Simplicity Parenting -by Kim John Payne
Annette
Kim John Payne is coming from a specifically Waldorf Educational background, which shines through very clearly, but the book is totally accessible IMO to anyone who is NOT familiar with Waldorf methods and traditions.
One of the things he touches on and that you would see in a Waldorf or Stiener school is that the class room is anything BUT overwhelming. Everything down to the color of the walls is meticulously chosen and with intention. There is a focus on natural fibers and elements always being the backdrop in the room, and you will see plants in pots around the room, bringing nature indoors whenever possible. There may be work the children have done on the walls, but there is no "decoration" made from paper cartoony imagery. There may be a mobile that the teacher made of birds handing from a branch or fairies or angels...something ethereal.
The key though would be simplicity and everything has a place.
Quoting MidnightRambler:I have one more comment to make (I hope it's relevant since I haven't read this book). I visited DD's future kindergarten class and was impressed with the building and the teachers, but the actual classroom seemed cluttered and overwhelming to me. There were posters up with winter scenes on them and it was May. There were nursery rhymes and the alphabet and everything you would expect, but there was SO MUCH of it. I found it overstimulating myself and I was only there for a few minutes!
Anyway, I read some reviews on amazon and bought this book (it isn't at my library yet).
Lorel
I'm only 13% into the book (funny how technology makes things more accurate). I haven't bookmarked that much yet, though this is what I have so far...
Page 1: "It is never too late to bring inspiration and attention to the flow of family life. Parents of young children will find many seeds here to plant toward a family live that continues to protect and nurture as children grow. But every stage in a family's evolution can benefit from a little more space and grace, a little less speed and clutter."
Page 5: "We are building our daily lives, and our families, on the four pillars of too much: too much stuff, too many choices, too much information, and too much speed. With this level of busyness, distractions, time pressure and clutter (mental and physical), children are robbed of the time and ease they need to explore their worlds and their emerging selves. And since the pressures of "too much" are so universal, we are "adjusting" at a commensurately fast pace. The weirdness of "too much" begins to seem normal. If the water we are swimming in continues to heat up, and we simply adjust as it heats, how will we know to hop out before we boil?"
Page 26: "As parents we must not become "harmony addicted." It's tempting to hope that every day might be a sort of "rainbow experience" for our children. Wouldn't that be nice? If only we could suspend them in a sort of happiness bubble. But they need conflict. As Helen Keller noted, "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet." Children need to find ways to cope with difficult situations; they need to learn that they can."
Page 26: "By overprotecting them we may make their lives safer (that is, fever free) in the short run, but in the long run we would be leaving them vulnerable, less able to cope with the world around them"
I'm currently reading the section that deals with quirkiness of kids and how stress can push any child to the undesirable side of their spectrum. The author compares the development of character and emotional resiliency to the immune system. Very interesting!! It really resonates with what I have witnessed with my own children.
Quoting Imamom4sure:lorel, do you have any gem quotes from the book? or its not really quotes but passages?
The Self Aware Parent By Fran Walfish
- boomamma
(Annette) on May. 27, 2011 at 7:42 PM