Screen time for little ones?

These days more and more small children and even babies are given gadgets with screens in order to amuse them and let them 'learn'. I have a question to put to their parents. "Do you really believe your child has accomplished this epic journey into life so that he or she can experience the virtual world?"

No. What small children long for, need and expect is to be given the opportunity to experience the truth of our marvelous and wonderful natural environment... the earth. And to come into face to face contact with those human beings who are connected with them.

It seems to me that we are increasingly required to make an intentional choice as to which way we want to go. Technology is brilliant. So very clever and, of course, often misleading because it can so easily be manipulated. Lies can be perpetrated and disseminated, whether they be visual or readable. Remember, there's a reason why, as reported by the New York Times, many Silicon Valley parents send their children to technology-free Waldorf/Steiner schools.

I myself grow more and more conscious of how much my energies are directed towards this virtual life. Yes, it has its own seductions and allure. That alone should set off warning bells. I doubt it's right and good to devote so much time to living in a virtual world.

But I'm an adult. A small child lacks discrimination and the ability to judge. You brought this individual into this world (or, in the case of adoption, have consciously taken responsibility for him or her). If you take that responsibility deeply and seriously you'll know it behooves you to keep children away from screens as long and as much as possible.

We are all in the midst of a great battle for the soul. Surely our precious babies have not come to earth to learn how to lead a virtual life but rather to learn more about how to be truly human.

Waldorf dolls and creativity

There seems to be a current, on-going discussion as to whether or not we can teach creativity. I venture to suggest creativity is there as potential in all of us, but much of modern life stifles it. I believe it can be re-awakened.

All we as parents have to do is to take care not to stifle our children's creativity, but let it remain open and free for as long and as much as we possibly can. Waldorf education is geared toward exactly this. But in considering the small child we can look to toys and in particular for this blog post, dolls.

See, in preparing for the launch of my ebook 'How to Welcome Your Spiritual Child' I was searching through all things Waldorf on facebook and came upon quite a few suppliers of what were termed 'Waldorf' dolls. But many of these, I felt, had been dollied up (sorry!) to appeal more to the parents-as-buyers rather than staying true to the impulse. A true Waldorf doll has no expression, but simply two dots for eyes and a dot for a mouth.

Let's say, Dolly is sad. But no, she can't be, because she's smiling. On the other hand, in those simple dots for eyes and mouth you have implicit the whole wealth of human emotion. And feeling is one of the roots of creativity. It's bet to leave the child's imagination free to add the expression his play requires.

Take a look at this delightful video!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=574339585975357

Words and Pictures

I wanted to write a bit more about reading to small children. My main advice is, Don't get stuck on the words!

My dad was a truly extraordinary story-teller. He could spin a fascinating yarn while thinking about a business problem... and very often, solving it. Quite amazing. But when he'd read something aloud to me, say from a book or the newspaper, he'd often play a kind of game. Somewhere along the story line he'd go off on a riff of his own. I think he waited to see how long it would take me to catch on and complain, "Dad-dee, that's not what it says. You're making it up!" Then he'd smile a special, mischievous smile.

I'd say there are two situations where diverging from the written text would be a good thing. Stories sometimes contain content that you intuit would be upsetting to your small child. So, be in charge and do a bit of editing. There's no rule that says you have to read every single word aloud. Fortunately, our brains are clever enough to allow us to read a bit ahead. Be aware.

Now here's the other situation. For very small children you don't need to stick to the words on the page at all. It's better for them if you simply explain and point out a little.

In my book 'Magical Motherhood' I actually recommend books without any words as a good place to start. These books by Magda Gerber are some of my most recommended, and much beloved of the grandsons. In addition, they bring an awareness of the seasons of the year, something which enhances the religious feeling as well as our connection with nature, as we know from Rudolf Steiner.

If I were showing a small child the page below, I'd simply say something like, "See, here's the little boy  planting seeds" and point to the picture. "Here he's putting tulips in a vase..."

In this kind of 'reading' children learn about the world in a loving way.

Soul detox for your child

March break is almost over. Vacation time often means that children have to be looked after by people other than their parents. This also means that your little ones might have been exposed to soul-disturbing images, stories, screen-time and such like.

I've written about this before, but think it's worth revisiting. In my experience the best antidote comes in the form of what we call fairy tales (although many of them don't feature elemental beings such as fairies, gnomes, dwarves etc.) Even children past the age of change-of-teeth can benefit. While we were in New Zealand earlier this year our ten year-old grandson was ill for a couple of days. He sat quietly while I read to him from 'French Fairy Tales'.

Having said this, I need to add a couple of cautions. Firstly, it's good if you're familiar with the tale before you start reading (telling, if you can manage it, is even better!) So my advice is to stick with the tried and true. Here's a quick list off the top of my head:

The Sweet Porridge (a good one to start with for the smaller child)
Sleeping Beauty
Snow White (a resurrection story appropriate for Easter and for a six year-old)
Snow White and Rose Red
Mother Holle
The Elves and the Carpenter
Rumpelstiltskin
Rapunzel
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
The Frog Prince
The Seven Dancing Princesses
The Musicians of Bremen (a favourite with my smallest grandson)
The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids
Cinderella
The Golden Goose
Jorinda and Joringel
The Star Money
Hans in Luck
Bearskin


It's good if you can read the original versions rather than a retell.
What's really important is to read as flatly as you can i.e. don't put expression or emotion in your voice. You want the child to live in the pictures because therein lies their healing and restoring power.

Ditch the plastics!

There's new evidence that gas off from plastic containers contaminates our food and interferes with our biology.
Years ago I remember hearing about a woman who threw away all hers, and I thought she must have been a bit crazy. I've changed my mind. But it's not easy to find alternatives, as even the stainless steel containers usually have plastic lids. Still, if you can avoid, I'd say it's worth the trouble.

(just a short note from your friendly Nana!)

And an update on the ebook, shortly to be released. I'm busy with copyedits, and hope to have 'How to Welcome Your Spiritual Child' available by the end of the month. My copy editor commented that she wished she'd had such a book when she was expecting.

Here's the cover, once again courtesy of my talented son-in-law, Richard Ian Heys.

Why organic bedding for your baby is important

I suppose it's good that we're discovering exactly how harmful some of our 'normal' furniture and household products are.

Organic bedding for your baby is expensive, but maybe the cost of not going that way is greater (?)

Check out this post http://www.treehugger.com/green-home/keep-your-baby-foam-crib-mattress.html