In my opinion a Waldorf Inspired Home consists of:
Natural toys
Festivals
a nature table
Sensory experiences: water, sand, warmth
climbing trees
a garden
good nourishing food
pleasant sounds, beautiful music, and a singing mama
Daily rhythm
limited media
All of these come somewhat easy for me, but the last two on the list.
To be blatantly honest I feel I have failed because I allowed media to come into my home and now have a hard time getting it out. So, I have decided I must be very selective.
I remember sitting in one of the first parent meetings for my class of First graders at a Waldorf School. I told the parents that the ideal was for their children to have no media exposure and listed so many reasons why. One being that it could impact the development of their pictorial imaging. More about that in a moment. Well when I said this to 20 parents sitting around me in a circle, one parent practically hooted with laughter, and said, "Well it is too late for that!". I laughed too as well as the rest, but I wondered why was it so hard. I did not have television in my home and only occasionally watched a movie or show on my laptop. Children would rather play right?
Well, then I gave birth to my first son who for his first two years lived in the perfect "Mothering with Mindfulness" bubble. We sat in the yard, gardened, only did errands when necessary, took long walks in the pram....
Then when he was 19 months old, our lives changed and my second son was born. With two, I did my best to shelter the senses from what is not so lovely in the world and give their senses all that blesses the soul.
Then nap time became difficult:
How do you put a 2 year old and a 5 month old down for a nap?
Well, I strapped one to my back and one to my front and walked around the house, to the mailbox, and into the dark bedroom for a 1/2 hour every day. Then gently placed them into their beds for a nice long 1 1/2- 2 hours nap. I then sat down, ate a baked good with tea or coffee, composed myself, and either did some cooking, sewing, or computer work. Occasionally, we would make a coffee run for Mama, and the boys would fall asleep on the way home, but the coffee run became exciting with all the interesting construction in our town.
And then, at 2 1/2 my big guy did not nap!!!!!
No nap!! All day, play, play, play!! And this meant that by dinner he was in pieces.
So one day I turned on a 1/2 hour of Mr. Rogers while I put his brother down for his nap.
He was much better composed afterwards, I watched his expressions while his brother nursed to sleep on the other side of the room. He turned and said, "Mama, Mr. Rogers is being funny!", or "Mama, I want to watch how they make bread again."
This turned into his "rest time". And when he gets it, he can go right back to his play in a more balanced state. This is also the result if I spend a 1/2 hour reading to him, but I often spend his 30 minutes having my own 1/2 hour.
In light of all that:
Many of my friends say, "You do what you need to!"
Some of my family says, "He should know who Donald Duck is!"
So I go through the days giving him his daily dose of Mr. Rogers, but on the days he wants more or asks for animation, I feel guilty.
This is why:
Rudolf Steiner talks a great deal about the feeling life and the importance of stories on this feeling life.
I have tons of examples about the impact of stories on children, it was the topic of my Master's thesis.
But, also the pictorial imagery of a story effects the mind and the soul. I have tried to explain this many times to loved ones with no avail. But essentially here it is: If you show a child a cartoon (Or even a picture book) with a character in it, say a mean rabbit that chases a cat around the yard, the child has a mental image of that rabbit with that mean angry face. Now we share with the child a story with a rabbit, if the story teller is not very elaborate with the description of the rabbit or it's temperament, the child may see in it's mind that ugly angry rabbit instead of a new picture he created on his own. I don't know for sure about this, but I do know that I think a great deal of animation is not beautiful or even close to how I would like my child to imagine animals.....
I have watched plenty of images on a screen that stayed with me for a very long time. I have tried to get rid of the image but can not. It is one of the reasons I can not watch violent movies, the news or those horrible CSI shows. I don't want those images in my mind. Some people are not like this. I know there are people who watch a movie where people are shooting the entire time and they say they are unaffected. Really?
But, our children are very impressionable. I think we need to be really aware of what we expose them too.
That being said, I watched my 3 1/2 year old's face as he watched an animated thunderstorm on Winnie the Pooh, and as a red snake ate a small turkey on the Nature Channel. He had a very different experience. The animated thunderstorm was intense, strange and not like a natural thunderstorm. He looked frightened. The snake was a surprise, but natural, and he looked concerned but calm.
So I am very selective of what he may watch. I prefer no animation. I see nothing wrong with watching Mr. Rogers Neighborhood as long as the time is limited and he still has time for plenty of play. I also think that an occasional nature program is an interesting and a nice break and I watch these with him. If you haven't experienced this, watch the Turkey documentary on the Nature channel. It is the most wonderful nature program I have ever seen. The footage of animals in Nature is awe inspiring.
There are so many things I am doing for my boys to develop their senses and preserve the joy of childhood.
I must remember this and continue to be selective if they are going to have a "rest time" that includes programming.
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