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Bypassing
Childhood
Barbara
Bedingfield
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[Are we pushing our children through
childhood too quickly?]
Rudolph Steiner said, “If the young child has been able in his
play to give up his whole loving being to the world around him, he
will be able in the serious tasks of later life, to devote himself
with confidence and power to the service of the world.”
Ideally, childhood is a time of carefree, active, and make-believe
play, exploration, wonder, and immense trust in the world. This brief
period of childhood is the foundation stone for adulthood and has
its effects over a lifetime!
It may seem like an overstatement to speak of the loss of childhood,
but conscientious parents should be aware of the many societal pressures
today that are leading to the disintegration of childhood as we once
knew it. Read David Elkind’s books Miseducation, Preschoolers
at Risk and The Hurried Child and Neil Postman’s Disappearance
of Childhood to learn how we are burdening children with adult problems
and anxieties and depriving them of their rightful time of childhood.
I recommend these books, not to make you feel depressed over the state
of the world, but to help you be fully conscious so that you can protect
your own children.
One of the most glaring and stress-producing things happening today
is the obsession with standardized testing and the premature rush
into abstract academics for the young child. Gone are the days of
the traditional play kindergarten (Waldorf kindergartens being the
exception) in which children were given time to play, to pretend,
to learn social skills and language in a natural way through this
play, and to grow slowly and peacefully through this crucial developmental
stage.
Politicians and misguided parents want to bypass this all-important
phase of childhood with its simple but essential needs and go straight
to the teaching of alphabet letters, phonics, working on the computer
and counting, for fear that not starting this soon enough will lead
to academic failure. When play does appear in the nursery and the
kindergarten, it is most often not play for play’s sake, but
play for the teaching of something academic.
Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education, taught that in the
period of time from birth to age seven children learn strictly through
imitation and should not be force-fed abstractions. It just seems
too simple for most people to accept. That is, to realize that “all
that I am as a person, all that I think, all that I feel, all that
I do, is being taken in by my child.” This imitative capacity
is no mere copying of outward things as adults would copy. This immense
capacity is born of the innate wisdom of the body. All is taken in
unconsciously as in the taking in of one’s mother tongue. We
do not have to teach our native language to children, but we do have
to speak clearly, thoughtfully, beautifully and kindly if we want
children to speak that way.
If we want our children to learn good manners, then we exhibit manners.
If we want our children to be industrious rather than lazy, we work
on our own industriousness, striving to do our daily tasks with cheerfulness
and love rather than resentment and mindless hurriedness. If we want
our children to read, we read for our own enjoyment. If we want our
children to love books we read worthwhile, quality books and stories
to them. If we want our children to be grateful, we work inwardly
on our own gratitude for life and all that it brings. We must be persons
who are worthy of imitation.
Children also take in, in a bodily way, all the sights and sounds
that surround them. Think of the noise of traffic, the non-stop sound
of screeching radio jockeys, loud music and television shows, the
impact of billboards and signs, Walmarts and Targets, the jolting
primary colors and designs of cartoons found on wallpaper, bedsheets,
clothes and toys. Is it any wonder that so many children are suffering
from ADD and ADHD, touch sensitivity, Aspergers or autism? Their nerves
are frayed!
Compare this modern everyday environment with one that would be health-giving
instead of nerve-wracking. Imagine a child listening to a gurgling
stream, the lapping of waves, the sound of birds, the wind in the
trees. Imagine a child lying on thick green grass and gazing up at
fluffy white clouds. See her running about trying to catch lizards
or butterflies. See him rolling down a grassy slope, wading in a cool
stream, picking wildflowers. Even though we live in a densely populated
urban area, we are blessed with trees, parks, beaches, lakes, streams,
rivers and woodlands. We have to consciously get our children into
these healing places on a regular basis even if it means doing it
when we are tired and worn out. Parents would find that the regular
venturing into nature would be a tonic for them as well.
Rudolf Steiner also had a great deal to say about the next stage of
childhood, the time between the change of teeth and adolescence. During
this time, children move beyond learning through imitation and into
a stage wherein they learn from an authority figure that they can
love and obey. To accommodate this, Waldorf schools have in place
an eight-year “looping” program (to use the public school
terminology), whereby the first grade teacher accompanies his class
all the way to eighth grade. Emphasis is placed on the personal bond
that develops between teacher and child that elicits a love from the
child for this teacher who represents the world to him or her. Conversely,
the teacher develops a deep, objective love for the child that allows
him to guide the child toward his best behavior, best effort and best
development. The teacher cannot think to himself, “Next year
I won’t have to deal with this child,” but rather commits
himself to a long-term relationship with child and family that provides
the child with nurturing adults both at home and at school.
Following Steiner’s insights, the teacher brings the lessons
orally to his class with imagination and artistry because, at this
second stage of development, children have a kind of “picture”
rather than “abstract” thinking and they learn best when
presented with vivid and enlivening pictures that they can form inwardly
out of the teacher’s words. The teacher is challenged to carefully
observe his children and to intuit what they need and then to bring
the lesson in a way that captures their imagination and interest.
Yes, content is conveyed, but as rich story rather than isolated abstract
facts and information.
This approach to teaching is important for the preservation of the
whole of childhood because it is soul-nourishing and spirit enlivening.
Schools cannot merely address the intellect with information and expect
to produce bright, strong, healthy, well-balanced human beings who
can find purpose and meaning in their lives.
Children and, indeed, all of us need the arts. When this aspect of
human development is overlooked or short-changed, the result is thinking
that is not warmed by imagination, willfulness that is not directed
by clear thinking, emotionalism rather than a deep feeling life. Children
need music, painting, drawing, modeling, drama, and story to keep
the wellsprings of creativity alive and bubbling up. Children are
naturally artistic and musical.
Lastly, children need movement. Many people are not aware that most
public schools today do not make a time or a place for recess, that
time of free out-breathing and play for play’s sake. One kindergarten
teacher confessed recently in a local newspaper that kindergarten
outdoor play had been cut to 10 minutes in order to make time for
academic preparation! The advent of television in the sixties marked
the beginning of a time when children became passive couch potatoes.
What was initially hailed as a perfect babysitter became a monstrous
robber of time and good health. Children now look to be entertained
rather than having the initiative to create play out of themselves.
Rather than making images inwardly from hearing stories, they are
given ready-made images that are a hindrance to brain development.
We must use this brief and wondrous time of childhood in such a way
that the child is protected from adult anxieties, premature academics
and sensory overload. We must use this time for the good of the child
by fostering healthy play and allowing the child to unfold naturally
according to nature’s timetable. If we make use of this window
of time in the right way, children will not lose those inborn capacities
of imitation and imagination, of play and wonder, of delight and trust
in the world that help them to become truly healthy and well-balanced
individuals for a lifetime.
In the words of Henry David Thoreau, “I am struck by the fact
that the more slowly trees grow at first, the sounder they are at
the core, and I think that the same is true of human beings. We do
not wish to see children precocious, making great strides in their
early years like sprouts, producing a soft and perishable timber,
but better if they expand slowly at first, as if contending with difficulties,
and so are solidified and perfected. Such trees continue to expand
with nearly equal rapidity to an extreme old age.”
Barbara Bedingfield is a founder of the School of the Suncoast,
a developing Waldorf school in Clearwater that is part of the worldwide
Waldorf School Movement first begun in 1919. (727) 532-0696. www.suncoastwaldorf.org
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