June 20, 2021 My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, ‘You’re tearing up the grass.’ ‘We’re not raising grass,’ Dad would reply. ‘We’re raising boys.’ –Harmon Killebrew As Father’s Day approaches I have really enjoyed recalling times when my dad played with me […]
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June 13, 2021 Going barefoot is the gentlest way of walking and can symbolise a way of living – being authentic, vulnerable, sensitive to our surroundings. It’s the feeling of enjoying warm sand beneath our toes, or carefully making our way over sharp rocks in the darkness. It’s a way of living that has the
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June 6, 2021 Woodland Rain A story and a song by Jaimmie Stugard, Director of LifeWays Early Childhood Center in Milwaukee, WI It was a cool, early spring day. All of the woodland creatures were out at play. Mother bunny led her little baby bunnies – hippity, hoppity, hippity, hoppity – through the wood. While
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May 30, 2021 Resilience is more complex than simply popping up again. -Joan Almon This past “year and some months” was HARD for many people. Parents, faced with the task of raising their young humans without the expected support systems, certainly felt the struggle. According to a new study led by researchers from the University
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May 23, 2021 All real living is meeting. – Martin Buber The Whisk from Cynthia Aldinger, founder of LifeWays North America Malls are not my thing. Actually, shopping is not my thing. It was not something I missed when the government began restricting human encounters. However, there was something I missed, had been missing
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May 16, 2021 Instead of bringing a worn-out human being to a sanitarium, it were far better to bring him into an environment where he would be happy, at first soul-happy, but also physically happy. When you put a human being into an environment of joy, in which with each step he takes an inner
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May 9, 2021 Every progressive, inclusive thought is only as powerful as the ritual it permeates. – Swati Bhattacharya As our Muslim friends around the world prepare to celebrate the end of Ramadan this week, I have been reflecting on the importance of bringing a variety of festivals to children. I believe it is essential
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May 2, 2021 As the Covid disruption continues, many schools have canceled their May Day celebrations. My little farm program in Wisconsin, however, made our very first maypole this year. The kids harvested their own pole by carrying a dead tree out of the forest and adorning it with ribbons. As we practiced the maypole
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April 25, 2021 Weaver John, a song by Benjamin Russel Hanby (1833-1867) Down in a cottage lives Weaver John And a happy old John is he Maud is the name of his dear old dame And a blessed old dame is she. Refrain Whick-ity, whack-ity, click and clan How the shuttles do glance and ring,
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April 18, 2021 Accept the children the way we accept trees – with gratitude, because they are a blessing – but do not have expectations or desires. You don’t expect trees to change; you love them as they are. — Isabel Allende Recently, I visited my brother and sister to prune fruit trees at their house;
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