Frontier Dreams: Deceptive

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Deceptive

She still fits into her neighborly!

These pictures were from a couple weekends ago. I didn't think I would post them but then I saw something in them I felt the need to share.

Sometimes pictures can be deceiving. They can make the day seem better (or worse) than it really was. At first glance these particular pictures seem to show a day of magic. But look again, I am always trying to find the beauty in every situation... do you see how many of the pictures are of the ceiling? Or of art/decorations high up? Look at poor K's little face a bit more intently... can you see the distress written all over it? (Minus the picture of her doing eurythmy - she is at her happiest doing that, always) There was, indeed, beauty in this day - the calmness and therapeutic effects of watching and participating in an eurythmy performance, catching up with friends we haven't seen in ages (as well as friends we see on an almost daily basis) but most of it was chaos crammed into small spaces and panic attacks (on my end) mixed with little ones overwhelmed and overstimulated while on sugar highs.
Kevin and I came to the conclusion, after this long day, that we are no longer 'city folk' by any means, and much prefer the quietness of home life. These pictures will forever remind me of that.

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anna · 695 weeks ago

we find our Waldorf School Christmas fair to be the same. the kids are always out of sorts (especially the younger one). while we love supporting our community it left us worn out!

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Melanie · 695 weeks ago

oh Nicole, it was the same for us at our waldorf school holiday faire. It was overwhelming and over stimulating, and crowded- yet it was beautiful and magical too.
<3

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Miri · 695 weeks ago

I can identify so much with this feeling. More and more lately I find myself willing to come back home shortly after we leave it, even if you intend to go to a relatively quiet place. Being just four of us at home.. nothing more needed for me... Happy Holidays!

Miri
Waldorf Inspired Seasonal Products http://www.etsy.com/shop/AllMySeasons?ref=pr_shop...

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boatbaby2 85p · 695 weeks ago

You know what's weird? I am a somewhat city type, growing up in the city of Chicago and still being in the DC area where we love the pulse of the city (from a sweet distance- hehe) but every year that we have attended the winter fairs at the local Waldorf schools (which are rather far away actually, but as local as it gets) they have been really unpleasant experiences. It was crowded, noisy, hard to navigate, over stimulating, and frankly even though I am happy to support the school I felt like from paying just to walk in to paying so much for each craft which I knew I could replicate at home for a fraction... it left me feeling empty in lots of ways. This year we didn't go. :(

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Marlo · 695 weeks ago

My husband and I are a lot the same way. If I even mention going somewhere where there will be a lot of people or a lot of children hopped up on candy, he always wants to stay home. Really, we just love staying home with our little girls. Too much stimulation makes us all crazy. I love this time of year, but at the same time it makes me crazy because everyone wants to have tons of parties that we feel obligated to attend. My husband is in the military as well and we have endless functions we *have* to attend. My husband calls it mandatory fun. I'll be thinking of you as I try to have a calm holiday. K looks beautiful in those handknits though....

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Jaimie · 695 weeks ago

I know just what you mean. We have been trying to keep the holiday season very sane for our one- and three-year-old children. But, even the small events we have elected to do often overstimulate the children — for example, we live in a wonderful friendly neighbourhood and every year we have a neighbourhood Christmas party. We attended the party on Saturday, but it didn't start until 5:00 and I had a feeling that my kids were going to be getting tired out (my one-year-old is usually getting in the bath just before 6:00 p.m.!) Sure enough, by 6:30 my son was asking to go home and when we got in the door he had a wailing meltdown because he was just so tired and overstimulated.

I want us to have these special celebrations and times of connection with friends and family — but I sometimes wonder afterward if it was worth it to the disruption in their routine. We tried to compensate by having a slow-paced "home" day yesterday with an early bedtime, and it seemed to do the trick.

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Elisa · 695 weeks ago

Interesting; I can totally see it on K's face. We are in the city. Chicago. Our holiday fair was this past Saturday. I think what makes our less franetic (although, so there on the close quarters) is that this particular school is an early childhood - ONLY. It is not connected to a grade school. Our burgeouning grade school is separate (although there is a full school - kindy through hs - on the other side of the city) and is only in its 3rd year and unable to support its own fair at this time. Plus, our cafe, in addition to cookies and cakes, serves quiche, pasta and other foods to take off the sugary edge (although my son only indulged in the sugary treats - one out of two kids isn't so bad . . . at least that's what I told myself!). A fair portion of ours also takes place outside. Yes, outside in Chicago in winter. There is a fire pit for roasting marshmallows, petting zoo and tents set up to house the kid crafts, geared toward the 3-6 year old set. And there are no adult focused crafts. I will have to keep this post in mind as our grade school and its festivals grow. Thank you for sharing this.

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bendingbirches · 695 weeks ago

OH MY GOSH, NICOLE.
Our school's winter faire was this past weekend and it was THE SAME THING.
totally overstimulating, too many people crammed into a small space, too loud, too much music, conversation.....
WAY TOO MUCH. I actually commented to many friends that we may have to skip it for the next few years. Wesley cried for a good 10 minutes on the way home, something he hasn;t done in a good long while. I felt so guilty. All he wanted to do was be outside, and I wanted to look around, talk, do crafts...what was I thinking? He was so happy to walk through the woods all morning. I should have focused more on this....
thank you for this post.

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Leigh · 695 weeks ago

Thank you for sharing this post, Nicole. While I appreciate the beauty in the photographs you posted, I also appreciate your sentiments on overstimulation and children. An event like this would seem to be contrary to Waldorf philosophy. I don't live near a Waldorf school, never even visited one, but we have similar "free for all" seasonal craft events for children in our area - local museums, children's garden, etc. My understanding is that children should focus on one activity deeply - not jump from one thing to the next, and not be overwhelmed by too many things at once. It is similar to the idea about not having too many toys, I think. It surprises me that Waldorf schools host events like this. I don't think Steiner would be down with Winter Faire. : ) Wishing you a blessed and more restful holiday season. : )

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Rebecca Coleman · 694 weeks ago

I almost never comment on the blogs I follow, but I'm going to dive in on this one. A couple weeks ago I went to the Winter Faire at the Waldorf School of Baltimore (blogged about it, too). My friend and her son were with us, and though he enjoyed himself, he also reacted much the way you describe with K. I just have to totally applaud your honesty and candidness in this post. When posting on my blog or Facebook about my kids, especially when it's about something into which I've put real effort or has an idealistic feel to it, I feel the internal pressure to talk about it like everything lived up perfectly to my expectations. And I think it's so great that you can say "the pics are pretty, but the kid was stressed." We can all relate to that!

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