Preface to the Revised Edition | p. ix |
Acknowledgments | p. xiii |
You Are Your Child's First Teacher | p. 1 |
A Unique Opportunity | |
Parents' Dilemma Today | |
Cultural Dilemmas | |
Lack of Support for Mothering | |
Children Are Not Tiny Adults! | |
The Child's Changing Consciousness | |
The Role of the Child's Individuality | |
How Children | |
Learn in the First Seven Years | |
Our Task as First Teachers | |
Trusting Ourselves | |
Recommended Resources | |
Home Life as the Basis for All Learning | p. 26 |
Home Life Is Undervalued in Our Culture | |
Why Is It So Difficult to Be Home with Children Today? | |
Consciously Creating a Home | |
Four Levels of Home Life | |
Home Life as the Curriculum for the Young Child | |
Recommended Resources | |
Birth to Three: Growing Down and Waking Up | p. 42 |
Growing into the Body | |
What Is Your Baby Like Between Six Weeks and Eight Months of Age? | |
Learning to Walk | |
The Second Year: Mastering Language | |
The Emergence of Thinking | |
The Young Child's Senses | |
The Emerging Sense of Self | |
Recommended Resources | |
Helping Your Baby's Development | p. 63 |
Stimulating and Protecting the Sensitivity of the Newborn | |
What Is It Like Being with a Newborn? | |
What Is It Like from Months Two to Twelve? | |
Physical Development | |
The Development of Intelligence | |
Emotional Development | |
Language Development | |
Toys for the First Year | |
Recommended Resources | |
Helping Your Toddler's Development | p. 92 |
Encouraging Balanced Development | |
Dealing with Negative Behavior | |
Encouraging the Development of Language and Understanding | |
The Beginnings of Imaginative Play | |
Providing a Rich Environment for Your Toddler | |
Toys and Equipment | |
Recommended Resources | |
Rhythm in Home Life | p. 110 |
Creating Rhythm in Daily Life | |
The Rhythm of the Week | |
Celebrating Festivals and the Rhythm of the Year | |
Celebrating Birthdays | |
Recommended Resources | |
Discipline and Other Parenting Issues | p. 130 |
The Question of Discipline | |
Why Does Parenting Take So Much Energy? | |
Can You Work toward Rhythm with an Infant? | |
What about Weaning? | |
Crying Babies | |
What about Going Back to Work? | |
How Long Do Children's Senses Need Protecting? | |
Toilet Training | |
Separation Anxiety and "Helicopter Parenting" | |
Cabin Fever | |
Other Parenting Issues | |
Recommended Resources | |
Nourishing Your Child's Imagination and Creative Play | p. 163 |
Three Stages of Play | |
Experiencing the World through Play | |
The Importance of Play in Intellectual Development | |
Ways to Encourage Your Child's Creative Play | |
Nourishing Your Child's Imaginative Play through Stories | |
Recommended Resources | |
Developing Your Child's Artistic Ability | p. 191 |
Understanding Children's Drawings and Development | |
The Experience of Color | |
Watercolor Painting with Young Children | |
Metamorphosis in Later Stages of Life | |
Modeling with Beeswax | |
Making Things with Your Children | |
Freeing Your Own Inner Artist | |
Recommended Resources | |
Encouraging Your Child's Musical Ability | p. 209 |
Make a Joyful Noise | |
Music and Cognitive Development | |
Singing with Your Child | |
Movement Games and Fingerplays | |
Pentatonic Music and the "Mood of the Fifth" | |
What about Music and Dance Lessons? | |
Recommended Resources | |
Cognitive Development and Early Childhood Education | p. 223 |
Academic vs. Play-Based Learning | |
Why Not Introduce Academics Early? | |
The Value of Preschool | |
Evaluating Early Childhood Programs | |
LifeWays and Waldorf Early Childhood Programs | |
LifeWays and Waldorf in the Home | |
The Value of Mixed-Age Programs | |
When Is Your Child Ready for First Grade? | |
What Happens Around Age Seven? | |
Beginning Academic Work: The Waldorf Approach | |
What about the Advanced or Gifted Child? | |
Recommended Resources | |
Common Parenting Questions: From Television to Immunizations | p. 255 |
Preparation for Life | |
Computers | |
Balanced Development | |
Television | |
Toys | |
Video Games | |
Immunizations and Childhood Illnesses | |
The Sick Child | |
What Makes Children So Different from One Another? | |
Religion and Young Children | |
Recommended Resources | |
Help for the Journey | p. 281 |
Conscious Parenting Is a Process | |
In Conclusion | |
Appendix: Rudolf Steiner and Waldorf Education | p. 286 |
Notes | p. 290 |
Bibliography | p. 303 |
Index | p. 311 |
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