Earth Day

00:02     good morning most Neal self all their

00:05     potentials I hope you had a wonderful

00:07     weekend I hope that you are ready to

00:10     greet your weak in fact fact I want you

00:15     all to just doesn't matter where you are

00:18     right now I want you to affirm that

00:23     you're gonna show up as your best self

00:24     today and so I want you to say that if

00:27     you're listening and you're watching

00:29     life go ahead and type it into the

00:31     comments I want you to say I will show

00:34     up as my best self today it's so so so

00:37     easy to not show up as their best self

00:39     we've got we're exhausted I get it we

00:41     were we had Eric calls from boomerang

00:43     kid when she does is she's like up and

00:45     down up and down all night long and so

00:49     we get it we understand what it's like

00:51     when you have kids that are up all night

00:53     and you're exhausted and you just want

00:56     to crawl back under the covers and

00:57     that's not possible

00:58     and so there's that there's you know

01:01     stresses that come from teaching kids

01:04     that might not be doing exactly what you

01:07     need them to do or showing up exactly

01:09     how you're hoping that they would show

01:10     up and so my prayer for you today is

01:14     that you will just realize I will show

01:16     up as my best self today and and if you

01:19     can just say that out loud right now

01:21     even if your kids are standing around no

01:24     matter where you are just say I will

01:26     show up as my best self today and and

01:28     just really work to to embody that I

01:31     will show up as my best self today and

01:33     just say that say that over and over

01:34     because when we say it it starts to

01:38     change those grooves in our brain and so

01:39     we can start to say that rather than man

01:42     today sucks or I wish I had to do over

01:45     or all of those other things so start

01:47     with I will show up with my best self

01:49     today so that's just my little

01:52     affirmation piece as we get started here

01:54     the topic today is but it's not Waldorf

01:58     which i think is a funny topic it's

02:01     actually something that comes up a lot

02:02     we have a lot of families that come to

02:05     us and say I want to do this and I want

02:07     to do

02:07     but I know that's not Walter and I want

02:11     to stop you first and I want to affirm

02:14     what is Walter so what is Waldorf it's

02:18     actually pretty simple and so so many

02:22     things can fold into this so I want you

02:24     to remember this when you start to say

02:27     bad things to yourself about oh it's not

02:29     Waldorf or I can't do this because it's

02:31     just not Waldorf so I want you to

02:33     remember these things Waldorf is

02:36     age-appropriate material at the right

02:39     time and lively lessons that's it I mean

02:45     yeah there's a lot of other

02:46     underpinnings that go into it

02:48     but when you start to judge everything

02:50     that the that maybe your child is

02:53     interested in or you want to bring to

02:55     your child or your family does for fun

02:56     all of those things when you have all of

02:59     those things coming up and you start to

03:01     judge them and go oh but it's not

03:02     Waldorf then you want to be really

03:05     really careful about you know what

03:09     you're saying to yourself because here's

03:11     the thing Walter if is an amazing

03:13     amazing method of Education and it's one

03:16     that doesn't have to be in this box so

03:19     let's let's talk about examples so um it

03:23     was on a group the other day and a mom

03:25     had said she had said I somebody was

03:30     asking a question about you know like

03:32     violence in sporting events and while

03:37     most I would actually most is probably

03:40     too much many well their families do not

03:43     enjoy sporting events away maybe a more

03:46     mainstream family does that doesn't mean

03:48     it's not Walter the part that isn't

03:50     Waller is when you have a five-year-old

03:52     and you're pushing them into competition

03:55     that's the part that's not older but if

03:58     you're enjoying a game as a family and

04:00     that's part of your family culture then

04:03     it's absolutely Walter in fact Steiner

04:05     said something about and I'm going to

04:07     mess it up so I'm not going to even try

04:08     to quote it but he said that if it's

04:10     part of your family culture and he said

04:12     he was talking about religion at the

04:13     time like if you if this is part of your

04:16     religious practice of course you

04:18     wouldn't stop doing it

04:19     it just

04:20     it's not Waldorf or not the not the

04:24     right time for whatever it was that you

04:26     know you were bringing to your child but

04:29     you you would do it because it's your

04:30     family culture so if it's part of your

04:32     family culture to watch football on

04:34     Sundays or hockey on Tuesdays great

04:37     that's part of your family culture and

04:39     you should continue to do that even if

