Waldorf-y

Photo courtesy of Waldorf Mama (www.waldorfmama.typepad.com)

 

The past few days, I've gotten really sucked into reading Waldorf blogs and websites. It was one of those fluke things that I stumbled upon... if I remember correctly, I was reading a blog about Slow Family Living, and then I clicked on some links and found some Waldorf blogs. I find it a completely fascinating subculture, and one that has a lot of beauty to it.

 

The more I read about it, I know that the education style is not for us. We are not a religious family, and it really has a lot of religious and spiritual undertones. There's the whole anthroposphy thing, and delaying reading, and other things I'm not sold on. Plus fairies. I'm not big on those (although I can get behind the gnomes). But I do find a lot of it really appealing. The connection to nature and the seasons is really beautiful. I love the idea of your day having a rhythm to it, and spending lots of time outside. In terms of parenting, I love the emphasis on open ended toys (specifically wooden ones) and eschewing media. The from-scratch cooking is great, although not always attainable when you're a two-working-parent family.

And then there's the style of decorating. I've looked at a lot of Waldorf home images, and when you see them it's hard not to let out a contented sigh. The colors are soothing - pale yellows and greens, this warm pink, and lots of gorgeous blond wood. Waldorf homes aspire to be simple and uncluttered with material things, so you don't see massive entertainment centers filled with DVDs, loud colors, plastic toys everywhere or lots of knick knacks. Everything looks so airy, yet warm and cozy at the same time. They seem like the kind of place you could curl up with a mug of herbal tea in a sunny window.

 

While I'm not about to start dressing my kiddo in wool caps, draping the house in colored silks and celebrating Michaelmas, I think I just might adopt a few Waldorf touches in my home. A lot of the colors we've chosen already have that pale yet colorful feel to them, and I already favor light wood to dark. But I'm thinking of getting a pretty wooden bowl, and maybe filling it with some of the elements from outside - rocks, pinecones, twigs. I really like the Waldorf tradition of the nature table, so I think for autumn I will give that a try. I often change out the decor on top of our game cabinet seasonally, so this time around I plan to give it a more natural spin.