76 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must read for parents of small children, March 12, 2008
This review is from: Heaven on Earth: A Handbook for Parents of Young Children (Paperback)
As a new mom (my son is now 1 year old), I was searching for information on how to raise a child in todays overly technological society. The first book about raising children that I read was "You Are Your Child's First Teacher," by Baldwin Dancy. I found this book to be very difficult to read, and I wanted more how to apply the information instead of so much theory.
The next book was "Beyond the Rainbow Bridge, Nurturing our Children from Birth to Seven," by Patterson, Bradley & Riordan. This was a great intro to Waldorf style parenting. It was a quick, easy read with a lot of good information, but again it left me wanting to know more about how to implement the ideas of fesivals & rhythms.
I finally purchased "Heaven on Earth" (recommended by a Waldorf kindergarten teacher at a parenting meeting I went to), and I finally found what I'm looking for. This book has the theory, talks about how children learn, is easy to read, and has all the how to information I was looking for. She gives the elements of festivals, then goes step by step through a few sample festivals, including a fall apple festival and an Easter festival (which I plan to do this year).
She talks about toys, gives sample stories to tell children at different ages, talks about discipline, rhythms, how to set up an indoor play space and how to set up an outdoor play space, how to incorporate children into your daily chores and much more.
It would be very difficult to incorporate everything she talks about in this book, but it's easy to pick and choose a few things you want to improve or change. I knew I wanted to do some annual festivals, but had no idea where to start. I love her ideas for children's birthdays, Christmas and Easter.
Perhaps the most important and useful feature of this book is the appendix. Here you can find websites and sources for children's natural toys & dolls, art & craft supplies, wool longjohns, cloth diapers, organic skin care and much more. She also includes a pattern to make a simple doll.
I would highly recommend this to any parent of children under the age of 7.
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38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
brilliant hands-on manual with info other books lack, March 20, 2009
This review is from: Heaven on Earth: A Handbook for Parents of Young Children (Paperback)
I am a Christian mother with an academic career who has chosen to spend the first years of my children's lives with them. I am not into Waldorf, but this is a brilliant book. The peculiarly devout but religious-averse overlay of the book can easily be overlooked if you like; you can adapt what Oppenheimer says to your own worldview (and she certainly leaves room for this). I found the suggestions on how to create home rhythms and traditions invaluable. Suggestions here led me to give my three-year-old girl a real little hammer for her birthday, along with simple short nails with big heads and a few tree stumps -- to her great delight. I don't need a step-by-step manual for anything, just good ideas, so I love reading books for parents of young children from a wide range of perspectives -- but this has to be my favorite of all such books I've read so far in terms of quality and number of ideas. Lots of resource links in the back of the book are an extra plus! By the way, this is my first review on Amazon, because as a mother of little kids only a brilliant book could motivate me to dedicate time to writing a review. Thanks, Sharifa Oppenheimer!
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wish I had young kids again!, April 9, 2008
This review is from: Heaven on Earth: A Handbook for Parents of Young Children (Paperback)
This book is a wonderful resource to own if you are a parent of young children, a nanny or preschool teacher, or a grandparent. I wish that I had had this book when my own children were small. Not only does it share developmental understanding about children, it gives actual activities with enough examples for the caregiver to implement. I was a preschool teacher and nanny for many years, and I am even familiar with many of the Waldorf ideas, but this book really makes the whole experience accessible! I learned so much!
I love the notes in the margins to help find information quickly, or as a reminder once you have read the book. It is a book that I could see going back to over and over. One of the ideas that I loved was the one about helping children through problems. Instead of telling them what to do, or talking about it with them, tell them a story using their toy animals and such, letting the protagonist animal have their same issue. That way they can see their own issue dramatized and they can take it in so much easier and with less stress. No lecturing...just a story. How's that for a great idea? (I know the Native Americans often problem solve with stories, but I could never figure out how to do it "naturally." Now I know!) And that's just ONE of the ideas.
The book also gives ideas for the day to day rhythms of family life, seasonal celebrations and birthdays. It reignited my respect for the magical essence of young children, and my passion to help them flourish!
This book is a keeper.
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