Discovering Waldorf – ‘Earth Day in the Waldorf Home’

Discovering Waldorf is a weekly series of articles written by ‘everyday’ Waldorf families. The contributors to this series share their ‘real-life’ insights and inspirations on all kinds of Waldorf topics. This series is not meant to be Waldorf philosophy in its purest form, but rather a snapshot of how we can all incorporate Waldorf ideas into our lives to help nurture and encourage the magic that is in our children. If you have a topic you wish to learn more about (or want to share) on Discovering Waldorf, send me an email at vined(at)ymail(dot)com.

Earth Day in the Waldorf Home by Carrie.

 

The first Earth Day in the United States was held on April 22, 1970. It was organized by Senator Gaylord Nelsen, a United States Senator from Wisconsin, and was designed to be a day of environmental teaching. The participation in celebrating this holiday has since grown and Earth Day has become a day to mark an appreciation of the Earth, our environment, and of our role of environmental stewards. According to Wikipedia, Earth Day is now observed on April 22 each year by more than 500 million people and several national governments in 175 countries.

Within the framework of Waldorf parenting and education, we have a special opportunity because every day is truly Earth Day. The small child under the age of nine feels at one with that rock, that tree, that bird, that wind racing through their hair. Therefore, it is important to mark Earth Day in a way that takes into account the developmental stage of the under-nine child who still feels at one with all the elements.

 

Hopefully, you are building up to the celebration of Earth Day by spending time outside with your child every day in all kinds of weather. Help your child to really sense nature with all the twelve senses, from feeling rain on their skin to hearing the scuffling of the crunchy autumn leaves under their feet to wondering together at the beauty of the spider web in the garden.

 

For an older child, this experience into weather forms the beginnings of appreciation for our gardeners and farmers, cycles of life, the cycle of compost and much, much more. But this appreciation and groundwork is laid in the youngest years by just being outside and taking it all in.

The other important way to build up to Earth Day is what you model yourself in terms of taking care of the environment for your small child. If you model recycling, reducing spending and reusing things, your child will follow you. This affords the small child a positive way to help keep Mother Earth clean.

If you partake in a community celebration on Earth Day, please keep the tone upbeat and positive. A matter-of-fact tone of “We are helping to keep Mother Earth neat and clean” whilst you are helping to clean up a trail, a park or a river is wonderful, and empowers a small child more than hearing about all the things that are wrong with the environment. Perhaps you will mark that day in your family by planting a tree or giving some other gift to Mother Nature. Perhaps you will hike or canoe as a family and enjoy with wonder and awe the majesty of Mother Earth. 

Our celebrations in Waldorf for small children are about the doing, not so much the words. For your small child, have a wonderful time doing, creating, and being in order to mark this day! 

 

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Thank you, Carrie. I LOVE your quote ‘Every day is Earth Day!’ I agree that we must let our own actions show our love for the Earth. It is true that our children learn so much from watching us and what we do… be the change you want to see.

Carrie’s blog, The Parenting Passageway, has pages and pages of wonderful Waldorf discussions. Her articles are thought provoking and so very informative.Her blog is a wonderful resource to those of us who are trying to follow the Waldorf way at home. She has helped me with many a struggle.

Thank you, Carrie.

Donni