We Nurture: Waldorf Inspired Parenting

Join me in the first episode of season 6 as I talk about how you can  resolve conflict of needs (your's and your child's) through understanding and connection. The focus of this episode will be on parenting with loving kindness instead of fear,  fear that is communicated through threats. 

When you parent with loving kindness, your relationship with your child strengthens. Although, it will take time, in fact years of consistently meeting your child’s needs in loving kind ways, there are steps you can take that will guide you. I'll mention these steps in the episode.

Key Points From This Episode:

• The focus of Mindful Mondays. 
• Introducing today’s topic: parenting through love instead of fear. 
• The opposite of parenting with loving-kindness: threats. 
• The negative effect of fear on a child. 
• An example of a scenario where you can choose to parent with kindness.
• The importance of understanding why your child has a negative response to an instruction.
• Some helpful steps to parent mindfully.
• Step one: pause to reflect and gather yourself. 
• Step two: connect then connect with touch. 
• Step three: validate your child’s feelings. 
• Step four: hold a boundary if needed.
• Step five: connect and comfort. 
• Step six: restate the boundary if needed. 
• Step seven: follow through with loving words and actions. 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

We Nurture Collective

We Nurture on Instagram

We Nurture on Facebook

We Nuture on Spotify

We Nuture on Apple Podcasts

Website

Instagram

Welcome back to the We Nurture Podcast!  We are so excited to announce that Season 6 will be starting next Monday.  Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss the first episode.

Subscribe to our newsletter, The We Nurture Journal, to be notified when the season has begun and to receive updates throughout the season!

This story was written by Susan Perrow and is a therapeutic story. Children will enjoy it whether it is used for therapeutic reasons or not. It is a story "about the wonder of rain and water - written to encourage children to drink water instead of asking for sweetened drinks every time they are thirsty. The story was inspired by an intricately carved Chinese scene set in a glass box, with mountains and valleys and two white cranes feeding in the grasses by a curved wooden bridge."

We recommend this story for ages 3 - 7

Therapeutic Storytelling by Susan Perrow

Published by Hawthorn Press

To discover more about 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.

Thirty sunsets and a moon - volume one

A collaborative project by Ashley J. May & Jessica Lewis Stevens

“This is a sweet tale I love to share with children. Especially my own children. It is a tale of everyday childhood wonder, rooted in their own family histories. A testament to the power of oral tradition and intergenerational storytelling to bring two small boys into the arms of their grandparents, in spite of the oceans and heavens between them. It really comes to life with the addition of puppetry such as a story doll, a woolly butterfly and a shining crescent moon hanging from a string. Little stones, leaves and bits of nature are the perfect finishing touches for this Ramadan tale. But, it’s just as beautiful told to children at bedtime or while seated on your lap.”   Ashley J. May

We recommend this story for all ages!

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

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.

This Chinese fairy tale beautifully describes how four friends think of each other even on the coldest winter day.

We recommend this story for ages 3 to 7

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

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

Valentino and the Rainbow Hearts
Valentino, the Valentine fairy woke up sneezing and sick just five sleeps before Valentine’s day. There was still so much work to do to get ready for Valentine’s day. What would Valentino do? 

We recommend this story for ages 3 to 7

About the 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.

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

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.

Rosy's Valentine's Day Cards
Valentine’s day would soon be here and Rosy was so excited that she could hardly wait. She decided to make Valentine's cards for her Mamma and Pappa and her friends too! After her Mamma found the crafting box Rosy set to work making cards for Valentine’s day. 

We recommend this story for ages 3 to 7

About the Author - Chinyelu Kunz, Founder of We Nurture Collective. In 2020, after 25 years as a Waldorf early childhood educator, my growing passion to support parents of young children, on a bigger platform, led me to leave classroom teaching. I created my parenting podcast, We Nurture quickly followed by The Stories for Children podcast. I love writing stories for children and hope to do this more in the future.

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

A tale about a little girl who wished for a little friend to carry in her pocket. She finds a little gnome living under a mushroom and takes him home with her. The little gnome turns out to be quite cheeky and discourages her from helping with chores at home until the fairies come with their twinkling light which tickle her fingers and soon her hands helping.

We recommend this story for ages 3 - 7

About the Author - Connie Manson

“Throughout childhood I loved performing! It was to me a vehicle to connect with others in a joyful, meaningful way. Not long after completing a theatre arts degree, I was asked by a fellow graduate to help perform puppet stories for school children. We knelt in a large black box, holding the puppets above our heads, so we never had the opportunity to see the children's faces, but I was struck by how silent they were throughout the entire show. Later after beginning the journey as a teacher in a classroom, whenever a puppet troupe traveled to our school, it was unforgettable to see how strongly the children connected with the puppets! 

The journey continued after beginning my Waldorf teacher training, where I discovered a treasure trove of nurturing stories, and a puppet storytelling style adored by children.  Starlite Puppets was born, and thus began the journey of sharing music and puppetry worldwide.” 

Discover more about Connie and her work at  starlitepuppets.blogspot.com

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

Long, long ago there lived a man whose name was Bishop Nicholas. Like so many people today, Bishop Nicholas cared for people near and far and always helped those in need. One day he heard about some people in a far away land who needed food and so he called for his helpers to gather food so that he could take it to the hungry children and their families. A beautiful story that reminds us to help those in need.

We recommend this story for ages 3 to 7

A traditional Waldorf Advent story

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