With Love

In honor of Khalil Gibran's birthday, a poem.... 

 “Your children are not your children. They are sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you. And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. 


 You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For thir souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. 


You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.


 The archer sees the make upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness. For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He also loves the bow that is stable.” ― Khalil Gibran

Childhood

Childhood

Childhood is a time for learning about the essentials
about the heavenly world and the earthly,
about goodness, beauty and truth.

Childhood is a time to be loved and to love
to express fear and to learn trust
to be allowed to be serious and calm
and to celebrate with laughter and Joy.

Children have a right to dream,
and they need time to grow at their own pace.
They have the right to make mistakes
and the right to be forgiven.

Children need help to develop self-mastery,
to transform themselves and bring forth their highest capacities.
Children have a right to be spared violence and hunger,
to have a home and protection.
They need help to grow up healthy,
with good habits and sound nutrition.

Children need people to respect,
adults whose example and loving authority they follow.
They need a range of experience,
tenderness and kindness, boldness and courage,
and even mischief and misbehavior.
Children need time for receiving and giving,
for belonging and participating.
be part of a community, and they need to be individuals.
They need privacy and sociability.
They need time to rest and time to play,
time to do nothing and time to work.

They need moments for devotion and room for curiosity.
They need protective boundaries and freedom for creativity.
They need to be introduced to a life of principles,
and given the freedom to discover their own.
They need a relationship to the earth
to animals and to nature:
and they need to unfold as human beings within the community.

The spirit of childhood is to be protected and nurtured.
It is an essential part of every human being
and needs to be kept alive.

~The Alliance for Childhood

Summer Verses and Circle

Full early in the morning
Awakes the summer sun
The month of June arriving
The cold and night are done
The cuckoo's a fine bird
She whistles as she flies
And as she whistles "cuckoo"
The bluer grow the skies

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Come out, come out this sunny day
The fields are sweet with new mown hay
The birds are singing loud and clear
For summer time once more is here
So bring your rakes and come and play
And toss and tumble in the hay
The sweet wild roses softly blow
All pink and white the roses grow
The nodding daisies in the grass
Lift up their heads to hear you pass
Upon this happy, sunny day
When you come out to make the hay.


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The summer's warm showers are falling like mist
My face and my hair by their soft touch are kissed
The dry thirsty ground becomes fragrant and cool
On every green leaf lies a small shining pool
Earth blossoms again
I do love the rain.




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Come bright butterfly, close to me
Your beautiful wings I should like to see
You fly like a bird, you sip like a bee
But you're really a flower the wind set free
 


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When woods awake and trees are green
And leaves are large and long
'Tis merry to walk in the forest fair
And hear the small birds' song


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Sunshine Fairies Circle Dance

We are the sunshine fairies
And with our sparks of light
We shimmer and glimmer in the air
Hugging flowers with colors so bright

(Begin standing in a circle, children hold out their arms at their sides and turn in place clockwise as fairies. Stop and flick fingers as sparks. Hold out arms at sides, flutter fingers, then turn in place counterclockwise; hug self and rub hands up and down over folded arms.)

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Butterfly Game

Dancing among the flowers with dainty painted wings
Flits the golden butterfly, joy to my heart she brings
Stopping only for a rest to sip the morning dew
Then flits and flutters off again
Butterfly, I can't catch you!

(Children sit in a circle with hands held up and cupped on top of head acting as flowers. Butterfly dances inside the circle, flitting in and out of the space between seated children. Butterfly stops behind one child in circle for a rest, bends, and sips dew by tickling a flower in the child's palms. Flower child jumps up and chases butterfly back to his place, then becomes the next butterfly. Repeat game with new butterfly.)

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Happy Summer! 

 

 


 

The Incredible Telling Of How I Made You

Trish McDermott for her son Ryan before he was born

Some babies are made in the shade, some the sun.
Some babies get made for the happy and fun,
Or accidents happen and babies appear.
It's all sort of tricky and exactly not clear.

Some babies get made just like a surprise,
When mothers are sleeping or closing their eyes.
Some babies get made when there's nothing to do,
But this hardly compares to how I made you.

You were my dream right from the start.
You tickled my smile and filled up my heart.
Even before you were growing in me,
You were my golly, my gosh my gee.

You were my spin, my sparkle and swirl.
You were my boy, my baby, my girl.
You were my under and over and out.
You were the stuff that my life's all about.

So I napped in the shade and danced in the sun.
I made my happiness and then did some fun.
I held all my breaths and wished you were here,
But try as I might, you wouldn't appear.

Then I read in a book that you must be a wife,
And get a husband, and live a life
That for me didn't seem too happy or gay,
So I thought up a more cheerful, sunnier way.

I blew lots of bubbles and stood on my head.
I slept upside down at the foot of my bed.
I jumped and I bumped for making a baby,
Then I got an idea that came as a maybe.

Maybe I can't pull a baby from the air.
Maybe a baby needs people to share.
Maybe I needed a helper or two.
Maybe I needed a family for you.

So I climbed up a hill and said to the sky,
"I'll start with a man, a swell kind of guy.
He'd have a big heart, an adventurous mind,
And tend to be sunny and funny and kind."

"One that wanted a baby for all of his life,
But wasn't the kind to marry a wife."
And I searched all the world then found just the guy
With feet on the ground but dreams in the sky.

Then I found you a puppy, some snails and a cat,
A cousin, an uncle and a boy in a hat.
I got you a fairy with many good lucks,
And a girl who knew all of the names of the trucks.

I got you a man who knew about flowers,
And a doctor in training with magical powers.
I found you a neighbor and a woman so wise
You could see in her heart when you looked in her eyes.

