Early Childhood Archives

Early Childhood :: Bonting

October 29, 2016 | Leave a Comment

I’ve been really conscious that in our day to day life with Marlin, there isn’t the same natural level of handwork in the form of stitching and sewing happening around him as there was with Chilli at his age.

With Chilli being our first child, I was naturally more available to spend days crafting and creating. Being a new Mum and a new family, I was creating toys for our child to play with. Days were spent turning old woollen socks into hobby horses, sewing felt animals, making story dolls and knitting farmyard scenes. Now obviously, our toy shelves and draws are filled with these things 9 years on and I don’t have the need to create these any more. Marlin therefore, doesn’t have this same natural level of handwork around him. Chilli obviously has a handwork program for her schooling, but it goes through cycles. Through Grade 1 it was heavily knitting based, this year in Grade 2 we have progressed to crochet and next year we’ll be working more with fibre crafts like spinning and dying wool. Marlin, just like Chilli did at this age, immerses himself in his own ‘handwork’ – wrapping wool around a thick wooden knitting needle, doing a little bit of assisted basic weaving or sewing through a piece of felt. Next year I will most likely start him on finger knitting, once he is ready. Chilli started finger knitting around 4 years of age. As Marlin enters this second half of three years old, I’m seeing many of the crafty interests that budded in Chilli in later early childhood, start to blossom in him as well. During one of Chilli’s school lessons this week, he set about organising supplies for felting and made a little felted piece of material which he then sewed together into what he told me was a ‘jacket’ for his Christmas Elf.

Yesterday for midday rest we read the Shirley Hughes story ‘Bonting‘. Alfie finds a rock and asks Mum to make some clothes for his new friend. He finds a little box to sit Bonting in and Bonting becomes a dear friend.

Marlin was having one of those pouty, walk around and be generally unhappy with the fact that Sissa had school to do, days! “Ma boooorrred” he would say. He was totally uninterested in any of my suggestions or attempts to engage him with anything and he decided to spend a large part of the day laying on the trampoline, basking in the springtime sun. Anyone who homeschools with a younger, early childhood aged child will understand these occasional days that happen – no matter what you try, nor how organised you are. A good dose of boredom is, I believe, good for children every so often! Chilli tells Marlin “Only boring people get bored Marlin”, one of those generational sayings that get passed down whether you like it or not, from your own childhood!

While I set Chilli up with her afternoon lesson, Marlin set about finding a ‘Bonting’ in our ‘rock pit’. Once Chilli was working independently, Marlin and I pulled down the fabric box and set about sewing him a Bonting. He’d selected three friends, who he named; ‘Bonting’, ‘Haiti’ and ‘Gruffalo’. It was a lovely opportunity to sit with Marlin and create something special for him. I sewed on the beanie, scarf and bathing suit from the fabric he selected and we found a sweet little ‘bed box’ for the new friends. Marlin decided they needed a roof so the rain wouldn’t come in and then the roof needed a light hanging off it. He was able to sew this part himself and I added a few more stitches to hold it all, more tightly together. After the addition of the light, they needed a light switch and then the switch needed a cover so as the friends didn’t get electrocuted when it rained! I kid you not! He really is such a boy! Their minds just work in totally different, ‘engineering’ style ways. Chilli would never have thought of the electrics with this much detail. It probably won’t surprise you that Marlin’s most common dough modelling item is a generator!

Stories really are such magical worlds aren’t they – that open up endless possibility for imaginative play and creating.

What are your favourite ‘stories breathing into real life’ moments?

Homeschooling :: Playing Teacher

October 27, 2016 | Leave a Comment

I once read that the best way to learn something is to teach it.

As Chilli is getting a little bit older, it’s wonderful to be able to encourage her to take the lead with some gentle Early Childhood activities and lead the lesson for Marlin. She really enjoys to be the ‘teacher’ or the ‘teacher’s helper’ and of course it helps me to be able to leave them together at the lounge room table doing a simple activity together, led by Chilli, while I tend to a home task close by. Often I include this rhythm first thing in the morning if I’m still organising the day either in school or the home.

A good friend also speaks highly of allowing her Grade 6 son to lead the younger aged 4 and 6 children in their family, for some nature studies each week.

I think this is not only really empowering for the older child, but a great balance for the younger child as well and allows a wonderful time of connection between siblings in a different and beneficial dynamic.

Earlier this week, Chilli and Marlin had been out for a morning nature walk and outdoor run. Tending to a few morning farm chores, I then asked Chilli to lead Marlin in looking at some new springtime leaves that were growing on our orchard trees. They collected 2 grape vine leaves each and came inside to settle into an early morning activity while I continued to ready for the day.

