Where Seedlings Grow

The early years of Waldorf education involves a lot of story and song. Circle Time is a standard with the same opening and closing songs each time, and rotating seasonal verses, finger plays, and movement songs between.

All parents have heard reading to your kids is beneficial. There’s the bonding element, as well as exposing them to language and different lessons through the stories. How often are we parents encouraged to simply tell stories? In Waldorf another key component is storytelling.

The first curriculum I looked at, Lavender’s Blue, used traditional folktales from around the world for the weekly story. The parent is encouraged to memorize the story, to tell it rather than read it for a week. It is suggested that after the first telling, the next be enacted with props, and during subsequent repetitions the child is asked to join in the telling.

I was terrified of this last school year. I had to perform for the children? Memorize songs? A story a week? I had strong weeks, and less stellar weeks, and several weeks I skipped all together. (Don’t tell my HST). Do you know though, Petra, my then 4-5 year old, still remembers and requests some of them?

This year I have been using Waldorf Essentials, and the creator has written a character, a woodland gnome, and a story series for the year. We have followed that gnome through three seasons now, and many festivals. My children gobble the stories up and continually ask for more! Our two-and-a-half year old will tell snippets, calls herself a gnome, and talks about Super Sam as if he were a friend.

What is this magic? Why story tell instead of just read a book? (We still read plenty of books). I believe our brain is triggered in a different way by oral storytelling, it speaks to something ancient in us reminiscent of sitting around a fire together in a way that picture books simply do not.

My children are constantly telling stories. With their Duplo block people; our homemade pipe cleaner dolls, toilet paper tube characters, and pinecone gnomes; with their bath crayons; cars; and stuffies. This is why figurine toys and stuffies exist, for children to make believe and tell stories.

I don’t have another set of children who have not had the storytelling. I have no control group. I have no way of knowing if the quality or quantity of my children’s storytelling is different because of the storytelling and song aspect of our lives. I do know my children will find ways to amuse themselves without screens and little mischief. I can listen to their play and be absolutely delighted and entertained. I trust they will be strong individuals because they know how to tell a story when circumstances get difficult. Their brain will have pathways to tell either a tragedy or comedy. That’s worth a great deal.

What stories are you telling your children about your life before them? They love to know, to imagine us as children. What stories do you tell about your current reality, your family as it is? Do you build it up with your language choices and the ideas, circumstances, and feelings you choose to share and discuss in front of them? They absorb the narratives we present them.

If my children are at lose ends, causing a ruckus, going off course, I can call them back, be a lighthouse for their attention, by breaking into a song, finger play, or story. It works basically every time. Sometimes they need us to help them reset simply by engaging their brains in a new story. We all know they will zone out and be quiet when a screen is on. Our voice can work that way too.

On Sunday I had to go to Ridgecrest for our Azure order pickup. I was so happy to get back home to see our girls had set up a tea party for their wooden birds and bathtub rabbit. It was wonderful to know they had world built together – sometimes our 6 year old is not so receptive to her almost 3 sister. I planted the seeds and provided the tools for the girls to bring their story to fruition. There are things I get wrong as their mother, at least this I know I’ve got right. I’m going to lean into that.

P.S. They have recently begun using their Duplo platforms as tablets and cell phones. The almost 3 year old says she is watching Paw Patrol on hers (something we haven’t had in our home for at least a year and a half). So, you can take away the screens but they will still find ways to get that dopamine hit.