welcoming spring
Spring nature table
Happy Spring equinox 🤍
It’s been a while since I’ve written here, and I thought I would return with a post to welcome Spring, and specifically a rhythm for this new season. Since becoming a mother, and discovering the world of Waldorf education and living, I’ve really fallen in love with curating daily and weekly rhythms for our family. As a stay at home mama, the days can easily all blend into one, or perhaps always feel like the weekend. If we don’t create our own sense of the days and all that we want to accomplish each week, they may easily slip away from us and things can turn chaotic with little ones too. This is where creating beautiful daily rhythms can support us, as well as our little ones so much. When everyone knows what to expect for the day ahead, there are less frustrations, less meltdowns, more ease and more calm throughout the days. As a naturopath and someone focussed on living holistically, creating a rhythm for each of our days has felt so nourishing, and is truly one of the main ways I am nurturing our littles, as well as myself. By having the rhythm in place there is way less decision making throughout the day, which can be a huge toll on mamas, especially if you’re still feeling some baby brain or postpartum fog. Knowing the order of things for the day just makes everything more simple, both for mamas as well as little ones, who come to know what to expect and will feel in their bodies what it is they need to do. I now find my eldest going to get changed on her own, theres much less debating about when we will be going outside, because she knows there will be a time for it in the rhythm (if you have a little that also loves being outdoors and tries to get out there before they’ve even had something to eat; this could be helpful for you too).
Before delving into what we’ve been doing for this early spring time, I thought I’d also just touch on what a rhythm actually is. Rather than having a schedule or routine that feels strict and perhaps doesn’t allow for the flow of life, a rhythm supports the natural ebbs and flows of the day. A rhythm begins with anchoring points for the day, such as our meal times as well as time for rest and independent free play. The meal and rest points may be centred around an actual time, but the rest of your rhythm can be fairly free, or not by the clock. You also want to take into account the ‘in and out breaths’ of the day, and try to balance these if crafting your own rhythm.
An ‘in breath’ is usually a focussed task, something that requires concentration from your child; as well as mindfulness and introspection - these can also be more quiet activities such as reading together, doing crafts, household work, even getting dressed, brushing teeth, etc. An ‘out breath’ is where children are free to explore and play as they please. Outside time, going to a park, forest strolls, running around the backyard, free independent play indoors, are all out breaths. So when thinking about how to create some structure for your days, it can be helpful to ensure the activities of the day flow from in breath, to out breath.
The rhythm I’m sharing below is something that I’ve been working on and making little adjustments for throughout the year. Changes we’ve made for spring are getting ready first thing so that we can get outside with more ease, and sooner in the day. In the winter you could find us snuggled up by the fire for a lot of the morning. The other main changes are the poems and verses and blessings we include throughout the day, which are seasonal. This is our daily rhythm, that as much as possible I stay with. There is also a weekly rhythm for each of the days activities - if you’d like me to share this as well please leave a comment below.
OUR SPRING RHYTHM
wake with Father Sun (usually just before 6 at the moment)
make the beds and get dressed for the day, while still in our rooms (one less transition for later)
quiet time with coffee & milk (meditation, journalling, yoga for mama and littles are free to join or have quiet free play)
make breakfast (littles have free play or join me in the kitchen), also put away night befores dishes and re set the kitchen
breakfast - with a candle, meal blessing & short story
clean up dishes (free play for my eldest, or help)
morning circle - movement, verses, fingerplays
finish getting ready for the day (hair, teeth etc)
clean up all the toys
morning activity (different for each day) & usually first nap for my 10 month old is here around 9 am
mama put laundry on & any other home tasks for the day (different for each day)
morning snack in the sun if possible 10 am
outside time (free play, check the gardens, hang out washing, look at neighbours animals or go for a nature stroll or outing somewhere)
lunchtime inside with a candle, blessing & sleepy story 12pm
rest time for everyone(2 - 3 hours) 12:30/1
afternoon tea time (usually a home made treat and chino) 3pm
dinner prep with littles, or free play
outside time with papa when he gets home 4pm
second toy clean up
family dinner 5/5:30
wash, teeth, pyjamas 6
bedtime verses, poems and songs 6:30
mama put littles to sleep in the big bed while papa cleans up from dinner 7/7:30
Spring is Coming - Mabel Watts
Alongside the rhythm we also like to include a nature table, that holds all the treasures collected on weekly nature walks or garden strolls. Photos throughout the post are from our current spring table.