I was giving the children some free time of a morning for larger outdoor movement time – running, jumping, hopping, skipping, bike riding and the like. Years ago I remember in a conference call, hearing Beth Sutton of Enki Education talk about how this first thing morning activity of something that gets the heart rate up – primes the brain for learning in morning lesson. I love the idea of this, however it’s been really hard for Marlin to transition from this freer morning time into ‘school’ time. It started to really be quite unkind to him as he’d start every day unhappy, crying and resisting school time for Chilli. I really find I need to ‘hold that space’ quite tightly of a morning and bring the children very mindfully – before they ‘expand out’ for the day – into our rhythm of school.

Therefore I’ve been ‘reining in’ that space with some morning prayer work. After breakfast and getting ready, we tend to a few simple chores amongst ourselves (at which time I have to really mindfully make sure they don’t ‘break off’ in any free play type way!) and then come to our lounge room table to start our day in an informal way. From here I spend some time with Marlin for his nursery school morning circle while Chilli either continues on with her prayer work independently or another small task that I have set her up with. I use this time for things like her writing out times tables, drawing monthly calendar pages or working on bookwork that we need to finalise. We’ve just started our cursive journey, so it will also be a good time for her to practise some of her writing.

Following on from Chilli and Marlin’s early morning Spring walk this week, I had set up the lounge room table with pads, white crayons and green watercolour paint. Chilli led Marlin in some ‘invisible’ leaf rubbings and then some ‘magic’ painting. It’s lovely for Chilli to be able to share these early childhood activities she enjoyed, with her brother. When I ask her to be the ‘teacher’s helper’ she’ll help the ‘younger student’ to either take off or put on shoes/slippers, get his outdoor gear on or off or hung back up, make a small snack for them or help him to lay out his lesson supplies. She really relishes in this sense of purpose and responsibility and takes great enjoyment from saying “Come on Ma, let me help you with that”.

The ‘magic painting’ idea this week was inspired by a member on the Earthschooling forum who was working with the Autumn Earthschooling | pre-school program. These ‘magic leaf paintings’ are an activity to accompany the ‘Anxious Leaf‘ story in Week 4 of the November monthly plan. We’d done this activity in a slightly different way back in April which is our Autumn, but I thought this was a great activity to accompany our budding spring as well.

Do you encourage your older child to take the lead with directing some of your younger children’s lessons through their Early Childhood program?

Toddlers :: Meaningful Tasks

December 15, 2015 | 2 Comments

Any parent will be able to tell you that toddlers love to work alongside them, helping with whatever task is at hand. Their imitation is such a strong force within and they love to be by our side participating in daily tasks, however they can. Often a small play kitchen of their own somewhere close by the home’s own kitchen is a wonderful way for them to imitate the work that is done in the home. Early start kitchen tools such as the KiddiKutter range are also fantastic for opening the opportunity for children, from a young age, to participate in appropriate, simple, home kitchen duties.

As Marlin is approaching three years of age, I am noticing in him a bigger desire to have tasks set for him that are ‘his’. I don’t remember this being the case so much with Chilli at this age, however I guess being a second child and seeing that each person in the home has their own ‘tasks’ – chores, home duties, school work etc – and that certain things are just for each person, then Marlin would like some things that are ‘his’ to do around the home. For Chilli, with no other children in the home, the division was a lot simpler – “This is for Mummy and Daddy to do, this is for Chilli to do”. While Marlin still enjoys to work alongside us with tasks and participate in joint activities, he also wants tasks that are ‘just his’ to do – “Ma do, Ma do that by self, Ma big boy now” he says. Therefore, even though it takes a little more time, set up and attention, it is lovely for him, his emerging sense of independence and his own sense of achievement that we can find tasks that he can do on his own.

One of these things is washing of vegetables such as potatoes that need left on soil removed, before we can cook them – as well as eggs we’ve collected from the chickens, that might need a little wash off before they can be put away in the carton. Sure, setting up the array of materials he needs to do this task takes more time, organisation and fanfare – but the sense of achievement he has at the end of the task as well as the sense of worth he has in doing the task are worth all that extra arranging.

I especially like the task of washing eggs, because for a 3 year old boy who is quite the boy it allows for a great practise of ‘gentle hands’. There is also a ‘process’ that needs to be followed – a flow of steps, and he takes great pride in doing the job just as he is supposed to. Of course it’s not too complicated nor detailed, but a simple, few step rhythm that he delights in following. It’s great for developing his concentration and attention to the work he is doing. The focus on his little face and his immersion in the task while he is at work, is beautiful to watch.

