This quote is from page 45 of The Education of the Child. I find alot of truth in this statement with my own children and with the children in the Nursery class I work with. It is really hard when I am hanging out with another parent who constantly gives her child choices. After awhile it starts to drive me a little crazy. Then the choices spill over to my child who is there playing with her child..and then it is ," Curtis , do you want to do this or that....ok...you chose that now the other child will do this when you are finished that and never the two shall meet. This was done in an effort to resolve conflict. I just am clueless as to how to handle this situation tactfully without upsetting the other mom who is clearly a great, loving mother...and a cool person to boot. Even in the woods this mom asks the child which direction at the fork in the word he wants to go....Negotiation, asking...I am no whip cracker but I was starting to really lose it. How does one tactfully go about saying," You are really giving that child way too many choices" ? In training this past summer...it was noted that a teacher..."can never have too much tact." And that this is a sacred bond between this mother and this child...I guess what really gets me is that in that space it was effecting my child.....and I felt helpless to change that. Perhaps I could have said ....I don't offer choices like that....?
Steiner goes on to say after this quote..."During this period of childhood, [first seven years] children should learn through authority....By freeing the child from the limitations imposed by authority, you rob the etheric body of the possibility of a well-founded development."
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