Seeing our Children

Where is the book in which the teacher can read about what teaching is? The children themselves are this book. We should not learn to teach out of any book other than the one lying open before us and consisting of the children themselves.”

Rudolf Steiner

This is perhaps one of the more famous of Rudolf Steiner’s quotes. It calls upon the adult to meet the needs of the child in front of them through observation. Teacher or parents, it doesn’t matter. To know what a child needs, does not come from a book, it comes from the child themselves. But, when we look at our children, have we really seen them? Have we seen them without judgement, fear or worry? Have we seen them without putting our own prejudices into the picture?

Using objectivity when seeing things that we are confronted with is a skill that requires regular practice. In a world that is increasingly opinionated, it is so important to be able to sort through the noise and see the essential idea in front of us. To see the real picture and create a response that meets our needs.

One way to work on objectivity and clarity of thought is the sevenfold learning process. Steiner believed that there was a connection between the seven processes at work in the human organism (breathing, warming, nourishing, secreting, maintaining, growing and reproducing) and the processes of the mind. Through building the processes of the mind, we see how we are connected to the world through our senses, our bodily processes and our spirit center. It is the thinking, feeling and willing of how we take in the world and what we do with these impressions.

I have been working on building my knowledge and practice of sevenfold learning for the last five years and I’m so excited to now be a facilitator of the My Child, My Self series of workshops, created especially for adults who live or work with children. This course builds our capacity to see children as beings of body, soul and spirit, and helps build a deeper connection through focused observation.

Keeping in mind that adults who work and live with children are busy humans, this workshop series was created to seamlessly fit into the lives of families and teachers by helping adults build small but consistent practices into their day.

Society is inundated with tips, tricks and band-aid solutions to “fix” what we see “wrong” with our children. But is it really a fix we need? Or would we be better served in learning how to look more deeply at the children who stand before us?

In the My Child Myself – Observing Your Child program, we will build our abilities to see our children through objective eyes, journeying through a seven step learning process that will support clear, truthful seeing, and connect with our individual spirit center to build new thinking, feeling and willing. Through artistic experiences and guided inner work we will open the door to new understanding and insight about ourselves and our children, increasing awareness of our children being of body, soul and spirit. Engaging in a practice of deeper seeing builds inner skills needed to meet the needs of our children.

The learning group will meet for two hours each week, across seven weeks. Each meeting will provide time for sharing each other’s experiences, exercises to help school our ability to “see” objectively, and a presentation of new information to support your practice during the week. The program was created especially for busy adults, and thus the “home work” each week consists of practical exercises that will take on average 5 minutes a day, and one painting experience each week.

I am offering two online session options via the New Adult Learning Initiative, and classes are open worldwide!

Option 1: Sunday afternoons 2-4pm EST, starting October 17 through to November 28th.
Cost – $200 CAD (subsidies and scholarships available)

Option 2: Monday evenings 6:30-8:30pm EST, starting October 18th through to November 29th.
Cost – $200 CAD (subsidies and scholarships available)

If these times do not suit your needs, please fill out the contact form below and I would be happy to work with you and/or your group privately at a time that is mutually convenient.

To register, please click the button below.