Today's busier, faster society is waging an undeclared war on childhood. With too much stuff, too many choices, and too little time, children can become anxious, have trouble with friends and school, or even be diagnosed with behavioral problems. Now internationally renowned family consultant Kim John Payne helps parents reclaim for their children the space and freedom that all kids need for their attention to deepen and their individuality to flourish. Simplicity Parenting offers inspiration, ideas, and a blueprint for change:• Streamline your home environment. Reduce the amount of toys, books, and clutter—as well as the lights, sounds, and general sensory overload.• Establish rhythms and rituals. Discover ways to ease daily tensions, create battle-free mealtimes and bedtimes, and tell if your child is overwhelmed. • Schedule a break in the schedule. Establish intervals of calm and connection in your child's daily torrent of constant doing.• Scale back on media and parental involvement. Manage your children's "screen time" to limit the endless deluge of information and stimulation.A manifesto for protecting the grace of childhood, Simplicity Parenting is an eloquent guide to bringing new rhythms to bear on the lifelong art of raising children.

Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids

Parenting & Relationships

Ross, Lisa M.

Payne M.Ed., Kim John

Parenting

Tantor Audio

Review\nI have often wondered if as a nation we treat our dogs somewhat better than we treat our children. Everyone knows that dogs need regular exercise, time to run and play freely outside. The same is true for children. Yet when walking in my neighborhood wood or on the local moor, passersby are nearly always accompanied by dogs, rarely children. This phenomenon is a small but significant example of a much wider issue. Our social structures and cultural norms not only do little to encourage opportunities for outdoor play, they provide little or no protection for what ought to be totally sacred: childhood itself. 
Kim John Payne argues in his book Simplicity Parenting that the wealthy industrialized West is an increasingly hostile place for children and young people, albeit in far subtler ways than in other parts of the world. The effects are not necessarily subtle. If you are familiar with educational debates you have probably heard a great deal in recent years about anxiety, stress levels, attention deficits, challenging behavior, depression and even self-harming in young people. Payne expresses the underlying problem in a particularly striking way: many children in the United States and United Kingdom are suffering from a form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Not as a result of a single traumatic event, but a gradual buildup of stresses and strains as they are rushed through every aspect of learning and development, with no time to simply be, to rest, to process or to experience in their own natural ways. Education is entirely adult-driven, co-opted by commercial and political interests, and parents are literally buying into an approach to learning that is wholly dictated by people whose expertise lies in cultivating financial profits, not well-rounded human beings. 
Building on his work with children in Asian refugee camps, Payne describes how youngsters are showing signs of a “cumulative stress reaction” to immersion in the “media-rich, multitasking, complex, information overloaded, time pressured” existence we now call normal daily life. This is manifesting in all varieties of health problems. We have all experienced how periods of high tension can dramatically alter our physical or mental state. It can also alter our personality, morphing us in mere seconds from our ordinary selves to our worst selves, with sudden outbursts of negative emotion or behavior. Thankfully these moments are usually short-lived and as we return to calm, we regain a sense of self control. Payne asserts that in children if even moderate levels of excitement or stimulation become a permanent feature of daily life, never counterbalanced by interludes of peacefulness, predictability and even boredom, stress can act as the catalyst, which turns what might have been only a quirk or tendency into one of the dreaded “disorders.” 
Seen in this light, the solution becomes obvious. First and foremost, we must reduce the stress in the daily life and environment of our children. This can be done by a process of “simplification.” He describes this process in terms of four areas that can be dealt with in turn: the environment, rhythm, schedules and filtering out the adult world. As with any transformation the first work is inner work. He advises parents to attempt to recover their dreams, to reacquaint themselves with ideals of family life held dear before reality and its inevitable rush and clutter took over. This imaginative picture can be used as inspiration for change. From there, one can begin with what is do-able and capitalize on success in small steps to progress to the bigger, more important ones. 
Modifying one’s physical environment is the most tangible and perhaps manageable step in the process of simplification. When it comes to stuff, the first order of business is quite simply to get rid of it. Or at least as much of it as possible. While acknowledging the pressures that are pushing them in exactly the opposite direction, Payne urges par

Simplicity Parenting: Using the Power of Less to Raise Happy, Secure Children (Hawthorn Press Early Years)

Hawthorn Press

<div>This classic games book offers a standby resource for parents, teachers, forest school educators, and play leaders. The games are tried and tested. They draw on worldwide Steiner-Waldorf creative education, where a "child's work is their play." Child growth is explored and how this is helped by a rich treasury of action, finger, circle, clapping, beanbag, chasing, water, tumbling, story and singing games. There are both traditional favorites and also new games created to engage with digitally challenging behavior. Each game is clearly and simply described, with diagrams and drawings for how to play. The games' weaving of rhythms, movement, songs, stories, and pictures invites children into worlds of vibrant wonder. These games help children feel at ease in their bodies, build relationships, and enjoy playing.</div>

Waldorf Games Handbook for the Early Years: Games to Play and Sing with Children Aged 3–7 (Steiner / Waldorf Education)

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Waletzko, Cory

Baadh Garrett, Valerie

Crafts & Hobbies

Review\n"What a delightful collection! The wide range of games are described so clearly that it’s easy to find something to play with a lucky child or group of children. And then you’ll want to play something else, just because it so much fun to play and sing." —Rahima Baldwin Dancy, author, You are Your Child’s First Teacher 
"A valuable resource of enjoyable games for preparing children for life." —Sally Goddard Blythe, author, The Well-Balanced Child\n"Everything in this book works with children! An invaluable guide for every teacher, movement specialists and parents.’ Valerie Baadh Garrett, The Movement Academy Project\n"An inspiring and useful gem." —Jane Miller EdD, Department of Education, Antioch University\n237 fun games for groups and families 
Games Children Play II brings together a collection of 237 tried and tested games to play with children and groups of all ages. A companion to the Waldorf Games Handbook for the Early Years (2020), this is a thoroughly updated second edition of the classic, Games Children Play (1996) with new games added in response to popular demand. 
Kim John Payne and Cory Waletzko’s Waldorf and Spatial Dynamics® approach is uniquely focused on how games develop children’s spatial awareness, social skills, confidence, and movement in age-appropriate ways. Each game is clearly and simply described, with diagrams and drawings showing how to play. Included are games for improving graceful movement, cooperation, fairness, and equality for the 7- to 10-year-olds, and for 11- to 12-year-olds, games for strengthening courage, accuracy, and teamwork, plus gentle preparation for sports, as well as games for renewing playground culture and holding a DIY Olympic Games. 
Ways to develop spatial awareness are described through sports, gymnastics, and outdoor games. Also included are sections on child development, introducing game sessions, children’s temperaments, the senses, tackling children’s problems with play or sports, teaching movement to children, and cultivating the lost art of real-life play with digitally challenged children. 
Games vary, depending on the age and number of players. The authors offer tips for the game leaders on meeting various social and emotional needs of the players in a group. Certain new games are highlighted “for children who may struggle to play this game.”

Games Children Play II: Games to Develop Social Skills, Teamwork, Balance, and Coordination (Steiner / Waldorf Education)

Science & Math

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Books by Payne M.Ed., Kim John