#wild parenting

[themamabair]

Hey! I’m still figuring out stuff on here after a long hiatus, but I figured I’d introduce myself.

I’m Hannah, I’m 28 and I live in Vermont with my husband and our son, Bair. Bair is 15 months and the sweetest baby boy. My husband is a USMC veteran who now serves veterans in higher education. I am a Waldorf Spanish teacher and absolutely love my job and my community.

I love immersing myself and my family in nature, being a mom, cooking (and restaurants, food in general), and working on self-improvement, even when it gets uncomfy, which it often does! I am an aspiring homemaker, which is another reason I love my job as it gives me the ability and the guidance to take care of my home and my family within the context of a greater, loving community.

I intend to use this platform as a journal, feel free to follow along if you wish. I love making new friends and interacting with people, especially other parents. Join me if you want to learn more about Waldorf education, nature/play based learning, wild parenting, and more! I am still on this journey myself, and I’m always learning too.

It’s nice to be back.

[princessaryathevaliant]

You know I like ned and catelyn and all (I love them, I really really do.) But their parenting is so weird.

7 year old (7!! Have you seen a 7 year old year?! They are tiny!!!) climbs 100 feet walls (with NO SAFETY EQUIPMEN, like at all!!!?): don't like it, but *annoyed sigh* fine.

9 year old daughyer: skips class, or dinner cause she's upset: HOW DARE you with this rebellious behavior! I will not stand for it! I tell you I won't! You better tone it down, little lady, or I am going to start breaking your shit.

[themamabair]

The latest 1000 Hours Outside podcast featured an author and academic scholar who specifically studies empathy. It was one of the best podcast episodes I’ve ever heard.

For one thing, when both the podcast host and the guest can barely make it 15 minutes without tearing up due to the meaningfulness of the topic, you know it’s going to be powerful. And it truly was. Stories of children and adults learning strategies to cultivate empathy and the massive impact it had on their lives as well as the lives of those around them. It was really eye-opening. I think it was already mostly things I suspected in my mind but now it is expert confirmed.

In our most recent toy box, we got a new board book, “Max and Nana Go to the Park”. In the book, the little boy, Max, falls while running and hurts his knee. There’s a photo of Max crying in the book. The first time we read this to Bair, he saw the picture of Max crying and began to cry himself, immediately turning to me to seek comfort. It was the first time I had seen for myself the blueprints of a child’s capacity for empathy, and since that moment I’ve wanted nothing more than to cultivate it.

While reading books, I’ve been asking Bair things like, “How do you think they are feeling?” Of course he can’t answer me yet, but he understands a significant amount, and to continue planting those seeds of thinking about the feelings of others, I think is invaluable. Empathetic kids make empathetic adults, and empathetic adults make a happier, kinder world.

[themamabair]

Breakfast.

[themamabair]

my boy

[themamabair]

cheesin’