For the egg washing, I set up a hand towel underneath. A deep sided bowl with a little cool water in it, in the middle of the space and a dry, clean hand towel beside the dish to the right. The egg basket is to the left and the carton is just over the back of the bowl. In the bowl is a soft but slightly abrasive coconut fibre washing pad which has broken in half through it’s use and is the perfect size for his little hand. The process he follows is;

Place an egg from the basket into the bowl to soak
Take the egg that has been soaking in the bowl and rub over with the coconut pad, removing any dirt or grime
Dry the egg on the hand towel
Place the dry egg, point down into the egg carton
Repeat the above steps until all eggs are clean, dry and in the carton

He thoroughly enjoyed this task yesterday when I set him up with it. We hadn’t been collecting our eggs for a few days while we were trying to get the chickens to start nesting (so we can get some fertilised eggs for babies! Yay!) so there was quite a collection of eggs. He patiently and with great focus, stood on his ‘moose‘ and tended to his task with great attention. When the carton was full, he climbed down and said “Ma have to get ‘nudda carton – that one full up”. It took him a good 20 minutes or so to complete his task and when he was done, he proudly told me “Eggs finished now Mumma”.

What are the meaningful tasks that your toddler enjoys to help with or take ownership of?

Summer :: Arriving

December 8, 2015 | Leave a Comment

When Chilli was Marlin’s age, I would have the seasons ‘arrive’ by setting up an enchanting scene with the toys of the season that were ‘coming to play’. Marlin is now at a lovely age to enjoy similar ‘invitation to play’ creations and so I’ve been making a mindful effort to create these special little scenes for him. On the first of December, I set up a little ‘Summer Cave’ for the children to discover. I used the two play stands either side of their ‘Pumpkin House’ table and covered across the ‘roof’ with silkscapes. The centre table had a sea scene on it and around on the ledges of the play stands were various little ‘Summer scenes’ with some of their Summer books.

I covered the front in another silkscape and invited the children into the space. They sat in front of the ‘cave’ and Marlin’s marionette doll came to tell him about the turning of the seasons. The silkscape then came down and the children could go in to explore. The thing that captivated them most? A pile of native cherries placed in front of the Strawberry Lady! My food loving children – always ‘starving’ apparently!

Along with Summer arriving, so did our December crystal – Pearl. These little pearls that we are using for our focus this month are quite special. They are the few left over pearl beads from the strings my Aunt hand stitched onto the bodice of my wedding dress. They are so beautiful in their appearance and their meaning, as well as the properties they hold. Pearls are omens of happy relationships and love. Quite nice to have worn them on my wedding day, especially when each one was loving hand stitched on by my dear Aunt.

The angel of pearl is Archangel Gabrielle – so for us here in our Summer Christmas it is quite lovely to be able to weave in the story of this angel, through this way to bring our seasons and the season of Christmas together.

I started out by giving the children a small shell filled with about 1/2t of golden sand we have from a recent holiday to where beaches have real sand! We spread out a little sprinkle on the table and then I asked them to pick up just one grain of sand on the tip of their finger. They both marvelled at how tiny it was and how many grains were in that little pile they’d sprinkled across the table. We then spoke about how that one tiny grain would feel in the big wide ocean and how many grains of sand they think are on a beach and on the ocean floor. They were in awe – and so was I as we spoke together about it. It’s also a really nice way to creatively talk about that Nine Year Change that is starting to stir within Chilli – the awareness of one tiny being which she is, in such a vast, wide world.

Here is a simple, short story I wrote to bring this month’s crystal to the children.

:: A Cosy Home for Sand Friend ::
Written by Elke at Another Day

The ocean can be a wild and busy place. Beautiful fish, seals, whales and seahorses – corals, seaweeds, algae and moss – molluscs, oysters, muscles and prawns – selkies and mermaids .. They all dance around – and hence the world of the underwaters can be quite frantic.

All of the little sand children gather together to keep each other safe and protected from all this hustle and bustle.

Well once upon a time, there was a tiny grain of sand who was altogether a very shy little friend. Right from the beginning of her days she’d snuggled waaaaayyyy down, deep under all her other sand brothers and sisters. But then one day, it was quite busy on the shores of the ocean. Father sun was shining closer to Sand Friend’s side of the world and there was so much activity around the ocean. Things were being splashed about, stirred up and swam through. Sand Friend smelt a sweet scent coming into the ocean from above on the shore – mmmmm “strawberries” she thought – she always liked how sweet they smelt in the Summer when the children ate them in their picnics at the beach. She always thought how happy the children sounded as they ate those strawberries. She knew they must have been a healthy snack for the children. One day she’d even heard the sounds of two people being married up on the beach. They had strawberries dipped in chocolate at the party on the beach that day. Her friend the mermaid had told her all about those when she came back down into the ocean from swimming around amongst the rocks, watching all the marvellous dancing at the party.

Well, somehow in a big hustle and bustle that happened this particular day, on the eve of the full moon – in a whirlwind of passing sea traffic – the current swirled up our little shy Sand Friend. Well, she was quite frazzled, all a-fuss trying to find somewhere to hide – all on her own she floated, turned, twirled and spun being danced all around in the current of the ocean. Sand Friend didn’t like this at all! She was quite unsure… She looked here, there and everywhere. Tears began to well in her eyes and just as she was about to call out ‘heeeelllpppp please – someone’ …. she landed; floating – softly, gently, down to rest in a beautiful, dimly lit little cave….

