The Child's Changing Consciousness

I have just begun reviewing the Steiner book, "The Child's Changing Consciousness" by Rudolf Steiner for the current reading of my online Waldorf Study Group. We currently have 53 members on our list!

Gene Campbell of Chiron, has sent us some focus questions to bring the reading into perspective and give us something practical to work on. We are very excited about her input! Please feel free to inquire about joining the study group.

This is an amazing book. Even the introduction is jam-packed with important and useful information. Not to mention it is written by Douglas Sloan of Columbia University. What Steiner offers in his view of the developing child is a holistic and complete picture. The pedagogy of Waldorf integrates, beautifully, the development of the intellect, but not without the emotional and ethical components. Without these, all knowledge is devoid of its humanity and its utility to humanity's growth and evolution.

Each stage of child development, according to Steiner, is unique; and what is important at each stage, what reaches a child deeply, is different over time. Knowing this information deepens ones work with children and enlivens it tremendously. Understanding that the young child is "just one great sense organ", revolutionizes the efforts one makes not only as a teacher, but as a parent. Essentially, what is significant, is that to optimize our development as humans we need to truly tap into what makes us uniquely human. Steiner talks about language and our upright movement in a very deep way in these lectures. It sparks one's mind to consider the impact of these and other things in the development of the child.

What is strking to me, after having recently learned more about "Feral Children" (see feralchildren.com for more information), is how profound the NURTURE component of our development truly is! The young child totally takes in what is around her, mimicing so deeply and so wholeheartedly. There is a case of a young girl from the Ukraine who was raised by dogs from the age of 3 until 8. She ran around on all fours and barked exactly like a dog that it is incredulous. Her language has developed, but she is lacking in so many respects in terms of social skills and intellectual capacity.

In a passage from this website listed above, the authors emphasize the role of nurture in our development as social beings, this is something we learn. How well we learn this, and how well we teach this, can be truly uplifted by the Waldorf approach.

"Feral children ought to be an excellent source of evidence in the continuing nature-nurture debate. Feral children cannot walk, talk, or socialise: they cannot show empathy with others. Indeed, these poor creatures are so apparently sub-human that Linnaeus classified them as distinct from home sapiens.
On the surface, therefore, feral children suggest that our upbringing is entirely responsible for endowing us with language, the ability to think and other traits. What happens in early childhood thus has a profound impact on the neurological development of the brain. But we know that nature has a vital role to play too."

"Quite simply, feral children are usually entirely unaware of the needs and desires of others. The concepts of morals, property and possessions are alien to them, and they can't show empathy with other people. If brought up by animals, they don't even identify themselves as human, but probably regard humans as "the enemy".

The article Nurtured by Love or Matured by Nature by Dr Susan du Plessis discusses the role that parenting has in the teaching of human skills and qualities."


In that vein, my next post will discuss further these aspects of humanity: to empathize, to be aware of the needs and desires of others, and more. I will also touch on the detriment of child-led parenting and what that potentially means for our development collectively.

~waldorfhmschlr