04:41     you don't think that that's Walter

04:42     in fact I should say one of our thinking

04:45     feeling willing that hurts

04:46     it's a wife of a pro football player so

04:50     there's nothing about it not being

04:52     Waldorf what again what the parts that

04:56     aren't is when we're pushing pushing

04:57     pushing young children so another thing

04:59     that somebody might say is and we

05:02     actually have this our old our middle

05:05     son was way into BMX he loved riding his

05:08     bike he loved competing and he was about

05:11     9 or 10 wasn't he yeah he was - he was

05:14     he was over 9 he was overnight and it

05:17     was good for him he was very melancholy

05:20     that's how he was showing up at the time

05:21     very melancholy with a hint of sanguine

05:24     and I sort of flipped more sanguine and

05:26     melancholy but you know that that was

05:29     what he loved to do so as a family that

05:32     was our culture we showed up for him we

05:34     did those things for him so beyond like

05:36     extracurricular activities that people

05:38     might say oh that startled or what about

05:41     if your child is like way into something

05:44     and you're and they're really excited

05:46     about it and they want to dive deep but

05:48     it's it's there they're too young or by

05:51     well they're sinners they'd be too young

05:52     so I would say first explore what it is

05:55     are we talking in quantum physics are we

05:58     talking you know heart surgery

06:01     are we talking just a child that really

06:03     loves Egypt so I think that you have to

06:06     sort of weigh out what it is that they

06:08     are really loving and and look at where

06:11     they are

06:12     age-wise and and are they do they have

06:16     enough skills to go deep I think the

06:18     thing that that's most important is to

06:20     realize that as they grow their

06:23     intellect grows so the intellect of an

06:25     eight-year-old that's a really really

06:27     really into studying the space program

06:30     is not going to be the same

06:32     as a 14 year old or 15 year old that's

06:36     really interested in the city's program

06:37     so I think it's it's very important that

06:40     well you might give them a variety of

06:44     things to read about say the space

06:46     program they're going to take it much

06:48     differently when they're younger than

06:50     they want when they're older and so you

06:52     want to also keep in mind okay well

06:55     we've covered this now they're really

06:57     excited about it now

06:58     I probably still need to cover it when

07:00     they're when it's the right time I

07:02     remember when my oldest he was all about

07:06     Egypt and there were those books that

07:08     they have you can see a Barnes and Noble

07:10     sometimes it's like Egyptology or

07:13     something like that and then there's

07:14     ones that they have on dragons and

07:16     there's what so it's like it's more like

07:17     a folklore than it would be anything

07:20     else I mean yeah there's some great

07:23     tidbits in there and and bits of

07:26     information but it looks like it's a

07:28     dive deep kind of book but it's more of

07:30     a commercial kind of book about the it

07:34     was about the pyramids and it was about

07:36     mummies but it wasn't actually about the

07:40     different time periods in Egypt it

07:43     wasn't actually about like the depth and

07:45     he was all over it and I could have said

07:48     oh wait you're not ready yet but I just

07:51     sort of let him do it because he had a

07:53     love for it at the time he was in fourth

07:56     grade and I knew we were going to study

07:57     it in fifth grade and what ended up

07:59     happening is he had a great time with it

08:01     in fourth grade but I made it not a

08:04     lesson so I think that that's really

08:06     important we have a child that's really

08:08     into something don't dive in and go oh

08:10     we're gonna learn everything about it I

08:12     make it a lesson let them have their own

08:14     pace ender because sometimes what

08:15     happens I've been this overzealous mom

08:18     sometimes what happens as we go

08:20     others are excited about it let's get

08:23     everything about Egypt at the library

08:25     I've totally been that mom excuse me but

08:29     it wasn't about Egypt it was something

08:31     else

08:31     so so he really wanted it and where it

08:33     really was into it so I sort of let him

08:36     do his thing I let him have fun with it

08:38     he was a budding reader he had struggled

08:41     um

08:41     you know a bit and so he was really

08:43     excited about

08:44     wanting to read so I was like sure of

08:46     course you can devour this book have a

08:48     good time and then what happened when we

08:51     actually did Egypt in school was he was

08:54     like whoa there's so much more here than

08:56     I understood because that book that

08:59     thing that he was devouring was not the

09:02     totality of it and so then we were able

09:03     to really go deep when it was time and

09:06     so I want you to feel like when you're

