Greetings Turtle Families!
Early autumn warmth is fading and giving way to brisker, colder days as the winter season fast approaches. The topic of warmth, both bodily warmth and warmth as a developing sense, is important for young children. Ki Holly (our lovely River Otter Kindergarten teacher) has prepared a beautiful explanation of warmth through the lens of childhood development and Waldorf education. For this week’s Monday Message, please enjoy this deeply thoughtful and important sentiment :)
Though it is often under-appreciated, the sense of warmth is an extremely important sense young children are developing. This sense is not yet fully developed until around third grade, and is one area we focus on in early childhood. In addition to feeling physically warm and comfortable, having warmth also helps develop the overall sense of wellbeing that allows children to feel safe and secure and able to learn both academic and social-emotional skills. The sense of warmth is also one of the foundational senses for all people. The development of other senses, from the physical senses we typically think of to the sense of self and appreciation for others, rely on healthy, developed foundational senses to develop properly. Before around third grade, children are not able to discern whether they are warm enough. Though we want our children to learn to trust their bodies and to honor their decisions about their bodies, we can not yet rely on them to tell us whether they are warm enough at this age. They are just not developmentally able to know when their body is too cold. One reliable way to know if a child is physically warm enough is to feel their hands. If their hands are cold to the touch, the child needs to add another layer. Children often resist wearing coats, hats, mittens, and other outerwear for many reasons, however their safety and development relies on us to keep them warm. In the kindergarten program at The Garden School, we use this method of feeling their hands to decide whether a child needs another layer/can remove a layer of clothing. This is a much more reliable method than whether we personally feel warm, or whether the child says they feel warm. If you are interested in learning more about the sense of warmth and its impact in early childhood and beyond, please let us know and we would be happy to share some articles with you!
Announcements/Reminders:
We will be making lanterns in school next week for the Lantern Walk, scheduled for November 9th at 6:30pm. Be sure to read the main section of the Monday Messenger for more information on our Lantern Walk Festival.
Kindly,
Ki Amy