To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under the sun.

My dishes went unwashed today,

I didn't make the bed,
I took his hand and followed
Where his eager footsteps led.

Oh yes, we went adventuring,
My little son and I...
Exploring all the great outdoors
Beneath the summer sky

We waded in a crystal stream,
We wandered through a wood...
My kitchen wasn't swept today
But life was gay and good.

We found a cool, sun-dappled glade
And now my small son knows
How Mother Bunny hides her nest,
Where jack-in-the-pulpit grows.

We watched a robin feed her young,
We climbed a sunlit hill...
Saw cloud-sheep scamper through the sky,
We plucked a daffodil.

That my house was neglected,
That I didn't brush the stairs,
In twenty years, no one on earth
Will know, or even care.

But that I've helped my little boy
To noble manhood grow,
In twenty years, the whole wide world
May look and see and know.

(I Took His Hand and Followed, Mrs. Roy L. Peifer)

Joe Newman: The Antidote

Is it just me, or does my parenting stink?--no, there's a whole room of us well-meaning parents and teachers who have raised lions and become lambs!  I went to a game-changing lecture, Raising Lions, at the local Waldorf School yesterday, and I literally feel it was the answers to my prayers.

Firstly, I was able to implicitly trust the messenger as it was part of a paradigm that I implicitly trust--Waldorf education.  I have admittedly become hardened to even renowned parent educators--something is always not perfect--it sounds good and then doesn't play out so neatly for us.

Secondly, because it addressed a problem, the elephant, that no one in my community seems to talk about--the errors (devastating sometimes) of too much honoring and no consequences.

"Current child rearing techniques seek to develop children who are confident, self-assured and unafraid to speak their minds--lions instead of lambs.  Although largely positive, this shift has brought with it some very serious problems in the area of behavior disorders.  Without going back to an authoritarian model, Joe Newman has developed new ways of helping children develop the ability to self-regulate without undermining confidence and individuality."

The 24 hours that followed the lecture, I have practiced what Joe recommends, and they have been the least complex and healthiest of all my recent parenting hours--second to those beautiful moments of connection of course.

Thank you Joe, and thank you Highland Hall families and teachers for being so honest and unabashed about the morning fights, getting ready for school and teachers for airing your frustrations with certain students.  What an endearing room, no politically correct parenting auras, just a sincere desire for growth and development.

I recommend Joe's book, Raising Lions, it is, in my experience, the perfect platform for being the parent and not the inner child.

A Spade A Spade

Maybe "genius" for me has lost its original intended meaning--the weight, profundity, the gasp.  My way of recognizing genius is its fruit.  All of humanity  gets such a sweeping non-linear, formless gift that we all get to jump into a new paradigm of thought and behavior.  Many of us are not cognizant where the shift began or when, and we are sometimes unaware that yes, we have just collectively and impersonally made the shift.

I had heard a lot about Sally Goddard Blythe from the Brain Gym community and her work with autism and primitive reflexes.  For whatever reason (it took years) I am finally reading one of her books.

I am compelled to share the first page, the dedication page, from her book, The Well Balanced Child: Movement and Early Learning (Hawthorn Press Early Years).  Genteel, intelligent and sophisticated, this is what genius sounds like, this is how genius behaves and makes you feel.  This dedication could be about anyone in any field, at any time, it is irrefutable and universal, and it happens before she even gets into the gift or content of this book, before her sweeping work in neurophysiology and neural psychology:

Over the last 15 years I have been particularly lucky to meet men and women who were world experts in their field.  These were people of extraordinary intellectual and creative stature--pioneers who had spent a lifetime developing and testing their ideas.

Their published works often showed only a fraction of their thinking.  In hearing them lecture and in discussing ideas with them, I have learned more than in a thousand pages of reading.  With each one, I was struck by how these most brilliant of minds never belittled the ideas of others, and I have constantly been reminded that ideas are rarely born of individuals; rather, they are conceived as a result of thoughts and discussions shared.  In other words, creativity is usually born from shared experience and the sparks that fly between.

