More Heaven Around Them

I have been meaning to blog about this but I keep forgetting.

At the basic eurythmy class I attended, our mentor said something about children having more heaven around them. In Waldorf-speak, it has more to do with a child's spirit still incarnating, making the child more sensitive to the spirits. It also means that children are cared for more by these spirits. Once a person reaches the age of 21, he has more or less fully incarnated already and is on his own. He does not depend on the spirits for guidance because he has enough life experience already to really make his own choices and be master of his destiny.

Children have more heaven around them. That's why even infants falling off beds are usually unharmed... or they're none the worse for wear after a tumble... or how hanging address signs do not result in serious injuries for a toddler... even how they recover fast from trauma or tragedy, or beat a disease.

I know... kids get hurt and sick, but haven't you marvelled at how a child should have been worse after an incident but wasn't? Heck, my 17-month old can be on top of the stairs and jumping about as he throws balls towards his older brother at the bottom of the stairs.... but not fall off the stairs (this happened under my father's watch, suffice it to say, I was aghast to find them like that). My eldest can balance himself on top of backrests and beams and fences and even balls and only seldom fall down.

They have more heaven around them. It's just as simple as that.

But there's another thing. In Waldorf education, we were taught that teachers/nurturers/parents throw an invisible cloak around their charges. A teacher uses this cloak to protect her students from being disrupted, excited or scared of visitors. Parents use this cloak to have an ever fixed 'eye' on the kids as they go about their tasks.

I like to think that cloak we parents throw over our children is also 'more heaven around them' :) And yes, it usually means less concern for our well-being sometimes but that love (and the prayers) protect our kids from everyday harm.

I think of attachment parenting and think that children who felt self-assured to explore the world and grow up trying new things are people who felt this cloak as almost tangible... palpable... because the attachment was strong, so was the heaven around them.

And I am slowly realizing that when I am out-of-sorts and feeling disconnected with my mothering, more harm happens to my kids. They fall down more and squabble more. There is less heaven around them.

Now, isn't it sorta neat that I am the heaven around my child? :) (such a big responsibility too).