We Nurture: Waldorf Inspired Parenting

Today is Q&A Friday on The We Nurture Podcast and our Instagram followers voted for todays topic on how to end non-stop begging. First, I’ll discuss why begging is a learned behavior and the importance of teaching your child to accept your decision. I also discuss why suppressing your child’s emotions is not helpful for establishing healthy communication. Next, I’ll talk about how you can calm yourself and really listen to your child and then I’ll go through some steps you can take to help your child stop begging. I’ll look into three examples of how you can help your child learn to wait before discussing three things you can avoid doing in a begging situation. Finally, I’ll discuss the role you may be playing in modeling this learned behavior and encourage you to self-reflect in order to help your child learn how to wait. Tune in to end your child’s begging today!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Why begging is a learned behavior. 
• The importance of teaching children to accept their parents’ decisions. 
• The importance of allowing your children to express their emotions and not suppressing them.
• Establishing healthy communication. 
• Some steps to help you stop your child’s begging. 

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Today on Seasonal Thursday, I'll discuss how to create spring rituals as a way to refresh, restore, and reconnect. Spring is known as a time for an evaluation of what we should keep and let go of, mindfully connecting to areas in our life that need focus. I'll explore how these rituals are a way to inspire fresh ideas and shift focus in the home, body, and soul. During today’s episode, you will learn how to implement a slow and intentional daily practice and the benefits it has for a child’s well-being. With the goal of creating self-care, love, and joy, you'll understand how consistency and predictability are key to nurturing your child's growth. Don’t know where to start? Tune in to learn simple and effective techniques to create mindful and engaging day-to-day practices.

Key Points From This Episode:

• The positive outcomes of using spring rituals for refreshing and restoring your home, body, and soul. 
• How you and your child can nurture areas of your day-to-day life with valuable intentions.
• How cornerstones and healthy rhythms promote balance in a child’s life.
• Exploring the importance and benefits of creating rituals.
• How rhythm, reverence, and rituals lead to peace, calm, and joy.
• Incorporating spring rhythms into your rituals to promote reconnection to increase a child’s wellbeing.
• How to use each day to focus on individual rituals. 
• Four examples of simple, consistent rituals to create and shape your own daily practice.
• Rituals that nourish your body.
• The importance of mindfulness when creating new rituals for your child. 

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Trust is the foundation of all relationships. Today on inspirational Wednesday on the We Nurture Podcast, I am helping you find ways to build a trusting relationship with your child. First, I’ll discuss why trust is so important for the development and blossoming of children and look at what happens when there is no trust between children and parents. I’ll then talk about how to build trust with your child in the early years of infancy and toddlerhood before discussing how keeping your word and building a healthy rhythm builds trust. Lastly, Ill delve into a few other ways to build trust and look into some signs that your child trusts you. Tune in to be inspired to build a trusting relationship with your child!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Why trust is essential for children.
• What happens when there is no trust between parent and child. 
• How to build trust with your child in the early childhood years.
• The importance of thinking before you speak as a parent to build a trusting relationship.
• How a healthy rhythm or structure to the day builds trust. 

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The ability to understand your child's drawings gives you a new perspective into their own, private world. Today on Blossoming Tuesday, I explore drawing as a process of developing interconnections and expressing emotions through different shapes and images. I'll describe the positive exploration, expressive, and anchoring processes a child goes through by drawing. I will  guide listeners through the sequences and phases of development to give  a glimpse into the growth of a child's individuality. I will talk about how to better understand the beginning of a child’s thought, separation of their inner and outer world, and development into their own human being. Drawing is a unique experience through movement and impressions, and it allows us to follow along with a child on their developmental pathway. Tune in to discover why you should not ask a child to explain their drawings, but rather attempt to understand a child through their drawings. 

Key Points From This Episode:

• The positive, explorational processes children go through while drawing. 
• A look at children's developmental stages in relation to their drawings.
• Looking at the early phase, middle phase, and late phase of children’s development.
• The importance of a child’s experiences of drawing with no need for explanations.
• How a sense of individuality and being human emerges through a child’s drawings.
• The connections between the phases of a child’s drawings and their phases of play.
• How to understand and follow the journey of the shapes and images your child draws.
• Explaining different theories and potential meanings of different-shaped drawings.

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Welcome to the We Nurture Stories for Children podcast. 

We utilize the power of storytelling to encourage language development, inspire moral growth, and enliven the imagination. We hope you enjoy the timeless activity of getting lost in a good tale.

There was once a little bunny rabbit named Billy who lived in a burrow with his mommy, daddy and brothers and sisters. The burrow was very snug for the bunny family and as the baby brothers and sisters began to grow bigger, it became rather squashy.  Billy was the youngest and the smallest of the family and he found it most squashy of all. One day Billy had an idea that would keep him from being squashed all the time.

We recommend this story for ages 3 - 7

About the Author - Jill Tina Taplin 

Jill 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

After a full day of work, school, or daycare, you and your child may have been apart for many hours. Today, on Mindful Monday, I'll share some strategies for reconnecting with your child at the end of the day. Firstly, I discuss how important it is to reconnect with yourself before you reconnect with your child. Next, you’ll learn a simple breathing exercise to help you do so and I'll discuss how important it is to slow your thoughts down in these moments. Lastly, you’ll discover four ways that you can reconnect with your child through physical touch, by creating rituals, and more. I hope you’ll join us!