How calm and peaceful it was here. It was warm and cosy as well. “Hello” whispered a kind voice. “h…h-elllll…o” managed a rather dazed but bright eyed Sand Friend. “Welcome to my home” said the kind voice. “Thank you” said Sand Friend, somewhat recovering as she looked around the cosy little chamber. “You look weary” said the kind voice. “I am” said Sand Friend. “Why don’t you stay a while” said the kind voice. “Thank you” said Sand Friend again, and she snuggled herself down into the cosy bed she’d landed in. “Here” said the kind voice, let me wrap you a little to keep you nice and safe. And with that, the kind voice laid a fine veil of silky softness around Sand Friend. How shimmery and soft it felt. “Thank you” Sand Friend said again, so polite she was. (yawnnnn) “I think I might… just… close … my……. “ Sand Friend didn’t even finish her sentence, she was so tired and exhausted after her wild little ride. Down she nestled, for a long, long sleep.

Whenever Sand Friend would stir – the kind voice would wrap another veil of softness around her. One day when Sand Friend woke up, she found that there was a wonderful new friend all soft and shimmery cuddling her. Such soft, beautiful arms she had wrapped around Sand Friend. “Hello, I am a friend of the Great Mother – she’s sent me to keep you safe.” “The Great Mother?” asked Sand Friend. “Yes, our Great Mother” said the new friend “my name is Pearl and Mother has said we can stay together forever. I am going to wrap around you and protect you, cuddled in my silky arms. For Mother tells me how scared you get out in that big wide seaworld.” “I do” replied Sand Friend “Thank you” she whispered again as she sank back into a cosy sleep.

And so it was that the two little ones – Sand and Pearl, became the very best of friends. From that day onward they were together always and they became so entwined with each other that the Great Mother whose home they lived in, just started to refer to them as one name ‘Nacre’ she would call them, she said it meant “Mother-of-Pearl”, which didn’t really seem to make much sense because she was in fact the Mother of Pearl – but the two friends didn’t complain, they loved their cosy little home so much and the kind voice was forever gentle and loving with them. They just stayed together, cosy as anything – snug as a bug in a rug and anyone who passed by did marvel at how beautiful and shiny the new friends were together.

What are your favourite ways to have the seasons ‘arrive’ in your home?

Happy Summer – or Winter, depending on which side of the world you dwell in….

Christmas :: The Gift Bringer

November 29, 2015 | Leave a Comment

This post has some musings from me about my thoughts, our values and what we celebrate at Christmas. I hope it conveys the message that we are very respectful that what is true and right for us is definitely not going to be for the next family. Each family has their own beliefs and what is ‘truth’ for them. That is the beauty in our world. My thoughts here do not pass judgement on what others may do, there’s definitely no right or wrong – only what ‘feels’ right for each individual person and family. All Blessings.

When Chilli was first born and through her early childhood days, it was ‘The Christmas Angels’ that would visit her at Christmas time. They would bring one main gift and maybe 1-2 other smaller things. We were passionate from the beginning about the story of Christmas and the messages of the time being the main focus for her as she grew. Of course there was gifts from grandparents, relatives and close friends – but the receiving of these was spread out over several days as we visited various gatherings. Presents from those that had been sent in the post, were slowly over the 12 days, left out to be enjoyed. We’ve always been mindful within our home, not only at Christmas, but even at birthdays, Easter and other times through the year when gifts are exchanged – that this is done in a calm manner. We hoped the gifts that were given and received would as much as possible be exchanged personally and for our family to sit quietly as the gift was opened – appreciating that gift and the person it was received from. Today in our home with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we try to still bring a quiet and reverent mood to the Festival and especially any present opening times.

When children are young and the world that surrounds them is predominantly of similar values to your own, it is easy to live with the mindset “This is what our family does” – and this is what the children see, believe and take as their truth. But as children grow, it is our experience with Chilli that with that increasing awareness of what other families celebrate, seeing what is around at Christmas time and as their consciousness expands, that it is necessary to be flexible and flow like the river with the story that is held as the family truth.

We’ve never told our children anything negative about what other people believe or celebrate, we’ve just said that this is what our family celebrates and that is what their family celebrates. Each person is visited by the people or beings that their family believes in. If you ask the Christmas Angels to visit, that is who comes to see you, if you ask Saint Nicholas to visit, he will come visit you and if you ask Father Christmas to come then he will be the one to visit you on Christmas – each of them has their purpose and each of them brings their own story. Obviously the question arises at sometime through the years “Why doesn’t St Nicholas visit this friend or that person” and the answer for us has been simple – because he only visits the families that ask him to.

