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Quote of the Week
"Life is really simple but we insist on making it complicated"
--Confucius
Simplicity Parenting In A World That Asks Too Much
Much of today’s best parenting advice....[ ] shares the same message: healthy child-parent relationships are the result of healthy attachment. How do we create those healthy attachments? There are different flavours, but the meat is pretty much the same: prioritize the relationship between you and your child over all things, activities, and all forms of clutter.
“Take the lead in creating the culture of [your] family,” says Dayna Davis, a Neufeld instructor and public school teacher. She has seen this work in the classroom over her 30 years of teaching, in her Waldorf training with its emphasis on child development, and in her own life as a parent. Becoming a Neufeld instructor gave her the science and the language to make sense of what she instinctively did in her classroom, which is “giving a generous invitation for our children to exist in our presence.” She sees her job as making sure that every child entering her classroom feels that she delights in their presence, and she calls on parents to do the same.
The big mistake she sees parents and teachers making is assuming that young children are mini-adults. “We want them to grow up to be independent and have their own minds,” but she emphasizes they don't start that way. We give children too many choices that they aren’t developmentally ready to judiciously make, like bedtimes, foods, and screen time. “Too many decisions and too much choice overloads and overwhelms [the young child],” says Davis. In this stressed state it becomes harder for them to form healthy attachments, which in turn undermines their ability to develop these very skills of independence as they grow...[ ] A good question for any parent is to ask yourself “Imagine you had six kids, would you still do that?” Read more in this week's featured article on simplicity parenting from EcoParent.
Reading Corner
 Title: The Biggest House In The World
By: Leo Lionni
Recommended Ages: 4-7
"A beautiful story about a snail who dreams of a bigger house, but soon realizes there are more important things in life. Not only does this story draw attention to the personal burden of overconsumption, it also highlights the benefit and freedom of owning less." --Publishers
Recommended by Kindful Kids Editors
Be The Change
Try out one of the ideas for simplifying your family's day here and see how you can shape the rhythm of your family life to slow down and stress less.
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