I write this post today on this, my 37th birthday. Though I am largely unconcerned with the whole business of aging; changing body, grey hairs, wrinkles, etcetera, I must admit that the sheer speed at which the recent years have passed does alarm me a bit. 37 years old, all of a sudden!

While I don’t consider 37, or any particular age, to be “old” (whatever that means), I do stagger a bit at how quickly I went from being – I don’t know – 27 to 37. I was 27 just yesterday, I swear!

The last decade has been a blur of courtship, marriage and career pursuits followed by babies, domesticity and motherhood, which is my happy reality today in this present space of time. It has been a beautiful stage of life.

There is much to be proud of over the past decade, including the rather grown up affairs of finally getting my drivers license and becoming an Australian citizen; not to mention the incredible feat that is growing not one but two little miracles of life and delivering those extraordinary beings into this world via this mature aged body of mine. Today, at 37, I am happy with where my life is at, and I am also happy with where we are headed as a family.

It has been 7 months since we began this Waldorf journey and it is time to reflect on what we are doing that is working and what needs more attention. Back in January I was keen to get started as soon as the formal school year began when Big Daddy went back to work. We began in haste after minimal preparation: I had An Introduction to Steiner Education under my belt, I’d aggressively devoured the contents of the Christoperus Homeschool Resources Practical Waldorf at Home Early Years package, I bought us the bare minimum in materials (Stockmar wax crayons, watercolour paints and modelling wax, as well as an assortment of general craft supplies) and we were off.

Where we got it right

When I ask myself what I feel we have done well, I think that we have laid an excellent foundation. We have stuck by our commitment to cut out all media for the kids (and I have attempted to minimise my use of the same in the company of our kids, though I need to work more at this). We have introduced the ritual of lighting a candle at mealtimes, holding hands and singing a blessing of gratitude for Mother Nature and all those who worked to make it possible for the food to be on our table. We have developed, and been grounded by, a weekly rhythm that has given our days more purpose and meaning. We have endeavoured to spend more time in the outdoors, to spend more time including Master C in our household activities and slow down our pace. I feel we have made a good start.

Where we need to put more focus

Rhythm through Verses & Song

The areas that need more attention include the very Waldorf-y rituals of singing and reciting verses at transitional times throughout the day. I discovered this beautiful bedtime verse just last night on Pinterest:

Come to bed, my little lamb,
The time for play is gone,
The Sleep Night Queen beckons us to bed,
So put your jammies on.
I can hear her gentle voice:
Come on now, sleepy-head
I have some happy dreams for you,
When you’re safe in bed!

Beautiful, right?

What it comes down to on my end is investing more time in memorising verses and actually remembering to weave them appropriately throughout the day. Currently the only time we do this is at mealtime and tidy-up time, but there are so many more times throughout our day where verses or song could be used to infuse our day with more rhythm: upon waking, when cooking, when cleaning, when painting or making crafts, at bathtime…not to mention the various verses and songs that are specific to each season or festival. I’ve collected a nice assortment of verses and songs on my Verses Pinterest board if you are interested in bringing this kind of literal rhythm into your home as well.

Storytelling

Another area that needs work is storytelling using just words, and maybe some simple props. We kind of fell off the bandwagon a bit on this one. Initially I had planned to have a “Story of the Week” but struggled to find a new one each week that was age appropriate. I had been using this list from the Steiner Library to guide me toward fairy tales that are suited to children of Master C’s vintage, but I can see now with the clarity of hindsight that I did not give each story the thorough time and repetition it deserved. As it turns out, young children prefer the same old stories over and over again, so my plan now is to sit with one story for several weeks before moving on to another. I would also like our craft projects to go hand in hand with this; such as making finger puppets, or using modelling wax, to create representations of the characters in the story being told, or used during free play when Master C is re-creating the story himself later on.

Personal Development & Education

In terms of my own personal development and expanding on my understanding of Steiner Early Childhood Education and philosophy, I am currently reading both Rhythms of Learning and You Are Your Child’s First Teacher. Additionally, Big Daddy and I have committed to filling our own cups, as they say, with every-other-night yoga and meditation practice – something we have done on and off throughout the years we have been together but never as consistently as we would like. I’ve joined My Yoga Online and it is SO AWESOME I HAVE TO USE ALL CAPS. I used to be big into yoga back in my pre-children days but haven’t found a way to make it work since babies. I need the guidance of a class – I just can’t motivate myself without one. And yet, attending yoga classes three times a week, as is my ideal, is simply not a possibility for this mama. Enter My Yoga Online.

My Yoga Online is a collection of about a zillion different yoga/pilates/meditation classes of varying length, in levels from Beginner to Advanced, in every style available, filmed on location guided by expert yogis all around the world (but mostly North America). They even have yoga/dance fusion classes!! It blows my mind. Big Daddy and I have been taking classes through this site for many months now, but I’ve yet to really even scratch the surface of what it has to offer. Highly recommend. Can’t wait to get stuck further into it.

Parenting with Peace

Lastly, and definitely most importantly, I am determined to continue to work at being more loving, gentle, patient and kind to my children. I strive to embody these qualities and many days I am successful. Also many days I am not. I know that it is entirely my own responsibility to manage my reactions to the irritations of day-to-day life. I also know that if I do not take care of myself: if I don’t get enough sleep, or prioritise time for things like body work, or artistic projects, I start to wear a bit around the edges. It takes strength, discipline and determination to remain calm in the face of the domestic madness that surrounds a mother of two small boys (or girls for that matter, I can only imagine). I wish to be more centred in myself around the boys on a more consistent basis. I aim to manage the hard moments with more grace and acceptance, with less reactivity. A few weeks back I wrote the following on my white board to remind myself each time my eyes fell upon it:

Complain less
Be more kind
Smile more
Be silly

With all this in mind, I am excited about the months that still lay ahead this year, as it appears that I have my work cut out for me.

Thank you, as always, for your company along the path of our journey.

xx
Robyn