Just as we celebrate a baby’s “birth day”, when they are born and enter the world, a child’s birthday can be a time to hold him foremost in your heart and remind him of how glad you are that he arrived. There will probably be gifts, but birthdays and other holidays become a day apart when you mark them with your own traditions that have nothing to do with presents. One nice thing about building birthday traditions is that they … Read More...
My children regularly had wash days for their dolls when they were smaller. We would set up wash tubs or big bowls with a bit of soapy water and some clear rinse water. They would string lines between trees decorated with their own colorful clothes pins. Then, they would gather all the doll clothes for washing. They were incredibly industrious in this wet endeavor.
Once the clothes were dry, newly freshened, the accumulated smudges and scuffs and stains on their … Read More...
“Trees are all different, as you know, and I am sure some tiresome person must have told you that there are no two blades of grass exactly alike. But in streets, where the blades of grass don’t grow, everything is like everything else. This is why so many children who live in towns are so extremely naughty.” – E. Nesbit, The Five Children and It
Even a century ago when Ms. Nesbit was writing, people were concerned about the amount … Read More...
Most children respond to music from their earliest days; parents’ rhythmic crooning soothes, at least momentarily, a newborn. A silly song or jumpy nursery rhyme can divert an upset toddler. A song with a strong beat can help a preschooler march along beside you as you try to finish a grocery trip. Up until about age 13, a long car ride can be made more pleasant by singing all these songs and more. We are born with music inside us, … Read More...
If you’ve ever considered exploring Waldorf education, whether as an option for formal schooling, homeschooling or simply a way to create a particular type of home environment, you have very likely read a lot about playstands. If you’ve visited a Waldorf School, you’ve noted that they are a fixture in virtually every Waldorf kindergarten classroom. Perhaps you’ve wondered if they’re really all that important, given that they are rather bulky and may seem expensive. Will you be able to … Read More...
You likely have fond memories of family trips. You remember your parents packing provisions, stuffing suitcases and loading everyone up in the car. While, as a kid, what you knew was that you had an unforgettable summer vacation, as a parent, you have probably realized those trips must have been hours of work in the planning and tons of tedium in the execution. Upon further reflection, you might even remember some of the less pleasant parts—bickering, endless hours of nothing … Read More...
Nothing evokes a summer idyll like a lazy day spent at water’s edge. In Vermont, this means a lake or a pond, which means the water is as likely to be bordered by gravel or stones as sand, rather than the white sands a beach photo usually brings to mind. In any case, one thing we’ve learned in fifteen years of parenting is that while great memories can be created spending time at the beach, there are no guarantees that … Read More...
As you head into summer with your school-age children, you might be trying to find ways to support the academic advances they’ve made during the school year without making summer feel like an endless extension of school. Summer and other breaks are important for letting learning sink in, giving young minds time to mull over what they’ve covered in their school time and having plenty of free time to explore other interests. Still, there is evidence that shows that longer … Read More...
Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner and Charlotte Mason might not have agreed on many things regarding children and the best way to support their development. However, they all shared at least one similar premise, that children enjoy and even need work and other kinds of purposeful activity. They each had different ideas on how adults should meet this impulse but they all agreed it was there.
One place you might see it surface in your own children is through their … Read More...
A friend recently confided that she loves hammocks, but mostly to look at; she’s not the sort to laze about on a summer afternoon. Despite being, like my friend, averse to slothfulness, I choose to hang out a hammock. I have my reasons (which I will share) and my goal is to sit in it at least three times per summer. Otherwise, it’s mostly full of children, and that’s not a bad job for a hammock. Perhaps you have your … Read More...
