You are Your Child's First Teacher
What parents can do with and for their children from birth to age six
Rahima Baldwin Dancy warns against rushing children through childhood. She advocates a “slow parenting” revolution which will allow children to develop at their own pace, and crucially, will help parents discover confidence in their own ability to parent and enjoy the magical first years of raising a child.
“Our children need us for the heart connection, but they don”t need constant adult input and intellectual stimulation,” says Baldwin Dancy. “Allowing children to be children today means recognising their need for creative play, which is the work of childhood.”
Rahima Baldwin Dancy’s practical, down-to-earth advice will help parents to:
- Understand their child’s unique personal, mental, soul and physical needs at each stage of development
- Nourish their child’s imagination with simple, home-made toys and materials from the garden and kitchen cupboard
- Enjoy storytelling, arts, crafts and musical activities with their child
- Create their own family rituals to ease the daily routine
- Use imitation, repetition and setting limits to promote positive discipline
- Value their own ability to understand and care for their child
Rahima Baldwin Dancy is a Steiner/Waldorf early childhood educator and a professional mid-wife. She is mother of four children and lives in Colorado, USA.
“An essential addition to the family bookshelf. Children will thank their parents for having read it!”
Sally Jenkinson, author of The Genius of Play
“Here is an extraordinary work for those who want to develop a truly intelligent child, and, in the process, unlock new levels of their own intelligence and spirit.”
Joseph Chilton Pearce, author of Magical Child
“One of the most readable and accessible books on parenting … Rahima shows a way of understanding child development that encourages respect and love for the natural unfolding of emotional life, intelligence and creativity in the young child.”
Kindling
Published in association with the Alliance for Childhood.
Edition: 3rd edition
Publication date: May 2006
Publisher: Hawthorn Press
Format: Paperback
