October 14, 2018 Collect moments, not things. As a child, I remember starting “collections” of dolls, or figurines, or coins, or other items. At first the collecting was exciting, and family members always knew what to get me for my birthday or for Christmas. After awhile, I just really just wasn’t into that thing anymore, […]
Living Arts Weekly: Collecting Read More »
October 7, 2018 Warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child. – Carl Jung When I think of the gifts that LifeWays North America brings to families and early childhood programs, I believe one of the greatest is Warmth. Not only the attention to the physical
Living Arts Weekly: Warming Read More »
August 26, 2018 The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new. -Socrates This back-to-school time brings us face to face with change. Parents line up their children for the ceremonial back to school photo and marvel at how much they’ve grown
Living Arts Weekly: Changing Read More »
May 6, 2018 By seeking and blundering we learn. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Head down, eyes keen, I walk in silence searching for morels. The trickster mushrooms resemble every leaf on the forest floor, hidden from view of those who don’t have their “morel eyes” on. Some people are gifted at finding morels. They
Living Arts Weekly: Seeking Read More »
I believe that one of the greatest contributors to disconnection from our children today is technology. I feel it is has somewhat replaced one of our most cherished threads of bonding in families, the art of storytelling. The origins of storytelling are ancient and lost in the mist of time. I imagine one of the
Storytelling from the Heart by Cynthia Wand Read More »
My oldest child never went to daycare. When he started school in 2005, he was barely 4 years old and entering Pre-Kindergarten. Pre-kindergarten is for 3’s turning 4, so he was right on target. A few days before the start of school, I actually tracked down his teacher’s home phone number and called her. I
We Can Do It (Leaving our Children in Capable Hands) by Jennifer Stone Grimes Read More »
Dahlia writes: Starting in first grade, our son began to use words that were not part of our household such as, “I hate you” to his little sister. I started to talk to him about how powerful our words are and shared Dr. Emoto’s work in his book, The Hidden Messages in Water, where he put
The Power and Importance of Language by Dahlia Moon Read More »
Before I had children I didn’t even know how to spell “rhythm.” I had gotten used to doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted as a single person: making my own schedule where I could paint 24 hours straight and sleep for 12 hours every other day; loving my footloose and fancy-free life of being
How to use Rhythm to Create your Family Culture by Dahlia Moon Read More »
People all over the country have been protesting the travel ban that prohibits people from certain countries from traveling to the United States. There has been so much talk of building a wall to separate our nation from the “others” that the school age children in my life are expressing fears and asking questions. The me
All are Welcome by Jaimmie Stugard Read More »
When my mentor, Judy Frizlen, Director of the Rose Garden Early Childhood Center in Buffalo, New York, first asked me what I wanted to do for my final LifeWays project, I was convinced that I should write a paper on a Steiner educational theory as it related to Early Childhood Development. Feeling as if I
Four Seasonal Nature Ladies by Laura Phillips Read More »