09:09     looking at you know planning for next

09:12     year bring in the things that your kids

09:15     love but don't go all crazy and and make

09:19     it a lesson you can't make it may be a

09:21     short lesson but don't go all crazy

09:23     because what tends to happen when we

09:25     become that moments like overzealous

09:27     about something like oh my gosh they're

09:28     friendly excited about something I have

09:30     to like do it to death

09:31     what it tends to happen is that then

09:34     they get sick of it so don't do that to

09:38     yourself instead let them be open about

09:41     it let them pick resources about it that

09:43     they want let them have fun and be in

09:46     that space of being excited about

09:48     something and you don't have to have a

09:50     lot to do with it you can't say hey do

09:52     you want to do some lessons on this most

09:55     kids will probably say no mom that says

09:58     don't go oh we're gonna get a lesson but

10:01     we're gonna don't do that because you

10:03     you don't want to unless they prompt you

10:05     because you don't want to you know like

10:08     I said get overzealous about it and then

10:10     have that it will kill their their

10:12     desire so so just let it unfold and you

10:17     know if it's not in the timeline of

10:19     where they are with with lessons what I

10:21     generally tend to do is they look at

10:24     when are we going to actually cover this

10:26     topic and if it's something that we're

10:28     like never gonna cover well not never

10:30     but you know it's not part of the

10:32     curriculum so it would be something that

10:34     I was excited about and pulled in if

10:36     it's something like that then we're will

10:40     absolutely dive dive into it if it's

10:42     something that maybe they're going to

10:43     cover in the next lesson block or

10:45     something that is definitely

10:47     age-appropriate material I will

10:48     absolutely oops sorry okay to the tripod

10:51     oh absolutely

10:53     jump in and and

10:57     we'll do some lessons about it but only

10:59     if it's from a like they're excited

11:02     space I want to be really careful and I

11:05     think that that this is definitely in

11:07     line with what Steiner would have said

11:09     because he said we're not we're not

11:10     teaching college-level course we're not

11:12     we're not giving them all of the

11:13     information about botany and fifth grade

11:15     we're just giving them those those

11:17     foundations to grow and and that goes

11:21     for all of the lesson blocks because

11:23     what we want is when they're done with

11:25     school we want them to be we want them

11:28     to have their appetite sweated for

11:30     several things so they can then go deep

11:33     about things that they're really excited

11:34     about and that's what they tend to study

11:36     in college or study more of afterwards

11:38     you know whether it be college or trade

11:40     school or even just a career that they

11:42     go towards so so helping them to sort of

11:46     develop that space is really what we're

11:49     looking for it's really what our aim is

11:50     here so we're not like looking to go in

11:53     in crazy amounts like you know college

11:56     level class I always try to remind

11:58     myself especially when we're in high

11:59     school doing high school stuff I want to

12:02     give them the information that is you

12:06     know definitely yes you this is this

12:09     covers it but I always keep in the back

12:11     of my head am i offering you know is

12:14     this a 101 college class because it's

12:16     not that's what you want to keep in mind

12:18     and then if you have a child that that

12:21     you you figure might not go to college

12:23     because maybe their interests are sort

12:25     of outside that and and what they want

12:28     to do there is no college for they just

12:30     more experiential then you might go a

12:32     little bit deeper with that child but if

12:33     you know that child that child's like

12:35     yes I've been wanting to go to Stanford

12:36     since I was six years old then then I

12:39     would leave some space for those college

12:42     level teachers even to go deeper so just

12:44     sort of keep those things in mind when

12:46     you are planning this lesson blocks do

12:48     we have any questions or comments or

12:50     anything over there oh don't I go too

12:52     fast so I was trying to think other

12:55     things that we get the it's not Waldorf

12:58     about you know there's definitely the

13:00     iconic things of Waldorf the wooden toys

13:04     and that the fluff stuff but I also want

13:08     to encourage

13:09     those of you who have dads and maybe at

13:12     you too you know I was thinking dad's

13:13     with he-man collections or Star Wars

13:15     collections but maybe you got a

13:17     Strawberry Shortcake collection that you

13:18     really like or there's something from

13:21     your childhood that you really want to

13:22     bring to your child you know I think

13:24     what's really important is that

13:26     especially in this time that we live pop

