The Darkness of The Dark Knight

Posted by Donna Simmons

Last night I watched The Dark Knight with my 16 year old son. He had seen it in the movies a year ago and raved about it ever since and wanted to watch it with me. So we did. So this…

Is Childcare as Good as Mama-care?

Posted by Donna Simmons

Every once in awhile I have one of those “Emperor’s New Clothes” moments – you know what I mean. In this story, the emperor is gullible and gets taken in by two con-men who claim to make him the most…

Revisiting Jean Liedloff and the Continuum Concept

Posted by Donna Simmons

The very first book that I read that set me off and running on the road to “natural parenting” was Jean Liedloff’s The Continuum Concept. Having devoured Ina May Gaskin’s Spiritual Midwifery and militantly given birth to my first son…

Destructive Children Come to Play

Posted by Donna Simmons

We had a great thread on the Waldorf at Home on line discussion group recently, started by a member who needed help managing when neighborhood children would come to play – and would trash her house! The following is an…

Boundaries

Posted by Donna Simmons

One of the biggest challenges of life is the struggle to understand boundaries. Everywhere we meet another person, every social encounter we have, we meet boundaries. What is my boundary – what am I comfortable with? What is your boundary…

A Change of Clothes

Posted by Donna Simmons

Recently, in church, I sat considering why it is that some parents do not insist that their children dress nicely for church. Obviously, there are issues with getting up late, avoiding an argument and so on….but I wonder if perhaps…

The Need to be a Cling-On

Posted by Donna Simmons

One of the most important reasons for parents to create a lifestyle which values slow over fast is that it supports good health. Cooking meals from scratch, growing one’s own vegetables or taking the time to visit a farm or…

Encouraging Inner Listening

Posted by Donna Simmons

A few weeks ago my 15 year old son, my husband and I watched an Alfred Hitchcock film together ( Shadow of a Doubt) Not a great film but something really made me sit up and take notice. There was a scene…

Keeping Sane Over the Holidays

Posted by Donna Simmons

The Holiday Season is a time of joy for most people – and surely people with children are most joyous of all, as children’s excitement mounts and the countdown to the Great Day begins…. But the Holidays can also be…

Painting in Peace

Posted by Donna Simmons

I have a love-hate relationship with wet-on-wet painting. As a child in my Waldorf school, I can clearly remember the quiet excitement of Painting Day – getting the jars of water ready, passing out the board, putting on aprons, squeezing…