The Appreciative Parent offers PARENTS a deep, fun and meaningful training in the Art of Child Study. While Child Studies are not typically outcome directed, the practice manifests invaluable insight and effects positive change. Our method celebrates and emphasizes the PARENT'S opportunity to appreciate (or grow) the capacities that help us to fully enjoy the work of parenting. Who will benefit fr
om The Appreciative Parent? All children and parents benefit from The Appreciative Parent. Learning the Art of Child Study is useful: to navigate crisis, to celebrate success, to maximize school success and minimize school failure, to foster a healthy divorce, to prepare for homeschooling or (un)schooling adventures, to parent with confidence, to empower intuition, to remove hindrances, to increase appreciation, to embrace adolescence, to deepen relationships, to overcome the desire to “helicopter”, to enhance unstructured moments, to discover freedom…
Who am I? Foster, Waldorf Educator and The Appreciative Parent of two wonderful young adults. My journey as parent and teacher began simultaneously in the year 1996. The birth of my first daughter coincided with my completion of undergraduate studies in elementary and special education. Soon after, I found Waldorf Education and happily dedicated myself to the Lake Champlain Waldorf School in Shelburne, Vermont. It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that to become a professional Waldorf Teacher I was required to engage in a formal training. I sought out and received hundreds of hours of explicit, rich, beautiful, and practical mentoring on how to be an appreciative teacher: fully present, joyful, aware and useful to my students. At the heart of my Waldorf journey was the practice of Child Studies. It is a goal of a Waldorf School for every child to become the focus of this beautiful practice that embraces both scientific and spiritual methodologies. Every Waldorf teacher practices an aspect of Child Study on a nightly basis. The practice and performance of Child Studies enlivens powers of imagination, fosters inspiration, and empowers intuition. Simply put, the subject of a Child Study seems to shine: illuminating for the teacher the path to success. As a teacher, I relied heavily on this "light." It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that to become a parent for life, no formal training was required. So, when I became Dad, I improvised. I applied the skills, meditative techniques and knowledge of child-development from teacher training to my parenting instincts and tried to have fun in the process. Furthermore, because my children attended the same Waldorf School at which I worked, the circle of teachers became a circle of parenting support. For me, every faculty meeting was an opportunity to grow (or appreciate) as teacher AND as parent. And for this... I am deeply grateful! Parenting was and still is a tremendous joy: not without pain, but always imbued with love and light thanks to the training that I was gifted. The Appreciative Parent is the result of a two-year process of soul-searching, studying, breathing, creating and now, re-gifting. Inspired by the work of Rudolf Steiner and by the spirit of today's children and parents, I offer you the opportunity to learn and to practice the Art of Child Study. Adapted to be practical, personal and inspirational, The Appreciative Parent will guide you through a process unlike anything you have experienced before. Achieve new heights of consciousness, calmness, understanding and confidence! Discover a new "light" that will inform your parenting for the rest of your life. Be The Appreciative Parent!