I collected some buddies and friends and old pals,
My most favorite people--some guys and some gals.
I found you an aunt and a grandma, quite bended.
This is your family, though somewhat extended.

They each love you ten thousand times in their heart,
And for making a baby that's a very good start.
If you took all that love and got it uncurled,
It would wrap fifty-nine times around the whole world.

You see, babies don't need a husband and wife,
And they don't have to come from one kind of life.
They don't have to live in any one place,
And they certainly don't have just one kind of face.

I made you my darling with giggles and hugs,
With cuddles and grins and barrels of loves.
As family and friends and lovers stood by,
I made you with oceans and mountains and sky.

I made you with sunshine and jumps through big puddles.
I made you in spite of their rules and their muddles.
I made you for reasons of happy and joy.
You are my darling, my girl or my boy.

Just how we got here and the way that we came
To be a family and friends isn't always the same.
So come as you are, and at your own pace,
Live a fine life with honor and grace.

Now you wiggle inside me, wanting to play,
But before you get here, I wanted to say:
You make a world shiny, my sky always blue.
It's incredible baby, the way I made you.

Blessings & Gratitude

Cultivate Mindfulness.
See gratitude as a daily practice.
In pictures, words and songs,
let children express a grateful heart.

Gratitude & Reverence

Rudolf Steiner stated "If he sees that everyone who stands in some kind of relationship to him in the outer world shows gratitude for what he receives from this world; if, in confronting the outer world and wanting to imitate it, the child sees the kind of gestures that express gratitude, then a great deal is done towards establishing in him the right moral human attitude. Gratitude is what belongs to the first seven years of life."

Steiner also wrote "If one observes children, who by a right upbringing, have developed a natural reverence for the grownups and their surroundings, and if one follows them through their various stages of life, one can discover that their feelings of reverence and devotion in childhood are gradually being transformed during the years leading to old age. A adults such persons may have a healing effect upon their fellow man so that by their mere presence, or through the tone of their voice, or perhaps by a single glance they can spread inner peace to others. Their presence can be a blessing because as children they have learned to venerate and to pray the right way. No hands can bless in old age, unless in childhood they have been folded in prayer."

Of course, these qualities cannot be taught. They must be modeled by the adult and imitated by the young child. They must "live" within the parents.

(source: Steiner Human Values & Education and The Renewal of Education)

Waldorf Teachers consider the Moral education of children to be one of their primary tasks. Gratitude, Love and Duty: Steiner asks that we sow the seeds and cultivate these three fundamental human virtues.

Children should say grace before each meal to express their reverence for the earth and her gifts.... Gratitude is the basis for love. When children deepen their appreciation for the natural world, they deepen their love for all of creation.

A Child's Book of Blessings

With blessings for everyday events from dawn until dusk, for special activities, and for specific times of the year, this exquisite collection offers children and their parents a simple and practical way of bringing a sense of the sacred into their lives. Olwyn Whelan's beautiful and intricate illustrations enrich Sabrina Dearborn's thoughtful and touching selection, making this a book that will become a keepsake for generations.

Blessings & Prayers

The earth is firm beneath my feet,
The sun shines bright above,
And here I stand - so straight and strong,
All things to know and love.

Two eyes to see with,
Two ears to hear with,
A mouth to speak with,
A mouth to eat with,
Two hands to work with,
Two hands to pray with.

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Earth we thank you for this food,
For rest and home and all things good,
For wind and rain and sun above,
But most of all for those we love.

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Thank you for the world so sweet,
Thank you for the food we eat;
Thank you for the birds that sing,
Thank you God for everything.

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The sun in in my heart,
He warms me with his power,
And wakens life and love,
In bird and beast and flower.

Oh golden sun so great and bright,
Warms the world with all its might.
It makes the dark earth green and fair,
Attends each thing with ceaseless care.
It shines on blossom, stone and tree,
On bird and beast, on you and me.
Oh, may each deed throughout the day,
May everything we do and say,
Be bright and strong and true,
Oh, golden sun, like you!

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Blessings on the blossom,
Blessings on the root,
Blessings on the leaf and stem,
Blessings on the fruit.

Blessing on this room of ours,
Blessing on the garden flowers,
Blessing on the birds and trees,
On the butterflies and bees.
Blessing on the dolls and toys,
On our quietness and noise.
Blessing on the children dear,
On the grown ups who come here.
Blessing on our work and play,
God be with us all each day. 

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I thank the earth beneath me
For there I stand and walk.
I thank the air around me
Which helps me breathe and talk.
I thank the sun so warm and bright
So far away in Heavens height
To keep me safe 'til morning light.

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For the golden corn and the apples on the trees,
For the butter and the honey for our tea,
For fruits and nuts and berries that grow beside the way,
For birds and bees and flowers, we give our thanks today.

Blessings on our meal and our family.

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Dear God, we thank you for the night,
And for the pleasant morning light,
For rest and food and loving care,
And all that makes the world so fair.
Help us to do the things we should,
To be kind to others and to be good
In all we do and in all we say
To grow more loving every day.

My deeds I will do
With my feet on the ground,
My head will direct them
That they may be sound.

Father sky who gives us light
And embraces all in sight
Mother earth who makes a home
For all who grow and roam
We thank you for your kindly gifts
The food, the air, the stone that sits,
Fires which warm our hearts each day,
And the rain in which we run and play.

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Blessings! Blessings!
To all we love,
And blessings on our meal.

The eagle gives thanks for the mountains,
The fish gives thanks for the sea
We give our blessings for the food
We are about to receive.

After reading a wonderful newsletter from A little Acorn learning

They had made a beautiful Tree of Thanks Today with my kids I am going to do the same

and will post pictures of our own Tree.