{"id":239,"date":"2012-05-10T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-10T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/a8296f7e-b9ae-4a7d-808d-316ea751d62c"},"modified":"2012-05-10T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-05-10T05:00:00","slug":"rudolf-steiner-guardian-angel-of-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/?p=239","title":{"rendered":"Rudolf Steiner, Guardian Angel of Children"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNowhere in
\nour observation of the human being and nature do we encounter spirit and soul
\nso directly as when we contemplate the manifestations of life in a child.\u201d<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

–Rudolf
\nSteiner<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

No one wrote
\nwith such obvious affection and true reverence for children in the 20th<\/sup>
\ncentury than Rudolf Steiner<\/a>.  Unfortunately
\nhis tender, yet nonetheless meaningful observations of children are sometimes
\ncouched in difficult concepts, philosophical wanderings, and somewhat esoteric
\nideas.  The truth remains however.  There was no greater advocate for the total
\nhealth and well-being of children the past 100 years than Rudolf Steiner.  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

His ideas of
\neducation and child development arose during a time the world was in the throes
\nof war.  They arose in a culture where
\nchildren were \u201cto be seen and not heard.\u201d 
\nThey arose when education was meant to be hard, cold, intellectual, with
\nthe only aim to produce robotic beings enslaved to materialism and political
\nideologies.  Steiner spoke of children as
\nholy.  He spoke of them as holding the keys
\nto the future.  He spoke of them with
\nsuch passion that his ideas, though unorthodox for the times, spread like wildfire.  When any good teacher speaks with enthusiasm,
\nthe message spreads.  And Steiner loved
\nchildren.  In no other area did he focus
\nmore spiritual, mental, or physical energy and Steiner gave himself to many
\ndifferent areas\u2014gardening, economics, spirituality, art, dance, philosophy,
\nliterature, even bees.  When he spoke of
\neducation and of children however, his eyes danced, his voice rose, his spirit
\nsoared.  He knew his subject matter was
\nof the most vital importance.  He knew
\nthat children suffered; he knew they were being stifled and mired in
\neducational nonsense.  He wanted children
\nfree\u2014children free to grow and thrive. 
\nTo do this Steiner knew children needed to be taught with, and through,
\nthe arts.  He knew their whole bodies
\nneeded to be involved in education.  He
\nknew they needed to be happy, loved, cherished, understood, and observed if
\nthey were to be fully educated.<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

I have loved
\nSteiner\u2019s educational ideas since I first discovered them for myself about 15 years
\nago.  Being a teacher in the public
\nschool system for the past two years I have chosen to keep most of my ideas
\nabout education under wraps.  I made a
\nfew videos about education<\/a>, but largely, here, at the Wonder Child Blog, I have
\nbeen silent about education in general. 
\nNo more.  I am returning to my
\neducational home: Waldorf Education<\/a>.<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

While I
\nbelieve there is no one system of education that can reach every child, there is one that comes the closest; one that nourishes
\nthe drastically soul-starved school-child of today\u2014that\u2019s Waldorf Education as
\ndescribed by Rudolf Steiner.  <\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

I encourage you
\nto explore Steiner\u2019s writing<\/a> and the writings of such wonder Waldorf Educators
\nas Jack Petrash<\/a>, Else Gottgens<\/a>, Marjorie Spock<\/a>, among many others.  And stay tuned here as I embark on my journey
\nback into the Waldorf Schools<\/a>, I will be sure to share more of what I discover.<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll close
\nwith another quote from Rudolf Steiner:<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cAll human
\nbeings should function from a fundamental sense of gratitude that the cosmos has
\ngiven us birth and a place within the universe\u2026This feeling [of gratitude] is
\nessential in teachers and should be instinctive in anyone entrusted with
\nnurturing a child.  Therefore, the first
\nimportant thing to be worked for in spiritual knowledge is thankfulness that
\nthe universe has given a child into our keeping.\u201d<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

Peace,<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

Joseph<\/o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cNowhere in our observation of the human being and nature do we encounter spirit and soul so directly as when we contemplate the manifestations of life in a child.\u201d –Rudolf Steiner   No one wrote with such obvious affection and true reverence for children in the 20th century than Rudolf Steiner.  Unfortunately his tender, yet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19,29],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}