While we are mindful to keep Christmas as uncommercial as possible and as focussed on the story and meaningful coming together through the time, there are also some traditions that are beautiful and that we as parents hold special and dear from our childhood memories. A few years back, I remember deliberating over The Christmas Stocking. I have such fond memories of opening those tiny little parcels on Christmas morning. I’d wake through the night and look over at my door handle to see if the stocking was bulging yet – Had he been? I’d wonder…. I remember the immense joy that was held in each tiny little piece of tightly taped wrapping paper. I remember the feeling of my hand reaching down into the very tip toe of the stocking, hoping and praying that there was just one more teeny tiny little something. Not for the greedy want of ‘more’ but just for that joy of opening those tiny little parcels. Anyone who is a parent knows what joy is held in tiny little treasures for children. Pockets and pouches are filled with any and all matter of tininess. Delicate pieces of coloured paper fold into tiny little fairy notes. Mini jars are filled with tiny little bits and pieces lined up on shelves as thought they hold the most magical contents – because they do! These precious little treasures. There is something magical about the tiny for wee ones. I can tell you that I have vague at best memories of opening any other Christmas gifts through the years, but I can vividly remember sitting year after year alongside my brother unwrapping those tiny trinkets. So I meditated on this Christmas Stocking. Why do we have Christmas Stockings, what is the meaning of them? Would it increase the expectation of ‘more’ and then feed a ‘greediness’ at Christmas time? After much deliberation, conversations with special friends I turn to as mentors and chatting it over with Graham, we decided to include a Christmas Stocking in our celebrations. We also include a lovely little book with a gorgeous story holding the meaning of why we hang stockings. It was the same with candy canes. I stumbled upon organic candy canes and remembered with such fondness the traditions around candy canes when I was younger. It took me again, a lot of meditating and pondering to arrive at the decision to weave these and the story of them, into our family’s Christmas.

Then there is all the fun of the Elf on the Shelf. We never had this as a child, but over the past few years I’ve watched on social media the fun families have with these little folk and thought about including this in our Christmas Festivities. It can be a hard balance – not buying into the commercial hype yet still having fun and giving children modern day relevant experiences. Sure the vintage, Victorian, yesteryear traditions have so much beauty – but our children also live in the world of today. Even if they homeschool, they go to extra curricula activities as they get older where people talk about this movie, that activity and the other new fun thing. I actually didn’t realise the Elf on the Shelf had been around for as long as he has. I thought he was a relatively new little being. Of course I knew if we did the ‘Elf on the Shelf’ thing that I’d not be buying a pre made one, nor bringing the story as is to our children – but I liked the idea of fun weaving through what can sometimes, despite our best intentions for serene and calmness, be a busy preparation time in Advent. There was however a few things about the ‘Elf on the Shelf’ concept as is, that didn’t sit right for me and I couldn’t see it being meaningful or a right ‘fit’ for our family.

I stumbled upon the ‘Kindness Elves’ idea and read these posts. This was getting closer for me – but it still wasn’t ‘there’ as such. I think whatever we bring to our children has to feel ‘just right’. It has to have thought, meditation and mindfulness behind it. Just like Santa, Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas or the Christmas Angels – no one thing is perfect for every family, each one will put their own ‘spin’ on it, add their own personal ‘flavour’. I liked the idea with the Kindness Elves – thinking of others, bringing the message of giving into the preparations rather than thinking about ‘getting’.

Whether we talk about it or not, our children are thinking about what they’ll receive for Christmas. They know gifts have been organised and they know on Christmas morning, they’ll wake to fun things to unwrap. So while we don’t need to put a focus on it and make the season solely about this – it is still a part of the season, and I think to weave some magic into this – however a family chooses to do that, also keeps a sense of reverence to the festivities. I remember as a young child (who wasn’t really that young, I was the oldest in my family and amongst my cousins we celebrated with, so I had the magic kept alive for me until I was quite old!) standing on the front lawn in the dark of Christmas Eve, looking up at the sky in awe as we all watched Rudolf’s blinking red nose go travelling across the sky! I couldn’t believe we were actually lucky enough to see that! I am sure I could even hear the sleigh bells! Really and Truely! I remember my Oma telling me how as they walked through the snowy Spring woods of Germany that my Father and Uncle marvelled at the little white flick of the Easter Hare’s tail that they saw as he hopped off behind the tree from delivering their eggs in the woods. Our Easter egg hunt when I was younger was often amongst big old pine trees, because that is what Oma and Opa identified so strongly with where the Easter Hare left his gifts.

Back to the Christmas Elf idea. I knew I wanted to bring this fun to our Christmas. As I said the preparation period can be busy and I think it’s nice for the children to have some fun amongst that. It helps to keep us as parents grounded as well, by keeping hold of that magic in our daily preparations.

