waldorf on a budget. - Page 3

[mamaUK]

Originally Posted by PabloHoneySF

I have all the "right" books, but I feel like sometimes I have so much Waldorf in the head and not feeling it in the heart.

I was wondering if you could explain a bit more what you meant here! I'm interested and nosey! Don't worry if you don't want to though!

[PabloHoneySF]

Originally Posted by mamaUK

I was wondering if you could explain a bit more what you meant here! I'm interested and nosey! Don't worry if you don't want to though!

hmmm, I guess what I'm saying is that I have a lot of resources (books, etc) here so I "know" what I should be doing the waldorf way... I've put a lot of energy into making our home a sanctuary and a soothing place for our family where creativity can flow freely, but at the end of the day- kids are still kids and I'm still human and still find myself screaming at them for some lovely mischief they've concocted- like taking all the dirt out of the houseplants and throwing it all around to make "brown rain" (which was yesterdays debacle)

Sometimes I just don't LOVE Waldorf, there are days when I feel like life would be easier to just turn on the TV and give myself a break. Sometimes I just feel like I'm going through the motions with all the different festivals.

So for now, I've put all the books away on the bookshelf (I usually have them out on an end table for quick reference) so I'm not feeling constantly reminded what I'm doing wrong and I'm trying to approach things more moment by moment rather than looking forward asking myself "is this the Waldorf way of doing things?". I realize that it's my own self-judgement and I should be easier on myself. I just want to feel like this journey is coming naturally and not just rules I am following

I came across this blog posting which helped me breathe a little easier while at the same time made me realize that maybe we aren't meant to be a strictly waldorf family (ie- #6 re: playdates and classes, I would D.I.E. of isolation if we didn't have playdates)

So my apologies for taking this thread in a totally different direction...

[counterGOPI]

thank you for posting that blog link marina! how great!!

i had to at the playdate thing. im such a homebody that it's hard to get me out of the house but i can tell that kaulini NEEDS to get out every now and then and needs her playdates.

[dogretro]

Originally Posted by operamommy

Whoa...not so fast, everyone...I'm all about the TV - I mean, I am a LOST fan.

My husband and I do watch a little tv on the pc thru Netflix and Hulu, but we do not put on kid shows for our daughter. We always try to wait until she is in bed to watch, but some nights, she is not ready yet and it is late, so she sits w/ us to watch, but she doesn't really watch.

[RollerCoasterMama]

Originally Posted by counterGOPI

thank you for posting that blog link marina! how great!!

Totally! That should be required reading! A dose of reality helps a lot when you want to be perfect---which really means being destined to fail. I love the peak into reality that people sometimes do in their blogs. It's so easy to put the best face forward with a few paragraphs and a couple of photos. I neeeeeeed to see sometimes that people are trying as hard as I am and everyone still has weak points!

[counterGOPI]

i should add i was thinking this happens with everything,not just waldorf kwim? so we shouldnt be hard on ourselves.there are days i wish i used sposies instead of cloth b/c then i wouldn't have to do the laundry or that i wish i didn't make my own baby food form scratch.

[sagemomma]

i love that blog link, it makes me feel LOADS better.

[cera]

Thanks for posting that link Marina. We are also not strictly Waldorf, more loosely inspired really and I often find myself beating myself up for certain decisions I have made or not made. That blog entry was a nice reminder that I do not have to be "by the book" so to speak. I find it funny that I am giving myself such a hard time even though we are admittedly not strictly Waldorf. I guess that sometimes we are our own worst enemies when it comes to how we feel about our parenting/lifestyle choices.

[cera]

Originally Posted by operamommy

Whoa...not so fast, everyone...I'm all about the TV - I mean, I am a LOST fan.

But I am glad to know that others struggle with feeling similarly. I do rather like you lot, you know. :

We also love our tv over here, well I should say DH loves our tv. We are tv free during the day until our youngest goes to bed. I didn't think I could live without the tv until we made the rule and now I really could care less about watching it. We still watch tv in the evenings but when dh is out of town I personally rarely turn the tv on once the kids are in bed, I also have pvr though so anything I NEED to watch does get taped so it's not really an issue for me. I also let little ds watch a movie every once in a blue moon, when he is really sick or on a REALLY bad day. My eldest watches some tv on weekends too but he did grow up with the tv on all day long in a VERY mainstream environment. You'll find it's very common for a lot of "tv free" households to not actually really be completely tv free. When I say we are tv free I really mean my kids are and it's 95% of the time you know?

[mamaUK]

Originally Posted by PabloHoneySF

hmmm, I guess what I'm saying is that I have a lot of resources (books, etc) here so I "know" what I should be doing the waldorf way... I've put a lot of energy into making our home a sanctuary and a soothing place for our family where creativity can flow freely, but at the end of the day- kids are still kids and I'm still human and still find myself screaming at them for some lovely mischief they've concocted- like taking all the dirt out of the houseplants and throwing it all around to make "brown rain" (which was yesterdays debacle)

Sometimes I just don't LOVE Waldorf, there are days when I feel like life would be easier to just turn on the TV and give myself a break. Sometimes I just feel like I'm going through the motions with all the different festivals.

So for now, I've put all the books away on the bookshelf (I usually have them out on an end table for quick reference) so I'm not feeling constantly reminded what I'm doing wrong and I'm trying to approach things more moment by moment rather than looking forward asking myself "is this the Waldorf way of doing things?". I realize that it's my own self-judgement and I should be easier on myself. I just want to feel like this journey is coming naturally and not just rules I am following

I came across this blog posting which helped me breathe a little easier while at the same time made me realize that maybe we aren't meant to be a strictly waldorf family (ie- #6 re: playdates and classes, I would D.I.E. of isolation if we didn't have playdates)

So my apologies for taking this thread in a totally different direction...

Thanks for explaining! I related alot to your reply (esp. about shouting at the kids sometimes, and questioning whether I'm doing things the waldorf way etc) and it made me realise why I haven't decided yet what festivals we are going to celebrate. My twin has been asking me for the past few months which ones we are going to do and I haven't been answering b/c I need to figure out which ones we want to celebrate as a family and what we are comfortable celebrating. I too don't want to go through the motions just b/c we have too. So I haven't figured it out yet. I would like to celebrate Easter but not in the traditional Christian sense but more in a celebration of Spring kind of way IYKWIM so I might do this rather than celebrating the first official day of spring. We might see it from its Pagan roots rather than its Christian roots as we aren't really a religious/Christian family. For my LO's the Easter Bunny will come, maybe a treasure hunt in the garden and possibly decorating eggs or making Easter cookies and then a special Easter tea party.


The link you put was so funny, I think I will print it out and stick in on the fridge!!!!!!!