September/October 1998
Articles on the theme "Health Consciousness"
A Matter of Life and Death
by Sylvia Jackson
The writer, who is dying of brain cancer,
gives some advice concerning prevention and medical exams.
Magic Tea Plus
by Constance Felos
How an attorney and her client created an adventurous new paradism of health
consciousness. The recipe for a special herbal tea.
Health-Minded Living
by Bob Gonzalez
Some tips from the manager of a health
food store how to achieve and maintain optimum physical health.
Miracle Consciousness
by JoAnne Gregory
Miracles, fake or real? What is it
that makes miracles possible?
How's Your Subconscious?
by Patrick Plaskett
Habits and their effect on our health.
Changing bad habits. Creating a different future.
True Health Consciousness
by Carol L. Roberts, MD
A doctor talks about what you can do
to avoid visits to the doctor.
Becoming Health Conscious
by Dr. Audrey Craft Davis
The importance of our words and thoughts.
Becoming food conscious. Our attitude to things, especially money. Counting
our blessings. Awareness of others and the environment.
A Simple Clay Bath!
by Lauana Lei
How the writer, suffering from heavy
chemical/metal poisoning, recovered her health by taking a clay bath.
A Healing Education
by Barbara Bedingfield
An account by a Waldorf teacher of
the basic educational requirements for maintaining the health of a child.
Our Spiritual Source
by Rev. Pat Cross
On connecting with our spiritual source
to realize a true health consciousness. Using our spiritual powers to heal
ourselves.
Other Feature Articles
What's Newz?
by Dee J. Findlay
2000 and Beyond!
by David Findlay
Natural Health Q&A
by Dr. Scott Rubin
Parasites and allergies -- some natural
remedies.
What is . . . A Course In Miracles?
by Mary Barbara
How "A Course In Miracles"
came to be and some of its basic teachings.
Your Astro Guide
by Weiss Kelly
Mineral Kingdom
by Judy Power
Featured stones for September and October:
Labrodorite and Opalized Quartz
A Healing Education
by Barbara Bedingfield
A healthy child has rosy cheeks, moves in a lively way with gracefulness, does not have to be constantly entertained, and is able to play and work with others in a harmonious way. Many factors affect a child's health: good nutrition, adequate sleep, regular mealtimes and bedtimes, adequate warmth, and loving but firm parents who know how to set boundaries. This article focuses on becoming conscious of healthy and unhealthy practices in our schools.
The ills of premature academics
One of the practices today most detrimental to the health of the young child is the rush toward premature academics. Children who should be playing out of fantasy and imagination, who should be in movement, who should be singing and painting and hearing stories, are introduced to paper and pencil work, the alphabet, counting, phonics and computers. The grades curriculum has slipped down into kindergarten and even into preschools. This trend is based more on economics than on sound knowledge of child development because preschools wish to attract parents, and many parents today insist on premature academics, having little or no sense about the importance of play and movement for the young child. During early childhood, life forces are needed for growth and the formation of organs. These life forces of the young child are depleted when they are directed toward the intellect through premature academics.
During the 1970's -- as kindergartens in Germany were beginning to change from being play-oriented to being academic-oriented -- a study was done with 1000 students, half in play settings, half in academic settings. After following the children for four years, it was found that those children who had experienced a play kindergarten were better developed in all areas -- mentally, socially, emotionally and physically. German kindergartens returned to a philosophy of play for the young child. No such study has ever been done in the United States.
Other studies have shown that the increasing levels of learning disabilities, burn-out, stress and even suicide among teens can be attributed to early entrance into first grade. At one time children had to be six years old in January in order to enter first grade the following September. That has slowly edged up to the present requirement of six by September 1. Nine months is a long period of time in a child's life. When a child can wait until he is truly "ripe for first grade" (and there are many indications for this) encountering the first grade curriculum will not be a struggle. A young child who is being forced into academics too early exhibits stomachaches, headaches, a reluctance to go to school, acting out in class and tiredness.
The Importance of Movement
Anyone who knows children recognizes that they need to move. Recess is a time for free play (not physical education classes) and breathing out after a period of concentrated work. This rhythm in the school day is essential for health. Due to concerns about litigation and the inability to control masses of children on the playground, recess, as most adults remember it, has been virtually eliminated in most public schools. While teachers could take their classes to the playground, most feel under such pressure to "get through" required textbooks and rounds of testing that they feel there is not enough time in the day for recess. Children today have little time in school for the kind of socialization and imagination that comes only with free play among their peers. This is not a healthy situation. The impact of too much television, which erodes a child's capacity to use his own inner resources for play, coupled with the elimination of recess from schools, has led to children who must be constantly entertained.
The Arts as a healing force
The grade school child must be met with lessons that touch his heart and soul. A teacher who can bring a lesson in the form of a lively story, rich with images, brings learning in a healthy way. The best approach to the intellect of the grade school child is the path of the arts: music, drawing, painting, drama, and poetry. When, instead, children are given a steady diet of textbook-type "learning" by writing answers to the questions at the back of the chapter and memorizing isolated facts, it is as though we are tossing them dry, lifeless bones. Not only are the arts the best pathway to the intellect, they have a healing effect on children today who are impacted by the harshness of the world in which they live: violence, noise, garish colors, traffic, competition, unstable homes, and the constant presence of the media.
Music has a harmonizing effect. Working with pure colors in watercolor painting is therapeutic. We need art and music in the schools -- every day. We need the art specialist teacher, but we also need the class teacher who can lead children in singing daily and who can bring a lesson to life through drawing and painting.
Health-consciousness in education
This is the age of intellectualism. Many people have never learned, or have forgotten, how to work with their hands. Art and music are viewed as unnecessary frills. We are a society of passive people -- spectators rather than participants. We have woefully neglected the education of the feeling life and the development of the will.
Waldorf has been called a healing education because in almost 80 years since the first school was founded, the curriculum has been guided by a knowledge of child development as given by the eminent founder, Rudolf Steiner. Education in its present state is not health-giving. Waldorf education can serve as a model for bringing a health-consciousness into our thinking, so that the whole child -- head, heart and hands -- can be healthfully educated.
Barbara Bedingfield holds a Master's degree in early childhood education and has had special training in Waldorf methods. Working with the non-profit Suncoast Waldorf Association for the past seven years, she is kindergarten teacher for the Suncoast Waldorf Kinderhaus in Clearwater, FL. (727) 532-0696
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