Archive for April, 2008
So, the great toy purge of 08 is finally done. Finally. Colin ended up doing most of the work because I was a bit overwhelmed by the task. He did an awesome job, but he was exhausted. And….we filled 20 large moving boxes! 20! Amazing that we had that much stuff in this little house.
And that leads me to the most amazing part of this whole thing. We live in a very small house and I always long for more space. Once we got rid of all the toys, suddenly I had all sorts of room. I have my kitchen back. We were able to put a proper table in and we can all eat together in a civilized manner. It’s awesome.
The surprising part is that the kids don’t miss the toys at all. Not even a tiny bit. I was shocked. We did, of course, leave them some blocks, some waldorf toys, a few puzzles and Family Pasttimes Games. Now they really get into the games, they sit and look at their books longer, and when they do play with blocks and toys, there is no throwing or aggressiveness. I had thought that was just part of being kids, but seeing that it no longer happens, I’m glad we made the switch. In addition, because they can really get into things, they are not running around the house screaming their heads off because (I see now) they are so overwhelmed. Right now they are sitting across from me at the kitchen table (yay!) putting game tokens in and out of a bag getting ready to play. So cute - and look at the time getting rid of the toys has afforded me. They are totally absorbed and I can sit and write on my blog. They just get along so much better, too.
This has been such a positive change for our family. I’m certainly not saying it will work for everyone, but I would say it’s worth a try!
Enjoying the clutter-free journey, Amanda
April 29th, 2008
I just spent Friday night and all day Saturday at the Gateway Conference at our local Waldorf school. It was fabulous. Such an energizing and inspiring weekend.
The keynote speaker was a man by the name of Kim John Payne, an Australian now living in New York. He’s been working on research with two other people, looking into stress as the leading factor in add, adhd and all the ‘d’ disorders as he calls them.
At the start of his career, he worked with youth in Jakarta as well as street gang kids in Australia and found that they all suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Once he became a Waldorf therapist, he found that many of the children brought to him for counselling were coming to him as a last resort. They were typically severe behaviour problems and had been labelled with one of the ‘d’s. What Mr. Payne found was that these children were suffering the same symptoms as the children in severely stressful situations.
What Mr. Payne found was the by simplifying the environment, many of the children improved dramatically.
I urge anyone who has the opportunity to hear Mr. Payne speak on Simplicity Parenting to do so. Alternatively, he has his speech on cd available on his website. Although I found it very inspiring, it’s not anything that those in the Waldorf community don’t already know. He presents it in first a shocking way, and then inspires parents to action. He, talks about ’soul fever’ and likens it to a real fever which was an amazing visual for me.
Saturday morning and afternoon had breakout sessions that were of value. However, I really think that hearing Payne speak was the highlight. Although we don’t have behavioural issues here, we can make these simple changes (simple only because we are already on the path of which he speaks) and have a better rhythm and flow in the house. Colin came as well and I think it really solidified for him what I’ve been saying all along. Particularly about tv being brain poison (Payne’s term). He’s also really keen to get rid of all the toys and get down to bare bones creative toys.
So, with Payne’s humour and awesome insight, I am going to make the changes he recommends and I’ll keep you posted on how it goes!
Enjoying the journey, Amanda
April 20th, 2008
A while back I learned of a place called Rising Chefs. It is a chef school for wee ones. I was so excited! I went straight to the website to sign up for a class (or sign Fuss up for one).
Disappointingly, they are about 45minutes to an hour away, in traffic. Basically the northeast side of the city, and I live at the opposite corner.
Well, lucky for me, I took the time to investigate the site a bit more. They have a rising chef’s club where they send a parcel in the mail. Kind of like a class by post! Well, until they have a franchise closer to me, I put Fuss in for this.
The box arrived today. So cute! It was all wrapped up in green paper. The recipe for this month is carrot muffins. Yes, I know that carrot muffins are kind of trite and we certainly make them on a semi-regular basis.
However, this is all Fuss! It’s all his. All his to do. And he is excited. The parcel included a set of measuring spoons (each month will include a new tool so they can collect their own kitchen gadgets), several packets of dry ingredients, muffin cups, applesauce, and a bonus recipe of a packet of a veggie dip that he just has to stir into sour cream (or yogurt). There was a letter, the recipe written for him to follow, a word search and a carrot to colour. Carrot being the ingredient of the month.
So, we’ll be eating carrot muffins for morning snack next week. If you would like to join us, here is a recipe from Better Baby Foodby Daina kalnins & Joanne Saab:
Preheat Oven to 325. Makes 12 muffins.
2 cups all-purpose flour (or half whole wheat, half all-purpose)
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups finely shredded carrots
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, slightly beaten
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add shredded carrots, oil and eggs; beat until combined.
Pour batter into prepared cupcake tins and bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool before serving.
Enjoying the journey, Amanda
April 3rd, 2008
