ISBN 0-9722238-1-9

90000

9 780972 223812
 The Young The Young
Child in the Child in the
World Today World Today

T H E G A T E W A Y S S E R I E S O N E T H E G A T E W A Y S S E R I E S O N E

Compiled from articles published Compiled from articles published

in the Newsletter of the Waldorf in the Newsletter of the Waldorf
Early Childhood Association Early Childhood Association
of North America of North America
 The publisher wishes to acknowledge the former and present editors of
Gateways – Joan Almon, Nicola Tarshis, and Stephen Spitalny.
This book is a collection of essays and articles that originally appeared in
Gateways and other publications. All have been printed with the
permission of the authors except where noted:
The Instrument Itself: Children’s Development and Television by Joseph
Chilton Pearce appears with the permission of AWSNA publications.
Editor: Susan Howard
Managing Editor: Lydia Roberson
Cover Art: Richard Neal
Cover Design: Dale Hushbeck
Layout and Design: Roland Willwerth
Graphics: Erica Merkling
Text Editing: John Minderhout, Christine Bosch, and Jennifer Kleinbach
Administrative Support: Patti Regan, Melissa Lyons and Anne Jimenez
This publication is made possible
through a grant from the Waldorf Curriculum Fund.
© Copyright Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, 2003
The Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America
285 Hungry Hollow Road, Spring Valley, NY 10977
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
0–9722238–1–9 Volume 1
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
without the written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations
embodied in critical reviews and articles.
The publisher wishes to acknowledge the former and present editors of
Gateways – Joan Almon, Nicola Tarshis, and Stephen Spitalny.
This book is a collection of essays and articles that originally appeared in
Gateways and other publications. All have been printed with the
permission of the authors except where noted:
The Instrument Itself: Children’s Development and Television by Joseph
Chilton Pearce appears with the permission of AWSNA publications.
Editor: Susan Howard
Managing Editor: Lydia Roberson
Cover Art: Richard Neal
Cover Design: Dale Hushbeck
Layout and Design: Roland Willwerth
Graphics: Erica Merkling
Text Editing: John Minderhout, Christine Bosch, and Jennifer Kleinbach
Administrative Support: Patti Regan, Melissa Lyons and Anne Jimenez
This publication is made possible
through a grant from the Waldorf Curriculum Fund.
© Copyright Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, 2003
The Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America
285 Hungry Hollow Road, Spring Valley, NY 10977
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
0–9722238–1–9 Volume 1
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
without the written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations
embodied in critical reviews and articles.
Contents Contents

Preface Susan Howard v Preface Susan Howard v

Young Children Today—Understanding Them 1 Young Children Today—Understanding Them 1

and Helping Them Joan Almon and Helping Them Joan Almon

The Young Child in the World Today 7 The Young Child in the World Today 7
Dr. Renate Lang-Breipohl Dr. Renate Lang-Breipohl

Caring for the Life Forces in the Young Child 13 Caring for the Life Forces in the Young Child 13
Dr. Renate Lang-Breipohl Dr. Renate Lang-Breipohl

As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap Sally Jenkinson 19 As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap Sally Jenkinson 19

New Health Problems of Children and Youth 27 New Health Problems of Children and Youth 27
Press Release from Center for Research on Childhood Press Release from Center for Research on Childhood
and Adolescence, University of Bielefeld, Germany and Adolescence, University of Bielefeld, Germany

Sexual Abuse of Children: 31 Sexual Abuse of Children: 31

Understanding, Prevention and Treatment Understanding, Prevention and Treatment
Michaela Glöckler, M.D. Michaela Glöckler, M.D.

ADHD: A Challenge for Our Time Eugene Schwartz 43 ADHD: A Challenge for Our Time Eugene Schwartz 43

Concerning Restless Children Bertram von Zabern, M.D 61 Concerning Restless Children Bertram von Zabern, M.D 61

Violence and Electronic Media Joan Almon 65 Violence and Electronic Media Joan Almon 65

TV and ADD Foster Kline, M.D. 71 TV and ADD Foster Kline, M.D. 71

Virtual Reality, Media and the Child’s Growing Mind 75 Virtual Reality, Media and the Child’s Growing Mind 75
Nancy and Colin Poer Nancy and Colin Poer