There’s also the consideration that as Chilli is getting older, we watch the occasional movie with her. There are so many lovely Christmas movies that I’d like to watch with her – but of course they all have and talk about Santa. So it’s foreign, strange and meaningless for her. It’s also slightly awkward because there is that question that starts to come up now – “Who is Santa”, “If there’s Santa, well then how is there also the Christmas Angels and who is Father Christmas”. I know she’s getting older, but I really want the magic to still live in her for a little while longer yet. She still does live so much in that early childhood Sanguine realm and magic really does make her Melancholy dissolve and let her take joy in a sense, to ‘Jump Up And Live Again’! It’s beautiful.

So after much meditating, pondering and consideration, as is always the way – I sat doing something focussed today – and the idea on how to answer some of these emerging questions, weave in the beliefs of others that Chilli’s starting to become aware of, open up the lovely opportunity for us to enjoy a Christmas family movie with her and to bring the fun of The Elf on the Shelf with the mindfulness of the Kindness Elves into our Christmas celebrations. I had this story take shape in my mind. The story will be brought in the form of a letter that sits on the laps of our Christmas Elves when they ‘appear’ on the morning of sometime around December 1… Notice I say ‘sometime around’ – yes, I still need to ‘bring them to life’! 😉 Here’s some fun ideas I’ve been saving on Pinterest to help these little beings come to life in my mind! I especially like the inspiration from Anna Bradford’s blog.

Hi Chilli and Marlin.

What a lovely home you have. We hope you don’t mind us visiting. We spoke with Mumma and Papa to see if it would be alright if we stopped in for a little while and they said they were sure you’d enjoy a visit from us.

We are Christmas Elves. We have been busy in the workshop this year, not only making some very precious and exciting gifts for you this Christmas, but also helping out some of the younger Elves that don’t work as fast or are still learning home to do certain things. Gosh, we’ve been; knitting, sewing, painting, sanding, glueing, felting, building and printing. There are so many different things that children from all over the world would like or need this year, that even we’ve learnt some new skills! And we hear you’ve been working on some new skills here as well. Marlin you’ve been learning to stitch and Chilli you’ve been doing some beautiful weaving and knitting. We even hear that you’ve been doing fantastically at school this year with learning to write, read and do maths. Our favourite lessons at school used to be the Science lessons. We love learning all about the rain and the clouds and the flowers and the snow. The bees that buzz and the butterflies that dance. Even the frogs that croak and the lizards that scurry make us giggle. For a large part of the year, it is very cold where we live. It has to be, because we are so busy we need it to be cooler. Running here, there and everywhere, tending to task after task, we get quite warm ourselves. When it is really cold, we get to sit around the log fire and do quieter activities like knitting and stitching as well. Marlin – you’ve been doing some beautiful drawings this year we hear, and your watercolour paintings are beautiful as well Mumma tells us. Chilli we heard that you’e been doing some crayoning drawings of your stories. We hope you can show us some of your work while we are here.

Well, since we’ve finished all our gift making now and everything is prepared in the Cottage for Christmas Eve, we’ve been allowed to come and visit you. Each year we’re allowed to choose some children we would like to go and visit if we’re ready early enough. We hear you still have some gifts to make, cards to decorate, baking to do for relatives and friends and that you’ll be going to some fun Christmas events. We’d love to stay with you a while if you’d like and we could help you with the preparations you are still working on. We’d also like to go along to some of the fun events you’ll be visiting, if you wouldn’t mind to take us. Make sure to keep us safe and close by you when we are out. It can get so busy at Christmas can’t it? We’re not really for playing with a lot, we’re not like your babies in Pumpkin House, we are rather delicate us Elves, so please remember to be gentle with us and just sit us beside you while you play or work.

We’ll have to go back home on Christmas Night, but we’ll enjoy to be here with you for Christmas Eve and Day. We hear you’ll be having a great party Christmas Eve and we’ll be excited to see how you spend Christmas Day. When we go back home Christmas Night, there is a great celebration for us after all the hard work we’ve done through the year. There are so many children in the world that we like to send special gifts to, that really we are working for most of the year. When we arrive home, Father Christmas has a big celebration for us. Everyone has normally arrived home by then – The Christmas Angels, Saint Nicholas, Ruprecht, their White Horse, Father Christmas, all his Helpers and The Reindeer that pull Father Christmas’ sleigh. There are so many of us that help to make Christmas special for the children of the world, you’ve probably seen a lot of Father Christmas’ helpers sitting in shopping centres, walking around town ringing a bell, riding on the back of fire trucks in Christmas parades or helping out at Charity events. We used to only need one helper in every town but now-a-days towns are getting so big we often need several! They even sometimes ask us to send Helpers to be in movies about Christmas! Often these helpers are called ‘Santa’ because it’s an English shortening of the original Christmas gift bringer Saint Nicholas who visits you early in Advent to bring the message that soon the baby will be born. Aren’t the stories about him fun. He loves to tell us about the time he threw the bag of coins down through the chimney hole for the girl who needed a dowry to be married. We laugh every time when he tells us how the bag landed in her stockings. We think he is so special, such a caring man, who sailed across the waters to take gifts to the people who had no food. Saint Nicholas and Father Christmas really are, well – The Fathers’ of Christmas! The Feast we have is filled with the most delicious food you can ever imagine. What is your favourite Christmas food? Ours is peppermint bark – but we have to wait until after dinner for that. We like to eat honey glazed ham and Father Christmas always finds the sweetest carrots to roast. That night we sit around the log fire (because it’s cold where we live remember) and we have warm spiced milk with tiny gingerbread houses. The Elves that choose to stay back at the Cottage and watch over everything – tending to any last minute preparations that need to be done, they normally make those tiny little houses for all of us who go to help the children with their final Christmas preparations.