Key Points From This Episode:

• The importance of reconnecting with yourself before reconnecting with your child. 
• I'll offer a breathing exercise to help you reconnect with yourself.
• How important it is to slow your thoughts down.
• Four ways you can reconnect with your child. 

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Today is Q&A Friday on the We Nurture Podcast, and I will be sharing tips on how to create a Waldorf atmosphere for your children at home. I'll discuss the foundation of the Waldorf education system and how you can begin to create a similar atmosphere in your home. You’ll learn how important it is to develop yourself as a parent, as well as how rhythm contributes to the Waldorf atmosphere, and I'll delve into what it means to embody a space before listing the three most important rooms in a house and what you can do to create a Waldorf atmosphere in them. Lastly, I'll list some helpful tips to turn your home into a Waldorf education-inspired space, so make sure to join me to make the most out of this incredible philosophy within your home!

Key Points From This Episode:

• A few foundational insights into the Waldorf philosophy 
• How you can begin to create a Waldorf atmosphere in your home.
• The importance of self-development in creating a Waldorf atmosphere.
• How rhythm supports the creation of the physical space.
• Kitchen: something to stand on to include your little ones in cooking and cleaning.
• Family room: organize toys in baskets or shelves to develop an orderly way of thinking. 
• Bedroom: a less busy room that creates a peaceful and restorative environment. 
• Tips to help transform your home into a Waldorf-inspired atmosphere!

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Have you ever noticed changes within you as seasons change? Well, your child feels those changes too! Today is Seasonal Thursday on the We Nurture Podcast and I am talking about changes in your child during Spring. First off I'll discuss how spring affects children’s movements and growth. I also delve into how temperature changes can affect health and what your body craves in terms of nourishment from food. I then discuss how a child’s rhythm changes during spring as well as why it is so important to have a consistent rhythm to make your child feel safe while allowing it to be flexible. I'll  give an example of a spring rhythm. Next, I talk about in-breath and out-breath activities as well as some ways to connect with the energy of spring. Lastly, I talk about how important time spent outside is for development and nourishment during this season. Join me for the full episode to learn more about how spring rhythms can be used to nurture your child.

Key Points From This Episode:

• How spring affects children’s movements. 
• How spring affects your child’s growth.
• The way in which the changes in temperature can affect your child’s health.
• How your rhythm changes during spring. 
• The importance of rhythm for nurturing your child. 
• How we bring together a rhythm that’s predictable, consistent and still flexible.
• The importance of sleep time for children. 
• An example of a spring rhythm. 
• Examples of in-breath and out-breath activities. 
• The importance of movement for children.
• Some ways to connect with the energy of spring.
• The importance of being outside during spring

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For this episode of Inspirational Wednesday, we are unpacking the important concept of setting boundaries with your child. You can expect to hear all about how to create and hold healthy boundaries, with a focus on kindness, connecting, and love. It should come as no surprise that boundaries are absolutely  necessary, as they help to build trust and put your child on the path towards a manageable adulthood. In this episode we look at boundaries from two different angles; firstly giving three points of consideration before setting up a boundary, and then the three steps that you can implement when holding and reinforcing the limitation you have put in place. Listeners will come away with some great practical tips for certain scenarios, as well as a few reminders about what it means to model healthy behavior, so make sure to join us to hear it all!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Implementing a proactive approach to creating boundaries instead of a reactive one. 
• Using a loving and kind approach to setting boundaries with a child.  
• The importance of a child's age, development, and personality when setting boundaries.  
• Why consistency is so vital in determining the efficacy of a boundary. 

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While it is true that all children develop at their own pace when it comes to speech, there are ways you can nurture their development. Today on Blossoming Tuesday I talk about how you can support your child’s speech development to help them blossom. I discuss how language develops from birth to preschool age and I break down the first five years of speech development. I also explain how important it is to understand that your child’s communication abilities may not parallel their emotional age until age seven and I  give tips to help with speech development and explain the connection between language and movement. I discuss games and activities that can support speech. Finally, I explain the importance of solo play to assist in language development. Tune in to We Nurture Podcast to help your child’s speech blossom!

 Key Points From This Episode:

• Introducing today’s topic: Speech Development.
• A brief overview of how speech develops from birth to preschool age. 
• Year one: crying and the dangers of letting them cry.
• Three to six months: laughing.
• Six to nine months: two-syllable words and understanding meaning. 
• 12 to 18 months: imitating sound and pitch. 
• 18 to 24 months: two-word sentences. 
• Year two: naming things and the dangers of correcting your child. 
• Year three: multiple words, even sentences with lots of words, asking why and the use of “I”. 
• Year four: complex sentences.
• Year five: good vocabulary and complex sentence structure. 
• The importance of understanding your child’s emotional age. 
• Tips to help with your child’s speech development. 
• The connection between movement and speech development. 
• How reading, songs, and nursery rhymes help with language. 
• How rapid movement games and household chores support speech development. 
• The importance of allowing your child alone time to digest what they’ve learned. 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

We Nurture Collective

We Nurture on Instagram

We Nurture on Facebook

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