The Instrument Itself: Children’s Development 79 The Instrument Itself: Children’s Development 79
and Television Joseph Chilton Pearce and Television Joseph Chilton Pearce
Preface
In 1993, the Waldorf Kindergarten
Association of North America published two
volumes of articles collected from its
Newsletter over a ten-year period from its
beginnings in 1983. An Overview of the
Waldorf Kindergarten (Volume One) and A
Deeper Understanding of the Waldorf
Kindergarten (Volume Two) came to be known
affectionately as the “pink” and “blue” books,
providing a valuable resource for a generation
of practicing and aspiring Waldorf early
childhood educators. These two volumes
offered study material on the foundations of
Waldorf early childhood work and many rich
examples shared from the practical life of the
kindergartens in North America.
Now a second ten years have passed, and our
publishing work is reaching its twenty-first year.
Much has developed in our Waldorf early
childhood movement. In 1997, the Waldorf
Kindergarten Association outgrew its name and
became the Waldorf Early Childhood
Association of North America (WECAN), in
recognition of the ever-widening scope of our
activity. This work now extends far beyond the
nursery-kindergarten to include birth-to-three
programs for parents and children, parent/infant
awareness classes, home-based and center-based
childcare, pre-natal education, extended care,
and work with children in underserved
v v
communities and high-risk situations involving
homelessness and abuse.
The Kindergarten Newsletter has become
Gateways. Its offerings have included articles
on the developing child, working with
children, working in community, and the inner
development of the early childhood educator.
As we review the harvest of these last ten years
of Gateways contributions, it seems time to
gather and share them once again. And thus
we are pleased to publish the Gateways Series.
The series will include articles from past
issues, as well as additional contributions that
have arisen through conferences and research
publications during these past ten years.
We have clustered the contents
around themes.
Volume One, The Young Child in the
World Today, includes articles on the
condition of the young child in
contemporary society which, despite its
apparent advances in the realm of
technology, is far less advanced in its
understanding of the needs of the developing
child. Attention-related disorders, health
problems such as asthma and allergies, and
increased violence and aggression are
evidence of today’s threats to healthy child
development. Volume One offers
Preface
In 1993, the Waldorf Kindergarten
Association of North America published two
volumes of articles collected from its
Newsletter over a ten-year period from its
beginnings in 1983. An Overview of the
Waldorf Kindergarten (Volume One) and A
Deeper Understanding of the Waldorf
Kindergarten (Volume Two) came to be known
affectionately as the “pink” and “blue” books,
providing a valuable resource for a generation
of practicing and aspiring Waldorf early
childhood educators. These two volumes
offered study material on the foundations of
Waldorf early childhood work and many rich
examples shared from the practical life of the
kindergartens in North America.
Now a second ten years have passed, and our
publishing work is reaching its twenty-first year.
Much has developed in our Waldorf early
childhood movement. In 1997, the Waldorf
Kindergarten Association outgrew its name and
became the Waldorf Early Childhood
Association of North America (WECAN), in
recognition of the ever-widening scope of our
activity. This work now extends far beyond the
nursery-kindergarten to include birth-to-three
programs for parents and children, parent/infant
awareness classes, home-based and center-based
childcare, pre-natal education, extended care,
and work with children in underserved
communities and high-risk situations involving
homelessness and abuse.
The Kindergarten Newsletter has become
Gateways. Its offerings have included articles
on the developing child, working with
children, working in community, and the inner
development of the early childhood educator.
As we review the harvest of these last ten years
of Gateways contributions, it seems time to
gather and share them once again. And thus
we are pleased to publish the Gateways Series.
The series will include articles from past
issues, as well as additional contributions that
have arisen through conferences and research
publications during these past ten years.
We have clustered the contents
around themes.
Volume One, The Young Child in the
World Today, includes articles on the
condition of the young child in
contemporary society which, despite its
apparent advances in the realm of
technology, is far less advanced in its
understanding of the needs of the developing
child. Attention-related disorders, health
problems such as asthma and allergies, and
increased violence and aggression are
evidence of today’s threats to healthy child
development. Volume One offers
perspectives on these challenges from a view
of the developing child as a being of body,
soul, and spirit.
Volume Two, Working with the Angels: The
Young Child and the Spiritual World, includes
articles on the gateways of birth and death,
the destiny of the child in our times, and
working with the hierarchies. Volume Three
will focus on The Developing Child: Stages of
Early Childhood Development.
Subsequent volumes will include resources
