We Nurture: Waldorf Inspired Parenting

Welcome to the We Nurture Podcast, I’m Chinyelu.

I’m excited to tell you that I’m currently working on new content and a new format for season 5 which will be daily episodes!

Each day of the week, I will be releasing a 10 minute episode starting with Mindful Mondays, Blossoming Tuesdays, Inspirational Wednesdays, Seasonal Thursdays, and Q+A Fridays. The episodes will be filled with parenting tips, advice, and inspiration. I’ll be covering topics like “how to parent with respect,” dealing with mom guilt” and “building your confidence as a parent.”

My goal is to support you in your parenting journey with tools that will guide you on your own unique path!. I hope that you make We Nurture’s Season 5 episodes a part of your daily routine!

Follow us so that you don’t miss the beginning of Season 5 and all the exciting episodes that we’re creating just for you!

Please Rate and Review the podcast on Apple podcast or your listening platform as we’d love your support in helping us spread the word about We Nurture!

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This delightful story is about Little Munchkin and her quest to find a home before winter arrives. Although she spends her days helping Mother Nature’s children, like the butterflies and lizards, summer has gone and winter is on the way so it’s time for Little Munchkin to find a new home that she can snuggle into. “This story, (writes author, Susan Perrow) is positive encouragement that the almost impossible can be achieved”

You can find this story in Healing Stories for Challenging Behavior by Susan Perrow; Published by Hawthorn Press -  www.hawthornpress.com

Additional stories for children in books authored by Susan Perrow and Published by Hawthorn Press can be found in Therapeutic Storytelling and Behaviour Tales.

Ages 3 to 6

Clarabell lived in a small cottage by the sea and every morning she collected seashells by the shore. One day, Clarabell closed her eyes and made a wish. She wished to have her very own star. A little star heard Clarabell’s wish and started its journey down to earth.

We recommend this story for ages 3-7

About the Author - Christy Klincewicz

This is my 20th year as a Waldorf Early Childhood Educator.  My early experiences of exploring the wonder and beauty of the natural world and the reverent moments created by lighted candles on the Christmas tree and ringing a bell to invite the angels in, have shaped me to take up my work with young children.

The imaginations impressed upon my soul from the taste of cold, clear mountain streams and peeping into the magical worlds hidden beneath their mossy banks have given me a rich pictorial language.  I love creating stories where the world is good, kind friends help those in need and love weaves a mantle of safety and warmth.  Often these stories arise when the children say, “Tell us a story.”

Then I, too, listen as Mother of the Fairy Tales whispers in my ear.

To discover more please visit wenurturecollective.com/stories-for-children

It’s Springtime and Ruby Robin tries to wake up her friends Gracie Squirrel, Harley Hedgehog and Rusty Chipmunk to tell them that Lady Spring has arrived but they all want to keep sleeping. Then Ruby Robin has an idea.

Ages 2 - 4

Author - Mary Natale

Mary has been a teacher of young children for many years. She studied at the Institute of Child Study in Toronto, and upon graduating with her Ontario Teacher's Certificate and Diploma in Child Studies, she began working in a private setting, telling stories and engaging children in artistic activities. After teaching Kindergarten at the Toronto Catholic District School Board for ten years, to her delight, she discovered Waldorf education and has been working at the Toronto Waldorf School for the past sixteen years as an Assistant in the Nursery and Kindergarten programs.  “It was not until I began assisting in the Waldorf Early Childhood programs, where my soul was fed each day, that I began to write children's stories.” Mary lives in Toronto with her husband, two sons and two spoiled dogs - Joey and Charlie.

Once there was a forest where a great many birds made their homes and during the day the young birds played together with their friends. One day danger came to their forest and all the birds had to stay in their nests and could no longer play together. 

We recommend this story for ages 3 - 7 

About the Author - Stephen Spitalny is a writer, early childhood consultant and kindergarten teacher. He offers insight into early childhood development and into various aspects of the young child. Stephen offers individual consulting, lectures and courses for parents and teachers around the world since the early 1990s. 

He has taught at the Santa Cruz Waldorf School since 1990.  

Stephen’s first book, Connecting With Young Children: Educating the Will, was published in 2011. Conscious Parenting: A Guide to Living with Young Children and What's the Story: Storytelling as a Path Toward Living Happily Ever After were published in 2015. He has written numerous articles for various journals and magazines and book collections. His work has been translated into several languages. Visit chamakanda.com to learn more about Stephen and his work.