Oh and Mummy tells us that she told you a special story about Little Parsley’s Star Crown – is it just like the Star Crown that Mother Mary wears on Epiphany? Hopefully you’ll be able to tell us that story sometime during our stay. We always like Epiphany – it’s the last Feast before we go back to work the following Monday – Plough Monday … Is that when you start school again? That was traditionally the day when the farmers returned to the fields as well after their Christmas Celebrations and rest time.

We better get busy then. What do you have on today? What can we help with? We’re excited we can help you get ready for Christmas. Oh and we’ll try to behave, but you know us Elves we can occasionally get into mischief, we don’t mean to – we just like to have fun – just like you do! Hopefully we won’t make too much mess while we’re staying. Perhaps if we do, you could help us clean it up so Mumma and Papa don’t get too cranky!

Let’s have a Happy Advent together and enjoy a fantastic Christmas.

Love from – Well, we actually don’t have names! You see, when we’re at home, we’re just called ‘Elf’ so if you could give us a name that’d really be wonderful – we always think it’s so amazing that children have their very own names! Please, could you give us our own name – make sure you think of something special. We’re excited to see what you come up with.

Do you have a magical Elf that comes to visit your children through the Advent and preparation period? What is your favourite thing abut these Elves, and what is the story that follows your little friends?

Parenting :: Childhood Magic

July 5, 2015 | Leave a Comment

I think the ages around 2-4 years old are imbued with the most special type of magic. Sure, magic flows through all stages of childhood, but the years around 2-4 hold something just a little bit extra special about them in my experience.

Our daughter is 7.5 years old and while she still lives very beautifully into a lot of the magic surrounding Festivals and other celebrations through our year, the intense ability to dissolve into and be swept away in that magical world of fantasy is starting to slowly fade. Sad? Maybe a tiny bit – our little girl is growing up and leaving those precious, innocent early childhood years behind – but it’s also exciting to see her grow and unfold into the next stage that she will blossom into… Even if that does come with all the challenges of dealing with emerging will, opinions, defiance and sass! (Hence I’ve just invested today in this book a friend recommended many years ago to navigate these times as peacefully as possible in a way that honours who she is becoming.) Amongst this time is naturally the questions that start to come about “Well, how does Saint Nicholas get inside? He can’t come down the chimney – there’s a grate over the top of the flue so that birds can’t nest in there” – “Mummy, is the Michaelmas dragon real or is it you that leaves the crystals out for us – I know it’s you Mummy (…but I’ll still be absolutely wowed when we do find the crystals in the grass and I’ll get totally swept up in the magic of believing that they are actually dragons tears!) Do dragons actually really exist, did they ever exist? Is there still dragons in the world today?” ….

It also comes with a beautiful stage where she helps to weave and create the magic for her younger brother. I think there is something special in being able to help create for another so many of those special moments that have formed wonder within your own early years. However she does still go through waves almost like passing in and out of a veil of belief. In her heart, I think she still wants to believe, it’s her soul I guess that is starting to question the logic behind some of the magic as she awakens just a little more into this Earthly world and life. She still wants ‘The Angels’ to leave her new books inside her pyjamas, ‘The Fairies’ to leave surprises in the garden and ‘The Sugar Sprite’ to come past the window at night and collect any candy for her sugar babies that the children happen to have been given. The stardust and tiny crystal sprinkles they find the next morning in place of the candy still bring that gleam of magic and wonder into her incarnating eyes. It’s an exciting time. I have an image of her spiritually standing on the edge of this place of ‘crossing over’ – part of her wants to step forward, but another part isn’t quite ready yet. I guess it’s the Nine Year Change starting to stir within her. The beginning of her ‘Crossing the Rubicon’. Chilli started with her change of teeth quite early, around 5.5 years old and on reflection, the Six Year Change really started to stir within her around 4.5 years old – so it would make sense that the beginnings of the Nine Year Change are, around 7.5 years old, starting to plant their seeds of change within her. I’ve also heard conversations between Steiner teachers and other Anthroposophically based professionals over the years that many hold the belief that children in today’s world are incarnating at a slightly quicker pace and often pass through the changes a little earlier than the ‘traditionally quoted’ ages.