13:28     culture is just it's as part of life you

13:31     know most of many of us grew up in the

13:33     70s and some of you the 80s and I'm

13:36     really old so some of you in the 90s too

13:37     and so I know that there are things that

13:41     maybe have been iconic to your childhood

13:43     that you are really excited to share

13:45     with your kids because it was something

13:47     that makes you excited and happy as a

13:48     child and so you want to bring that to

13:51     your child too and I think that that's

13:54     okay we did a video a few weeks ago on

13:57     on Star Wars because they know that's a

14:00     huge topic and so we did this video a

14:02     few weeks ago on that and sort of when

14:04     to bring things in movie wise and story

14:06     wise but when it comes to say you know

14:10     your husband's collection or your

14:11     collection of toys that you've been

14:13     hanging on to just let your kids play

14:15     with them do you know you don't actually

14:17     have to explain everything that's going

14:19     on or what each of the figures mean you

14:22     can just give them to your children to

14:23     play with excuse me

14:26     and if it's something that's really

14:27     important like if you've got vintage

14:28     Star Wars of course you want to sit

14:29     there with it or old he-man figures or

14:33     anything like that that was something

14:35     that excited you you want to not let's

14:37     just go hey just go take them off you

14:38     want to be careful with them and you

14:41     want to help them show respect because

14:42     you know what we appreciate appreciate

14:44     so we want to make sure that we sort of

14:46     show them respect but I think that when

14:50     we are in this box of then we we rob

14:56     ourselves joy and our children possible

14:59     joy too so we want to be really careful

15:02     with that we want to be careful with the

15:03     this idea that we have to be on this

15:06     little Waldorf box because I tell you

15:08     what if you're in that box it's really

15:10     small box and you're gonna rub your

15:12     shoulders and bump up against it and

15:14     that's not what Steiner intended

15:16     sign or antenna that you live life and

15:18     that you bring life into what you're

15:20     doing and and sort of welder has a state

15:22     of mind and when you start getting to

15:25     the place that it's a state of mind

15:26     rather than it's boxes that you have to

15:29     check off or or things have to look a

15:32     certain way then it you could relax and

15:35     it becomes a way of living and way of

15:38     life rather than something that is just

15:40     for school and you're constantly

15:42     worrying about you know is this

15:44     appropriate or or can we be doing this

15:46     rather than just sort of asking yourself

15:50     you know where does this fit in right

15:52     now and and you can do that in a way

15:55     that is not stressful for yourself just

15:58     asking yourself where does this fit

16:00     right now or hey this is okay dad wants

16:03     to enjoy this time with my child and I

16:06     want to see them have fun together and

16:08     and it's okay that it's he mad or it's

16:11     okay that it's Star Wars it's it's okay

16:13     because that doesn't take away from this

16:16     other piece over here I think we really

16:18     spend a lot of time at least I see a lot

16:20     of I'm spending a lot of time and I was

16:22     there a long time ago

16:23     of being in this place of really judging

16:27     everything with the wrong lenses you

16:32     know if we're if we're judging

16:33     everything with this Waldorf lens then

16:37     we're we're going to be stuck in the

16:39     space and and I would definitely say I'm

16:42     a welder purist when it but it I'm a

16:44     purist when it comes to what Steiner

16:46     actually said and the curriculum I'm

16:48     definitely not a welder cultural

16:51     theorist because when it comes to that

16:53     Waldorf culture oftentimes families do

16:56     not realize that what actually goes on

16:59     in a Waldorf teachers home is much

17:01     different than what you think and I

17:04     remember the we were doing some filming

17:06     years ago for a teacher and it never

17:08     ended up going anywhere but it was

17:10     really funny because when Eric was

17:13     filming her she was really stressed out

17:15     because her TV was in the background and

17:17     I was like you know it's alright that

17:19     you have a television actually that

17:22     might help people see that you have a

17:24     television maybe then they won't be so

17:26     stressed out all the time

17:28     you know definitely we're in the space

17:29     of wanting media to be controlled and

17:32     and not have it take over our lives but

17:34     just the fact that you have a TV is not

17:37     a horrible thing you can you can just

17:39     breathe deep it's okay and we'll make

17:41     sure you make people actually think

17:42     you're more real than what you they

17:45     think you are and I think that it's

17:47     really important that we realize that

