The Prayer of No-Matter-What-Ness; Sleep; Tech Prudence; and The Return

Dear Members of The Waldorf School of Santa Barbara Community,

On Monday morning Saint Nick visited the children, giving them tangerines and walnuts and sharing the "Prayer of No-Matter-What-Ness":

No matter what you say,
no matter what you do,
no matter what you think,
no matter what you feel,
no matter what you dream,
you are always perfect,
beautiful, and held by God.


The inspiring Father Greg Boyle writes (in his book Tattoos on the Heart): "The principle suffering of the poor is shame and disgrace. It is a toxic shame -- a global sense of failure of the whole self. This shame can seep so deep down... To this end, one hopes (against all human inclination) to model not the 'one false move' God but the 'no matter whatness' of God."

Perhaps it's not a stretch to say that the "shame and disgrace" Boyle invokes is not peculiar to the poor; all can feel it. So Saint Nick hoped (he mentioned this privately) that by sharing his prayer he might convey to the children a love that is beyond condition, a no-matter-what love, the love we all crave.

In a helpful ParentSquare post, Ms. Justine summarized the recent parent meeting for the Kindergarten class. As the insights shared in that meeting seem pertinent to all WSSB children, we share a portion of Ms. Justine's summary (edited lightly for brevity's sake):

"The topic for the meeting was sleep. We reflected on ways we can better support our kids in getting the 10-12 hours of sleep their growing bodies need.... Marla discussed sleep deprivation and behavioral issues and changes in mood that may accompany it. Overstimulation (such as screen time, bombardment of sensory information and constant noise from the day, busy schedules and even food sensitivities) was discussed as an obstacle to rest and may lead children at this age to be overly tired.... Families shared both troubles (protests, nightmares, and nighttime wakings) and success stories in achieving earlier bedtimes through non-negotiable routines and aiming for early dinners starting at 5:00pm/6:00pm. Marla discussed helpful ways to promote sleep which included:

  1. 30 minutes of moderate exercise

  2. Decreasing screen time. As Waldorf recommends no screens for children of this age, we are being asked to challenge ourselves

  3. Spending more time outdoors as it is a real gift for our nervous systems and lastly,

  4. Practicing faith in rhythms and routines"


Related to the above, yesterday in our faculty meeting we discussed technology use. We agreed that this topic is complex (to wit: What is "technology"?); and also agreed that this topic is urgent, meriting our communal attention. We also noted that COVID-19 has generally made us human beings even more gadget-centric.

As you probably know, Waldorf schools aim to practice what might be called "technological prudence." Vicki Larson, in her essay "Waldorf Education and the Use of Technology," explains the rationale for such prudence: "Since a primary goal of Waldorf education is to ground students in their bodies, in three-dimensional unmediated space and in human interaction, the schools aim to offer students unmediated experiences." And electronic technology, Larson says, can undermine that primary goal.

In an article in Waldorf News, pediatric occupational therapist Cris Rowan speaks in stronger terms: "So what is the impact of technology on the developing child? Children's developing sensory, motor, and attachment systems have biologically not evolved to accommodate this sedentary, yet frenzied and chaotic nature of today's technology. The impact of rapidly advancing technology on the developing child has seen an increase of physical, psychological and behavior disorders that the health and education systems are just beginning to detect, much less understand.... It's important to come together as parents, teachers and therapists to help society 'wake up' and see the devastating effects technology is having not only on our child's physical, psychological, and behavioral health, but also on their ability to learn and sustain personal and family relationships."

As technology use is a complex topic, we will explore it further in future newsletters. Stay tuned. (And please refer to page 22 in our Parent Handbook on our website, for more information about technology and home life. To access the Parent Handbook, please go to waldorfsantabarbara.org > Our Community > Current Families. The password is waldorfsb.)

Also: last week we regrettably failed to thank the many who helped with the Advent Spiral: the faculty who set up and cleaned; the musicians (Ms. Hagen; Nalini Kokatay; Story Dorie; and George); the families who donated greens; and Home Depot for gifting us the Christmas tree and poinsettias. And thank you to the parents who decorated the campus! We are very grateful for you!


Annual Fund Drive

Finally, we invite you to support WSSB by giving today to our 2020-2021 Annual Fund drive. Your gift will help us remain resilient in these complex and challenging days. So far we have raised $26,500 of this year’s goal of $45,500. We have $19,000 to go. Click on the link below to give today:

https://waldorfsantabarbara.org/annual-giving-fund

With deep and heartfelt thanks,

The WSSB Admin Team

PS -- The poem of the day is by Robinson Jeffers:

Return

A little too abstract, a little too wise,
It is time for us to kiss the earth again,
It is time to let the leaves rain from the skies,
Let the rich life run to the roots again.
I will go to the lovely Sur Rivers
And dip my arms in them up to the shoulders.
I will find my accounting where the alder leaf quivers
In the ocean wind over the river boulders.
I will touch things and things and no more thoughts,
That breed like mouthless May-flies darkening the sky,
The insect clouds that blind our passionate hawks
So that they cannot strike, hardly can fly.
Things are the hawk's food and noble is the mountain, Oh noble
Pico Blanco, steep sea-wave of marble.

Alexis Schoppe