This little piece of magic I am writing about here in this post was inspired by another of those stories that stays with me so vividly from those ‘Evenings with Ebba’ I’ve spoken about back at the Central Coast Rudolf Steiner School when Chilli was a wee bubba. I think there wasn’t a dry eye in the room when Ebba told in great detail with all the magic that so naturally just lives within her words, the story of a little boy at her playgroup. Ebba had told a Winter story about snow. At the end of the story, she softly, quietly, magically and reverently blew a small wisp of fleece to each child – a snowflake! Well, that evening or early the next day she received a phone call from one of the parents in the group, her child was distraught. Where could the parent go to buy or find another of those ‘snowflakes’? Her son had lost the snowflake and was beside himself…. Ebba then explained what this ‘snowflake’ in fact was and the problem I assume was easily rectified by the mother and a little bit of magic.

Ebba told us this story to demonstrate how the reverence and the special quality we apply to our storytelling and in creating a sense of wonder, so magically inspires and permeates the child. How one tiny bit of simple wool roving could be imbued with so much specialness, so much character, magic and life. This all came from how this story had lived within Ebba herself and the reverence with which she had delivered not only the story but also the snowflake itself.

I love that Marlin is living so beautifully in that stage now of really ‘eating up’ and ‘living into’ all this childhood magic. It really is a special time for parent and child as well as older child and younger sibling. As I mentioned above, when the older child is able to be a part of helping to create that magic for their sibling, something very special happens for both children. One day when Marlin was a little unsettled about heading in to lay down for a nappy change, I spontaneously grabbed a little ‘lucky bean’ box off the children’s shelves. I looked around for something ‘special’ to put inside and this tuft of fleece that sits on his dressing table caught my eye. The tuft itself is quite special. It is the little tuft I quietly placed into his wee hand when he was a baby watching sheep shearing for the first time. He sat there ‘exploring’ with touch that piece of fleece for a good few hours. He nursed, layed in the camp chair, oohed and aahed at the sheep – the whole time grasping that wispy piece of fleece until it was placed into his pocket as we packed up to leave for the day. The fleece remained in his pocket for many months following and was rubbed around in that little pocket with those cute little bubba fingers every time his hand bundled in to hide from the cold. When I found the piece 6 or so months later (I’m sure it was possibly ‘later’ – a baby’s pockets are not something one often has to clean out) it was a sweet little soft felted pillow. It was lovely to have such a gorgeous keepsake of the first time he watched sheep shearing.

On the spot, as I brought this story together – I also recalled not only the story from Ebba, but also a sweet little story a friend here in Tasmania once told the Waldorf playgroup at Christmas time. A story of when the baby Jesus was born and the sheep who had come, offered a piece of fleece from over her heart to line the baby’s manger. Over the years, with the countless stories I have read, memorised, told and written myself, my ability to just weave stories out of thin air has somewhat improved. While I’m definitely no David Sewell McCann, I can normally bring together something sweet and magical, then and there if need be. The little box was hidden under a piece of fabric, I told Marlin I had a special story for him and for the duration of his nappy change, I told a simple little impromptu story that kept his undivided attention. The story was about a special piece of fleece that was filled with all the love that a mother has for her child – so much love squeezed into this tiny, special place. Once the nappy change was finished and I picked up an item of clothing to put back on him, there was the magic little box. Chilli chimed in with a special little gasp and said something along the lines of “I wonder what’s in there Marlin? Open it, it must be very special…” He carefully opened it and was delighted. The magic and wonder in his eyes and on his face were priceless. “oooooo” he softly says, while his attention is absolutely immersed in the moment. As he lay there engrossed in the magic of the moment with his fleece, he kept dropping it onto his chest and then frantically rummaging around to find it again – giggling and relieved when he found it. He’d hold it to his heart and place it carefully back into the box for safe keeping. He found a little pouch to carry the box around in and for days wherever he went, the little pouch went too – with the box that held the special fleece tucked safely down inside. If he was changed, the pouch was held tightly in his hand and slung back across him once he was dressed again. At night it hung on the bed post to be picked up again first thing in the morning as he climbed out of bed. He often carries around in this manner some special little pouch with a trinket inside that doesn’t leave his side. Something so simple, yet so very special and magical hides inside that pouch!

It’s so beautiful to see these simple things take on such life, special meaning and magic to the child. It really makes me so grateful knowing that our children’s early years are imbued with such a special sense of wonder that will, I hope, create memories that they will look back on in years to come with great fondness, love and wonder in their hearts.

Tell me – what is the most magical moment you remember from this special time when your children lived in this space of great wonder and awe?