from our work with young children including
rhythms and life activities, fairy tales and
storytelling, and seasons and festivals with the
young child.
We would like to thank our many
vi
colleagues in North America and throughout
the world who have shared their work, first in
the Kindergarten Newsletter and Gateways
and now in the Gateways Series. We would
also like to express our gratitude to our
colleagues at AWSNA Publications, the
Research Institute for Waldorf Education, and
the Medical Section at the Goetheanum, for
allowing us to reprint articles on early
childhood development which have appeared
in their publications.
It is our hope that the Gateways series will
provide inspiration and support to those who
carry the profound and wondrous
responsibility of caring for the youngest
among us, wherever that work takes place in
our human community.
Susan Howard, Editor
perspectives on these challenges from a view
of the developing child as a being of body,
soul, and spirit.
Volume Two, Working with the Angels: The
Young Child and the Spiritual World, includes
articles on the gateways of birth and death,
the destiny of the child in our times, and
working with the hierarchies. Volume Three
will focus on The Developing Child: Stages of
Early Childhood Development.
Subsequent volumes will include resources
from our work with young children including
rhythms and life activities, fairy tales and
storytelling, and seasons and festivals with the
young child.
We would like to thank our many
vi
colleagues in North America and throughout
the world who have shared their work, first in
the Kindergarten Newsletter and Gateways
and now in the Gateways Series. We would
also like to express our gratitude to our
colleagues at AWSNA Publications, the
Research Institute for Waldorf Education, and
the Medical Section at the Goetheanum, for
allowing us to reprint articles on early
childhood development which have appeared
in their publications.
It is our hope that the Gateways series will
provide inspiration and support to those who
carry the profound and wondrous
responsibility of caring for the youngest
among us, wherever that work takes place in
our human community.
Susan Howard, Editor
Young Children Today—
Understanding Them and Helping Them
Joan Almon
For over 20 years we have watched a decline
in the health and well-being of children in
North America. We have been so concerned, at
times even preoccupied with these children’s
problems. Now it seems we have overlooked
something that is just as strong as the problems:
namely that this remarkable generation of
children and young adults has brought new
levels of awareness to the earth. They need our
protection and help, but they also need
recognition of the gifts they have brought.
When we look at this younger generation,
those now in the ages from infancy to the
upper twenties, we see a group that is quite
different from those in their thirties, forties,
or fifties. In Waldorf circles, we first became
aware of this in the following way. When the
Waldorf training programs began in the
United States twenty years ago, the students
were largely the young people who had been
activists in the 1960s. Born during and after
World War II, it was a generation that had
been involved in the Civil Rights movement,
the anti-war movement, and the uproar on
college campuses in the late 1960s. In the
1970s this generation grew quieter, turning
toward meditation and spiritual growth, and,
for some, gradually toward Waldorf education
and anthroposophy.
In the 1980s one began to notice that this
1 1
same generation was still filling the teacher
training centers. The next group, born in the
late 1950s and 1960s did not seem to be
entering the Waldorf training programs. We
used to joke that the teacher trainees were
growing older each year, but it was really no
joke; it was a reality. Of course, some from the
next age group (now in their thirties) did
enter the training programs or other fields of
social activity. But I have heard some
comment that, as they grew up, they felt very
isolated from their peers, most of whom
seemed intent on earning as much money as
possible, with little concern for environmental
or social problems. As Waldorf educators, we
grew accustomed to a generation that did not
seem to care, and we have perhaps missed the
point that there is now a new group in our
midst that does care deeply. They are quiet in
their caring and thus far have not made a lot
of noise, but, beginning in the early 1990s,
they began entering our training programs,
and some are now entering our schools as new
faculty. Who is this generation and what are
they like?
Through a teenage relative who had
become a vegetarian at age 15, I became
aware that many teens are becoming
vegetarians, ostensibly out of concern for
animals and the environment. Yet
Young Children Today—
Understanding Them and Helping Them
Joan Almon
For over 20 years we have watched a decline
in the health and well-being of children in
North America. We have been so concerned, at
times even preoccupied with these children’s
problems. Now it seems we have overlooked
something that is just as strong as the problems:
namely that this remarkable generation of
children and young adults has brought new
levels of awareness to the earth. They need our
protection and help, but they also need
recognition of the gifts they have brought.
When we look at this younger generation,
those now in the ages from infancy to the