This book is dedicated to all the men and women of ideas who have shared their thoughts and wisdom, and by so doing allowed the knowledge of today to be, and the dreams for tomorrow to exist.

Woodland Animals Preview from Autumn and Me! Class Los Angeles

Great Horned Owl comes to our Mommy and Me!

Preview from the Woodland visitors from the finale of Autumn and Me! playgroup...much more to come!!  Molly Hoban used to work for the Los Angeles Zoo and due to budget cuts had no choice but to take in the rescue wildlife that would have no other home.  She told us that great horned owls live about a year in the wild, but with nurturing in a captive environment, up to 50!  This beauty is 36 years-old!  Molly came to the finale of our Autumn and Me! class with a handful of beautiful creatures we would not have ever seen this close otherwise.  

Scenes from Autumn and Me Playgroup: Acorn Fairies

It was the first days of November, and all of the grown ups went to the pumpkin patch to pick the last of the pumpkins for pies, breads, soups and snacks.

They were busy working when an Autumn fairy came to them and said it was time to start putting on coats and hats because November was soon to be cold and grey.

The grown ups heeded the words of the fairy and went home to gather the coats and hats, and they found their children were out, playing, all over the village.

Thank you especially to the Antonia family who helped this magical story come alive.

They wondered how they would ever gather all of the children in time before it got too cold and grey.

Just then an acorn child came to them and said that the small hands of little girls and boys would help gather their little ones and dress them with their beautiful coats and caps.

And that they did, and the acorn children celebrated Autumn with the loving children.

So Blessed with Mirth!

"Mama's on my right side daddy on my left

I'm so blessed yes yes yes" Jill Scott

{This Moment] A Friday Ritual

A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

 A simple, special, extraordinary moment. 

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{This Moment} A Friday Ritual

A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

 A simple, special, extraordinary moment. 

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

The Warmth of Autumn

I recently read the October chapter in Amanda Blake Soule's book, The Rhythm of Family.  She talks about the darkness of the month, and I did sort of a double take because I couldn't instantly understand what she meant.  I get it of course, the day literally gets darker and cooler as a matter of fact.  I just always thought of it as the warmest of all seasons.

Autumn is our favorite season at home.  I vividly remember the smell and the feel of the air from childhood, it truly felt like a soul harvest.

Today, Autumn invites me to create a cozy home: light fires, light candles, carve pumpkins, roast pumpkin seeds, bake, watch browns, reds and yellows fly off trees.

A Rainy Day

{This Moment} A Friday Ritual

A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

 A simple, special, extraordinary moment. 

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

You Are My Sunshine: A Scene from Paint with Me! Mommy and Me Art Class

The light opens up and I walk in,
The day invites me to begin,
I ask the day, "How shall I start?"
Says the day, "With a wish upon your heart."


From Seven Times the Sun by Shea Darian

Mother and son.  The real kickback, why I love what I do. 


 The morning light is one of my favorite natural wonders.  This morning it was as if a single angelic ray spotlighted Jackson alone as he said goodbye to our "rainbow breaths".

By the end of the 4-week  Paint with Me! playgroup,  Jackson has come to delight in putting the scarves back inside the basket from whence they came.

Waldorf Seasons: Michaelmas Festival

Though I have become more interested in Waldorf education over the years, I have admittedly glossed over the Michaelmas seasonal celebration in the Waldorf tradition.

I came across this really simple and informative article on The Magic Onions, and I am finding myself on board with Michaelmas (it always starts wee with me).

Why, because I believe children process the major themes of life through stories and celebrations, and this one seems pretty potent.

"Saint Michael is the archangel responsible for hurling Lucifer from Heaven...This equinox marks the beginning of darker days.  Since Michael is a herald of light, he is thought of as a protector during this time."


The way it has become expressed to children is the story of George slaying a dragon, which is adapted for children of different ages.  

Melissa recommends, Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges and Trina Schart Hyman and Saint George and the Dragon by Geraldine McCaughrean and Nicki Palin.


Crafts, dragon bread and dramatic plays all easily accompany this celebration as well, to the Michaelmas Festival!