mrs Marsha

To join Mrs. Johnson’s Yahoo!Group, please join here waldorfhomeeducators@yahoogroups.com

Many blessings,

Carrie

The De-Escalator

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Do you frequently come into a situation in your home in which a conflict needs to be worked out?  (Uh, every parent on the planet nods their head here).  Okay, so then do you typically escalate the situation or do you de-escalate it?

I ask this because many times we are in the midst of a situation in which our children require our guidance, and we think we are offering guidance, but we are doing it in the heat of the moment and in such a way that most likely all the child will remember afterwards is not the situation, not the “lesson” to be learned, but the way you made him or her feel.  Remember, you cannot guide the situation or have the child learn anything from the situation if everyone is crying, screaming, yelling or hitting.  You really  have to wait until things calm down until you can guide.  And then the piece after that is in the activity of doing, of restitution.  Save the lecture!  Work on the doing!

This is also true in any relationship where there is a conflict.  I remember finding this 45 record (remember those from oh so long ago?)  amongst my mother’s things – The Beatles’ “We Can Work It Out.”  Here it is to get you in the mood for some conflict resolution:

 

Love this, and what a timely reminder in conflict.  This phrase also happens to be the title of a nifty little NonViolent Communication book entitled (yes!):  “We Can Work It Out:  Resolving Conflicts Peacefully and  Powerfully:  A presentation of Nonvionent Communication ideas, and their use” by Marshall B Rosenberg, PhD.  This little booklet is only about 22 pages long, but I think it is very valuable in helping decipher what to do in conflict. 

The minute we start thinking, “Well, the problem with my child is that they won’t do “X”” that is really not expressing what we NEED.  We also do this with our spouses as well:   “Well, if my husband didn’t do “X” everything would be fine.”  I find that often mothers don’t really know what they need, but they sure know what they don’t like when they see it. 🙂  However, in order to have someone help you get what you want, you have to know what you need.

Dr. Rosenburg has a wonderful sentence in this book:  “At the point where either party hears themselves being criticized, diagnosed, or intellectually interpreted, I predict their energy will turn toward self-defense and counter-accusations rather than toward resolutions that meet everyone’s needs.” 

So, I think if you can define what you DO want, and then think of a strategy that meets what your need is, then you  have a much better chance at guiding your child.

The other part that can be very challenging but necessary in parenting is what Dr. Rosenburg calls “sensing the needs of others regardless of how others are expressing themselves.’ 

This is very hard with children if they are yelling or hitting or screaming.  But they are telling you something with this behavior if you can look underneath all that and then try to meet that need that they are showing you.  They need action from you, not a lot of words or questioning.

So, when you walk into a situation that requires conflict resolution, a situation that requires you to be “The De-Escalator”, know that you can do this. Children and family members give us the chance to practice this every day.

Many blessings,

Carrie

Kidscapes, Nature In The City and More!

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A dear reader from Down Under recently passed this link onto me:  http://www.greenheartsinc.org/Parents__Guide.html . 

This site really has wonderful suggestions for creating nature “kidscapes” – and even if you don’t have your own yard,  this section has valuable ideas for the types of experiences in nature that would be helpful in developing the twelve senses for young children.  This website also has this document:  http://www.greenheartsinc.org/uploads/25_Easy_Nature_Play_Ideas_for_Preschool_Yards.pdf which is more specific to preschoolers.  I suggest printing out both and putting them in your Homemaking Notebook (if you have one) for planning purposes for fall and also as just general good reminders! 

In this document: (http://www.greenheartsinc.org/uploads/Green_Hearts_Design_Principles_for_Nature_Play_Spaces.pdf ), I found this terrific quote: 

“Think Small. A nature play space for you and your adult friends can be a 50,000-acre wilderness area, but for kids you have to think and plan on their scale! To best engage and excite young children, keep play area paths, structures, plantings, and challenges all significantly smaller than what you might normally envision for your typical visitors. It really doesn’t take much to delight a five-year-old, to whose eyes the world is incalculably larger than it is to yours! More small delights will keep kids playing longer than fewer large-scale ones.”

All I can say is, OH YES!  I have fielded this particular  question many times over the years: Is Waldorf only for people who live in the country? What do I do since I live in the city?

Waldorf Education and connection to nature is for everyone! I encourage families in the city to think about “adopting”  a tree on their block,  feeding the birds and putting out a bird feeder or feeding the pigeons.  You can also bring nature inside your home. For example, having and observing the lifecycle of caterpillars into butterflies, tadpoles into frogs, worm composting and ant farms,  keeping snails in a jar for a day or so so you can closely look in wonder at this fascinating creature. All of these things are wonderful and can be done in any setting – urban, suburban or rural.

Other ideas include container gardening, going a few places annually year after year like apple or berry picking, growing herbs in a windowsill garden, going outside to really feel the rain or the snow, looking for Jack Frost’s paintings on your window…all can be done wherever!

So I guess my thought is so long as you show wonder and reverence for the spot of nature where you are, ants and dandelions count!   Nature crafts are also wonderful for the smaller crowd to work hands-on with nature in an artistically pleasing way.

Please do be sure to check www.mainlesson.com for some simple nature stories or make them up! The other resource you might like would be Donna Simmons’ From Nature Stories to Natural Science available here:  http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/bookstore-for-waldorf-homeschooling/essential-christopherus-publications/from-nature-stories-to-natural-science.html

This back post on nature is near and dear to my heart; if you have not read it before perhaps you would enjoy it:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2008/11/24/connecting-your-children-to-nature/

Many blessings,

Carrie

Another Word on First Grade Readiness

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This article is by Donna Simmons and can be found on Donna Simmons’ Christopherus Blog.  Please see Donna’s blog for more wonderful articles about topics near and dear to your heart as a parent here: http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/home.html  
Here is a link for this special article:   http://christopherushomeschool.typepad.com/blog/2010/06/musings-on-school-readiness-and-older-children.html  

This article addresses not only the six-year-old year but other transition years/grades for older children.  This article is really wonderful, and I encourage you to read it.

For the Early Years section of this article,  I especially and wholly agree with the idea that we are starting children much too early in Waldorf Kindergarten at school.   At home,  we have the opportunity to make the “Waldorf Kindergarten” years the “five-year-old year”  (ie, starting at  the ages of four and a half/five years old) and  the “six-year-old year” (ie, starting at five and a half/six years of age) with first grade starting at six and a half or seven years of age based upon your individual assessment of your child.  I have posts on this blog about the one and two –year- old in the Waldorf Home, the three and four- year -old in the Waldorf Home, and many articles about the six-year-old kindergarten year.  My perspective on the five and six-year old years will be forthcoming.

For those of you with older children, I encourage you to read this article as Donna shares candidly about her high school experiences from her perspective as a Waldorf Educator, now a high school teacher, and as a parent.

I hope you find this article as wonderful as I did…  Donna Simmons has many wise word regarding children and their needs.  Thank you Donna!

Many blessings,

Carrie