Waldorf education: a missing piece in my healing (and parenting) journey I didn't know
How Waldorf's gentle, developmental-based approach made me understand my kids (and other kids) better plus RESOURCES to get started with Waldorf
I was pregnant with my second baby when I came across Waldorf Education in 2021. As context, I was a mom for 11 years, at this point, and have been working on myself for 7 years. Still my firstborn continued to test my patience and triggered me in ways I had no control over. You could say that my inner work would come dismantling once my firstborn started pushing my buttons.
It frustrated me whenever I’d lose my control and started screaming. I knew it was damaging, I knew it was wrong. But I didn’t know what to do. My patience wore thin with constant triggers so stopping to take mindful breaths wasn’t working most of the time.
It didn’t occur to me at that time that something was missing. I just thought I needed to learn how to work through my triggers and eventually reach a point where outbursts are reserved for truly upsetting behavior.
This is where Waldorf’s principle of understanding a child’s developmental stages and considering the whole child filled the gaping holes in my healing journey.
A game changer
As adults bombarded with daily responsibilities, we forget and lose touch with how children are (or how we were when we were kids) and how they perceive the world at certain ages.
It’s also so bad how today’s parenting and education spheres are so in awe of children who are obedient to a fault and can perform intellectual skills far advanced for their age. I was this parent before I read about Waldorf’s concepts. I didn’t realize that these are simply our insecurities as adults that are being projected onto the children, and it could be harmful for these little ones to be so ‘programmed’ and ‘mandated’ at a very early age.
These kids should be playing and exploring their environment instead of being dumped with adult intellectual facts, which makes them grow up too fast.
I was this parent. I had this mindset, which, in hindsight, is the core of my triggers. And Waldorf woke me up in this regard. I started seeing the child through their eyes and from where they are developmentally and it changed everything. It gave me the understanding and in turn the compassion towards my kids.
An uncertain start with Waldorf
When I first encountered Waldorf, I wasn’t looking for something to improve in my parenting and self-improvement sides because I wasn’t aware there was a missing piece. I learned about when we had just wrapped up our first year of homeschooling and I was on the hunt for the best way to homeschool my son who was artistic and very imaginative.
I briefly touched on most pedagogies: Reggio, Montessori, Charlotte Mason, and Waldorf. The thing is, I didn’t immediately take to Waldorf. I initially found Waldorf quite outdated because of how it looks on the surface: raw wooden toys, home-like classrooms, and vintage art styles. I was more accustomed to battery-powered toys, classrooms with projectors, and a 25:1 student-teacher ratio. Safe to say, Waldorf’s aesthetic didn’t appeal to me.
I decided to dive a bit into each pedagogy anyway but none resonated as deep as Waldorf. Once I started reading a book on it, I would, on several occasions, giggle in amazement at how its core aligned with our values as a family and as a homeschooling unit, not knowing yet it would have a huge impact on my inner work and parenting.
Waldorf insights we love
Disclaimer: I am not sure if I will give justice to any of these concepts, I simply want to share our experience through this section, so I urge you to read up on the resources at the end to learn about Waldorf.
Developmentally appropriate
Waldorf is based on how human nature takes its course, which means the lessons all depend on the child’s current phase of brain development. This also means nothing too advanced and everything at an appropriate pace, resulting in letting kids be kids and not making them grow up too fast by introducing adult-level facts early on. Because of this 'appropriate' level of learning, I found my kid to be more engrossed in the topic and not space out into who-knows-where because his mind wasn’t ready and developed enough for a certain advanced topic yet. We see it as ‘there’s time for everything.’
Waldorf aims to protect the natural progress of children’s development.
Slow-paced
Adding to the point above, we love how Waldorf does not subscribe to traditional schools' one lesson per week.. because how could a child retain all this information?! And how could it be interesting if kids have to play catch-up all the time? Based on my school experience, it was information overload and overstimulation all the time so my mind was always elsewhere whenever the teacher was discussing.
Waldorf, on the other hand, really dives deep into one topic as they design each lesson to run through a 4-6 week course. When we started homeschooling using the Waldorf approach, I noticed a huge change in my son. He started remembering and retaining most lessons and showed enthusiasm and genuine interest in the topics. I think it’s because it's slower, more interesting facts are being learned, and appropriate for his age.
Considers the whole child
It factors in the whole child - body, soul, and spirit (or intellectual, emotional, physical, artistic, and spiritual facets). How? Waldorf incorporates several ways to stimulate these different layers.
For example, in early childhood, compared to the usual way of teaching letters (letting kids write and trace each letter and showing images of things that start with it), Waldorf teaches letters through stories, images, and movements.
It is said that new concepts (letters in this case) are foreign to children and wouldn’t relate to them because they don’t have a relationship with these concepts yet, so stories and involving the body will help bridge that gap and, in effect, make learning more impactful and successful.
By first and foremost making a connection with the child through the imagination and the arts, the lessons really permeate and stick with the child.
Through stories, the imagination and feeling (soul) realm are awakened, while the body is involved through the movement, which also enriches the soul in the end.
Urges inner work for parents and carers
Waldorf also believes that everything affects the child, especially from ages 0-7. It is said that children in this phase are like sense organs in the way that they are sensitive to everything and absorb everything, too. They get the sense of whatever is around them and nothing is wrong in their eyes. This is especially shown by how they easily imitate whatever is going on around them and how they easily get overwhelmed.
Considering this, Waldorf urges parents, teachers, and caregivers to work on themselves so that they will be worthy models to imitate for the kids. Whatever baggage the adult carries with them will eventually show and the children are bound to absorb them.
Another reason is any adult who doesn’t work on him or herself cannot and will not create a nurturing, loving, and compassionate environment for the kids.
Flexible and inclusive
It is simultaneously flexible and inclusive. Flexible because the curriculum can be customized to fit any culture, value, race, and religion; inclusive because it welcomes all cultures, races, and religions.
Spiritual but not religious (celebrates all religions, too)
Lessons from the Waldorf curriculum we chose have talked about Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism, to name a few. It presents concepts from the different religions in a non-preachy and matter-of-fact way and extracts important lessons from each religion for the child to learn from and take with them throughout their life.
Important dates from all the religions are also observed.
Nature-based
It promotes living in reverence for the earth, being in sync with the earth’s seasons, and the usage of toys and clothes made from natural materials.
Resources
Books
The Kingdom of Childhood by Rudolf Steiner (free download here)
Heaven on Earth: A Handbook for Parents of Young Children by Sharifa Oppenheimer
Beyond the Rainbow Bridge: Nurturing Our Children from Birth to Seven by Barbara Patterson and Pamela Bradley
You Are Your Child’s First Teacher by Rahima Baldwin Dancy
Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne
Seven Times the Sun by Shea Darian
Podcast
Waldorfy by Ashley Renwick
A Waldorf Journey Podcast by Meredith