17:50     those teachers are human beings too they

17:52     have the same exact same struggles that

17:55     you have and maybe not all the same but

17:58     they definitely struggle we have a lot

18:00     of a lot of teachers in our and I think

18:03     you feeling willing program and and

18:05     that's okay because I love them all and

18:08     they all come to learn something

18:09     different and so I I want you to realize

18:11     that you know it it doesn't have to be

18:15     this crazy thing where you have to have

18:18     perfect pictures all the time for

18:19     Instagram or you have to have this

18:21     perfect space just live your live your

18:23     best life and and enjoy yourself and

18:26     have a good time with this curriculum

18:28     and stop stressing about whether or not

18:31     it's Waldorf it's just just dive in

18:34     there and and and ask yourself is this

18:38     meaning my child away need that need it

18:40     too or the way they need it too is more

18:41     important and so yes you want to make

18:43     sure you're doing prayer and meditation

18:45     for your children that that's probably

18:47     the most important thing when you're

18:49     homeschooling not just with water foot

18:52     with anything that you are doing regular

18:54     prayer and meditation about the children

18:56     you're teaching because guess what God

18:58     knows that better than you do whatever

19:00     now and you put on that source knows

19:03     them better than you do and so you want

19:06     to make sure that you're in that space

19:07     of meditating on them on a regular basis

19:10     so that you are giving them bringing to

19:12     them presenting them feeding them

19:15     exactly what they need and the beautiful

19:18     thing about that is it's sort of this

19:19     relationship of you sort of ignite

19:21     something and then because they have

19:23     everything in them I truly believe this

19:25     that we have everything in us when we're

19:27     born it's just about unlocking and in

19:29     drawing that forth at the right time and

19:31     that's really what Waldorf does we've

19:33     draw it forth at the right time and so

19:35     you want to really be attuned to that

19:38     you want to you want to be

19:40     a place where you are you know

19:42     continually seeking guidance about your

19:44     child and not guidance from the internet

19:48     spiritual guidance

19:50     so before you hop on on Facebook and ask

19:53     that question before you pose that

19:55     question to your friends ask source

19:58     first and and sort of be in that space

20:00     of really looking for guidance for your

20:03     child so and that's pretty much it I

20:07     can't think of anything else if you come

20:10     up with something that that falls into

20:12     this category of but it's not Waldorf

20:14     please please please drop me a note drop

20:16     me a DM if you're on Instagram if you've

20:17     got questions if you're on Facebook drop

20:20     me a PM I'm totally happy to answer

20:22     questions or to even have some

20:24     suggestions for future videos

20:28     we're actually going to as the month the

20:32     next month comes because this is the

20:33     last Monday in March I don't know how I

20:36     got here holy cow we're going to

20:39     actually dive deep into some temperament

20:41     stuff in the coming weeks

20:43     so there was that and we're we're really

20:47     excited Eric and I are working on some

20:50     really fun classes that a video series

20:54     and and then we'll have the launch of

20:58     thinking feeling willing again will be

21:00     open and we have some fun awesome

21:04     amazing things that we're bringing to

21:06     that that nobody else has I was super

21:09     excited super super excited about that

21:11     and I'm working on the 2019 planning for

21:14     peace journal so there's that that's

21:17     coming up so there's a lot of things

21:18     that we have coming up that we're super

21:19     excited about and so with that I'm just

21:23     going to leave you all and hope that you

21:24     have a beautiful week that's my prayer

21:27     for you they have a beautiful awesome

21:28     week and that you again if you were not

21:30     with us in the beginning and I want you

21:32     to do this now I want you to say out

21:34     loud and type it in the comments if you

21:36     want it I would love to see you type it

21:38     in the comments but you know I know most

21:40     of you won't so I'm just gonna say it

21:41     say it out loud I will be my best self

21:44     today say it like it doesn't matter if

21:47     you're in the quiet room and you have to

21:49     do whisper it or if you're with you

21:51     to say I will miss my best self today I

21:54     will show up as my best self I will do

21:57     the best that I can and that you know

22:00     sort of holding yourself accountable for

22:02     it even if you're sleep-deprived

22:04     even if you you know aren't feeling good

22:06     show up as best as you can and and be

22:09     the best mom the best partner best human

22:13     that you give me so I think that's all

22:16     you guys have a wonderful week bye