upper twenties, we see a group that is quite
different from those in their thirties, forties,
or fifties. In Waldorf circles, we first became
aware of this in the following way. When the
Waldorf training programs began in the
United States twenty years ago, the students
were largely the young people who had been
activists in the 1960s. Born during and after
World War II, it was a generation that had
been involved in the Civil Rights movement,
the anti-war movement, and the uproar on
college campuses in the late 1960s. In the
1970s this generation grew quieter, turning
toward meditation and spiritual growth, and,
for some, gradually toward Waldorf education
and anthroposophy.
In the 1980s one began to notice that this
same generation was still filling the teacher
training centers. The next group, born in the
late 1950s and 1960s did not seem to be
entering the Waldorf training programs. We
used to joke that the teacher trainees were
growing older each year, but it was really no
joke; it was a reality. Of course, some from the
next age group (now in their thirties) did
enter the training programs or other fields of
social activity. But I have heard some
comment that, as they grew up, they felt very
isolated from their peers, most of whom
seemed intent on earning as much money as
possible, with little concern for environmental
or social problems. As Waldorf educators, we
grew accustomed to a generation that did not
seem to care, and we have perhaps missed the
point that there is now a new group in our
midst that does care deeply. They are quiet in
their caring and thus far have not made a lot
of noise, but, beginning in the early 1990s,
they began entering our training programs,
and some are now entering our schools as new
faculty. Who is this generation and what are
they like?
Through a teenage relative who had
become a vegetarian at age 15, I became
aware that many teens are becoming
vegetarians, ostensibly out of concern for
animals and the environment. Yet
vegetarianism is also closely connected to
spiritual awareness. The young people I was
meeting were not part of spiritual movements,
but their overall consciousness could be
described as strongly spiritual. Members of
this group are now in college or have recently
graduated. They have brought profound
changes to their campuses through their deep
concern for human and environmental issues.
On many campuses, well over half the
students are actively engaged in volunteer
work, yet this generation is so quiet about its
efforts that, in general, the country is not
aware of the changes that are taking place.
These young people also show a strong
awareness of the spiritual world, both outside
of themselves and within themselves. They
speak of forms of spiritual thinking as a daily
reality. They lack terms and concepts but are
rich in experience, and in many cases these
experiences are not at all drug-related.
Outwardly they bear certain similarities to the
generation active in the 1960s, but their quiet
activism, coupled with drug-free spirituality,
marks them as significantly different.
As one looks at the younger end of this
generation, the children presently in
kindergartens and elementary schools, one
sees that the trends have not come to an end,
but have intensified. For example, whereas
today’s college students may have turned to
vegetarianism in their teens, I know many
younger children who became vegetarians at
age four or five. These are not children
growing up in vegetarian homes; they are
children in meat-eating homes who decided
on their own to become vegetarians. One
Waldorf class teacher in England, who has a
sixth grade at present, told me that when this
class came to him in first grade, half of them
had already decided to become vegetarians,
without parental support. Indeed, many of the
parents I have known wish their children
would not be vegetarians. This is one small
indication that suggests a group of children
2 2
who are very concerned about the earth and
about humanity, and who seem to have a very
strong awareness of the spiritual in life.
When asked why they are vegetarians,
many of the children say they do not want to
eat animals. They express a tremendous
concern for the earth and for the people who
live on it. Recently I stayed with a Waldorf
family who had a six-year-old son. All through
breakfast he spoke of his animals with much
warmth and a good deal of knowledge. Later,
he said to me in a voice full of conviction that
seemed to come from the depths of his being,
“You know, I love this earth. I just love it. I
love the stones and the plants, but especially I
love the animals. I just love the animals.” He
then paused and resumed speaking in a more
childlike voice. “When I grow up, I’m going to
work in the zoo!”
This generation shows a deep love for the
earth but also for the plight of human beings.
There is a young boy who at the age of
thirteen had become well known as an activist
on behalf of children who are forced into
labor. Other youngsters have taken up
environmental issues and formed national
organizations of children and youth concerned
with such problems. The awareness of the
world and the commitment to help, which
rocked the college campuses of the 1960s, is
now being seen again in the elementary and
secondary schools. At first this looked like
unhealthy precociousness, brought about by
too early an introduction to the problems of
the world. However, having met many
children and young adults who carry this
