What does Waldorf look like AT HOME for older boys?

[minta]

I'm curious what your 10+ YO boys do in their free time. I can't think of a single boy that age who doesn't watch TV or play video games etc... so I'd love to know what Waldorf kids get up. What do yours like to do?

[boatbaby]

Well... my boy is only 6 so I may not be the voice you are looking to hear from. But we have no tv or video games (I don't think he knows what a video game is) and will not ever have them.

He spends A LOT of time outdoors and reading (aside from playing with toys which he still loves at this age). I imagine for us, when he gets older, he will want to do more "work" play... making things with his hands, wood work, helping us make repairs around the boat, making useful things, camping, tracking, and of course more reading and still spending time in nature fishing, crabbing, etc.

I will be watching to see what others have to say...

[Kimcarrots]

Hi all,

I am mom to Lucas (15), Gaelan (11), and Jericho (3) and we homeschool in the Waldorf tradition.

We have no gaming systems and no TV. We do have a family movie night on Fridays, Lucas has internet time for his fantasy baseball/football a few times a week when he asks (and he also checks his email). We are in discussions right now about allowing Lucas to have a PC game (it works on game systems too) called Madden - a sports game. If we get this game it will have boundaries about it's use in terms of time.

Lucas loves podcasts and listening to games, he loves checking his email and going on ESPN, and he acts in operas and plays. He loves to cook and be read aloud to. He loves our Saturday adventures.

We strive for balance, we keep talking, we listen and try to bend without giving up our ideals. It is possible to have a teen who has limited media (by today's standards) and thrives.

Best!

[operamommy]

Looking forward to the responses on this one!

[Melaniee]

Mine is nearly 9. We don't have electronic gaming systems or TV for the kids. If we did, surely that is all they would want to do since they seem to gravitate towards that type of things in stores.

Aside from sibling interactions and imaginative play (b/c it is usually with sibling), he reads, plays with legos (not my favorite, but no one is perfect! I wish he'd play more with the planks and blocks but once those little plastic things infiltrated our home they took over), drawing, cutting/glueing/taping, riding bicycle or scooter, playing with pet, cooking with me, playing ball (usually with Dad), and recently he's asked me to make or print a stack of math worksheets...for fun ( That was NEVER me! LOL).

[joyfulheart]

My 9.5 y.o. ds loves to do crafts, knit, sew, read, play with clay, draw, play Legos, ride his bike and scooter, play with his hamster and our dog, and play/explore outside. He loves to cook, too. Right now, he is at the table with a glue gun, cotton balls, pipe cleaners, wooden beads and buttons. He is constantly creating things. And, we do have limited media in our home.

[zoebird]

you might think back on your own childhood and see what you did.

my DH had limited video game and tv time, and so he spent a lot of time doing sports, reading, art, and suffering from anxiety.

the anxiety is due to how he was raised, not a lack of tv/video games. but, it colors his whole life.

anyway, when i was 10+ in a video-game free and tv-light household (2 hrs per day, but with one tv in the home, it was whatever my dad wanted to watch, which was sports, so i rarely watched tv), i listened to music, read books, did art, walked outside a lot, and so on.

[CaliMommie]

We are relatively new to Waldorf, so I am subbing hoping for ideas....

[traceface]

Some of the 4th and 5th graders at my son's Waldorf charter school are into woodworking, building go-carts and geo-caching.

Also, a biggie seems to be taking apart and putting together radio electronics. (different, to me, than watching media or playing computer games)

[chrissy]

My oldest son is almost 9. We are Waldorf-inspired homeschoolers. We do have tv, which he gets to watch from time to time, usually just a little bit on weekends. We do not have video games- we have in the past and it was a total fail.

He loves to read, play sports(soccer, football), play in our yard/woods, play 'Star Wars' (which is basically a good guys/bad guys running around game).... Those are probably his favorite things to do. He does like legos too and has recently gotten interested in cooking. Oh, he likes to play games a lot too (board games or card games).

eta- He also really likes to trade things, cards or Silly Bands lately.

[sarasprings]

My son is 8 1/2 and he plays outside mostly, but also looks at books (he reads them too, but they are fact books and he pours over the illustrations as well), plays with playmobil, capsela, and other building materials.

[zinemama]

Although I went to a WS for years and years, my kids do not. Therefore you couldn't call them "Waldorf kids." However, we have no TV or gaming system and live a fairly simple life.

My 10yo is currently roaming the neighborhood in search of chestnuts to collect. He will bring them home and play some bizarre game he and his 7yo brother made up, kind of like marbles, with a scoring system beyond me.

His other activities include reading, riding his bike around the neighborhood, sitting on the sidewalk on sunny days, attempting to burn dried leaves with a magnifying glass, and taking abandoned electronic equipment apart to see what's inside. He also plays his acoustic guitar.

He is very interested in making bows and arrows. He finds the appropriate wood for the bow, strings it, buys dowels at the hardware store for arrows, collects feathers to fletch them, etc. Then he shoots at a target (an old watering can) in the back yard.

He plays outside with his friends, kicking a ball around.

A kid doesn't have to be "Waldorf" to do things other than watch TV and play video games.

[JudiAU]

Not Waldorf kids per see but my nephew are pretty "natural" :

9y - he takes his music lessons very seriously and seriously practices about 90m a day, is very into building with legos, math "fun" workbooks designed by grandma, chess club, and football at his local school - if you noticed a competitive streak you would be right, also really loving oldest brother to 3 younger sisters, big reader

12y- likes to tinker, sometimes with grandpa and sometimes with dad, welds (to code), electrical work (to code), woodworking (to grandpa's standards), does a little pluming now, rides a bike an hour or two a day, builds fireworks (sigh) and the (remote control detonators required by dad), trying to fix my grandfather's spare tank (yes, tank), solid math skills, does not read well at all, never had any imaginative play, very bright kid in so many ways but the general feeling by the family and now shared by his parents is that homeschooling is not actually working out well because his parents can't seem to address all of his learning needs, looking at placing him part time in a local school to add structure; very similar to uncles who had a similar upbringing, who however smart and cool, cannot hold jobs and cannot read well

[minta]

Thanks so much for these replies. I have no direct experience with tween or teen boys, so it's helpful for me to hear what kind of things boys this age are into. Every time I ask friends they just tell me what TV shows the kids watch or what games they play, and I knew the boys had to be into some other stuff besides all that!