To discover more please visit wenurturecollective.com/stories-for-children

The story of The Three Little Deers and The Great Storm captures the young child's imagination. This therapeutic story was written for children to offer a sense of courage and triumph. The story is about three young deers who wander away from their home in the forest and when a great storm comes, they discover that they have the courage to find their way back home to their mother. 

Now Available for Pre-order - the companion book for this story is now available on wenurturecollective.com

Written by Chinyelu Kunz

We recommend this story for ages 3 to 6

To discover more about please visit wenurturecollective.com/stories-for-children

The setting is summertime and this is a simple story about the life of a caterpillar. Follow the journey of the caterpillar as he looks around for something to eat and inches through the grass, up hills and down hills, climbing over and under sticks. 

We recommend this story for ages 3 - 5

About the Author - Kristen McArthur is a Waldorf Early Childhood teacher at Alabama Waldorf School in Birmingham, AL.  Although she is relatively new to teaching, she loves stories and made this story up to tell her kindergarten class one year during summer camp. They enjoyed it, so she wrote it down! In this version, Kristen decided that the caterpillar would turn into a moth as butterflies get all the attention!

To discover more please visit wenurturecollective.com/stories-for-children

Daisy and Dilly are two Mama ducks that live in a beautiful little pond with all their ducklings. One day, they notice that their ducklings have grown so much that there’s not enough room in the pond or enough food for everyone. What can they do? 

We recommend this story for ages 2 - 7

About the Author - Anja Toddington

Anja moved to the UK from Germany nearly 30 years ago and she currently works as a Kindergarten teacher and early years manager at South Devon Steiner School in the UK, -  this is her 14th year at the school. 
The school is in a very rural and beautiful area, which provides the perfect inspiration for writing stories about animals, nature, and elementals.  Anja wrote this story many years ago as a transition story for a group of nursery children where some of them were moving up to the Kindergarten class that she would be teaching while others were staying in the Nursery with her assistant who became the Nursery teacher.
Please visit www.southdevonsteinerschool.org to learn more about Anja's school! 

To discover more about We Nurture, please visit wenurturecollective.com

A very sweet tale about a hedgehog named Pete who lived in a garden. One day, Pete falls asleep in the gardener's  basket. He wakes up and discovers that he’s on a journey!

We recommend this story for ages 3 - 7

About the Author - Jill Tina Taplin was born and brought up in the UK, graduated from university with a degree in philosophy and was busy until her early 30s as a gardener, house builder and mother.  Then she joined a group of parents founding a Steiner Waldorf school in the north east of Scotland, near a spiritual community.  Soon she found herself working in the kindergarten and discovered that was where she really wanted to be.  She worked as a kindergarten teacher in Scotland and Devon until 2008 when family reasons brought her to a new part of the UK with no Waldorf school nearby.  Since then she has expanded her interest in working with adults - students, teachers and parents – through working as a kindergarten mentor, workshop leader, adult education tutor and writer. She has completed an MA in Education (Steiner Philosophy) and now has commitments to support Steiner Waldorf early childhood training mainly in several countries around the world.  In addition to magazine and newsletter articles, she is co-author of Understanding the Steiner Waldorf Approach, published by David Fulton

To discover more please visit wenurturecollective.com/stories-for-children

Tobias is the talented tailor of the Kingdom of Timberlap. He lives alone with a timid mouse named Mabel. Although they never speak to each other, they help each other. One day Tobias is so ill that he cannot he cannot finish sewing Princess Rebecca’s dress and Mabel mouse comes to his rescue. 

Author - Mary Natale

Mary has been a teacher of young children for many years. She studied at the Institute of Child Study in Toronto, and upon graduating with her Ontario Teacher's Certificate and Diploma in Child Studies, she began working in a private setting, telling stories and engaging children in artistic activities. After teaching Kindergarten at the Toronto Catholic District School Board for ten years, to her delight, she discovered Waldorf education and has been working at the Toronto Waldorf School for the past sixteen years as an Assistant in the Nursery and Kindergarten programs.  “It was not until I began assisting in the Waldorf Early Childhood programs, where my soul was fed each day, that I began to write children's stories.” Mary lives in Toronto with her husband, two sons and two spoiled dogs - Joey and Charlie.

We recommend this story for ages 3 - 7

To discover more about please visit wenurturecollective.com/stories-for-children