awareness deeply within themselves, I have
come to welcome these new trends as a sign
that this young generation truly cares and is
prepared to act.
We are gifted that at this very time, when
human and ecological problems of
unparalleled complexity face us, the earth is
receiving a generation that seems able to
vegetarianism is also closely connected to
spiritual awareness. The young people I was
meeting were not part of spiritual movements,
but their overall consciousness could be
described as strongly spiritual. Members of
this group are now in college or have recently
graduated. They have brought profound
changes to their campuses through their deep
concern for human and environmental issues.
On many campuses, well over half the
students are actively engaged in volunteer
work, yet this generation is so quiet about its
efforts that, in general, the country is not
aware of the changes that are taking place.
These young people also show a strong
awareness of the spiritual world, both outside
of themselves and within themselves. They
speak of forms of spiritual thinking as a daily
reality. They lack terms and concepts but are
rich in experience, and in many cases these
experiences are not at all drug-related.
Outwardly they bear certain similarities to the
generation active in the 1960s, but their quiet
activism, coupled with drug-free spirituality,
marks them as significantly different.
As one looks at the younger end of this
generation, the children presently in
kindergartens and elementary schools, one
sees that the trends have not come to an end,
but have intensified. For example, whereas
today’s college students may have turned to
vegetarianism in their teens, I know many
younger children who became vegetarians at
age four or five. These are not children
growing up in vegetarian homes; they are
children in meat-eating homes who decided
on their own to become vegetarians. One
Waldorf class teacher in England, who has a
sixth grade at present, told me that when this
class came to him in first grade, half of them
had already decided to become vegetarians,
without parental support. Indeed, many of the
parents I have known wish their children
would not be vegetarians. This is one small
indication that suggests a group of children
who are very concerned about the earth and
about humanity, and who seem to have a very
strong awareness of the spiritual in life.
When asked why they are vegetarians,
many of the children say they do not want to
eat animals. They express a tremendous
concern for the earth and for the people who
live on it. Recently I stayed with a Waldorf
family who had a six-year-old son. All through
breakfast he spoke of his animals with much
warmth and a good deal of knowledge. Later,
he said to me in a voice full of conviction that
seemed to come from the depths of his being,
“You know, I love this earth. I just love it. I
love the stones and the plants, but especially I
love the animals. I just love the animals.” He
then paused and resumed speaking in a more
childlike voice. “When I grow up, I’m going to
work in the zoo!”
This generation shows a deep love for the
earth but also for the plight of human beings.
There is a young boy who at the age of
thirteen had become well known as an activist
on behalf of children who are forced into
labor. Other youngsters have taken up
environmental issues and formed national
organizations of children and youth concerned
with such problems. The awareness of the
world and the commitment to help, which
rocked the college campuses of the 1960s, is
now being seen again in the elementary and
secondary schools. At first this looked like
unhealthy precociousness, brought about by
too early an introduction to the problems of
the world. However, having met many
children and young adults who carry this
awareness deeply within themselves, I have
come to welcome these new trends as a sign
that this young generation truly cares and is
prepared to act.
We are gifted that at this very time, when
human and ecological problems of
unparalleled complexity face us, the earth is
receiving a generation that seems able to
shape the next century with honesty, social
and ecological commitment, and new depths
of spiritual insight. Yet this is only half the
picture. The other half is that this very
generation has suffered greatly through the
new ideas about education and child-rearing
that have arisen during the past 25 years. In
the United States, and increasingly in other
countries, the idea has taken hold that one
must stimulate children as much as possible
mentally and from as young an age as
possible. To allow children to play and dream
through early childhood is considered a waste
of time. Cognitive knowledge is considered
all-important, and every effort is made to
awaken children to writing, reading, and
arithmetic in the nursery school and
kindergarten. This thrust is now interwoven
with exposure to the electronic media,
including computers, and the result is an
intensive bombardment of the nerve-sense
system, so that few children escape a
premature awakeness. To transform children’s
innate awareness too early into worldly
awakeness places a great burden on them, and
has the effect of limiting rather than
enhancing their capacities.
It is significant that during this time
Waldorf education has also come into much
greater demand. Beginning around 1970
parents all over the world began calling for
more Waldorf schools. These were not
seasoned anthroposophists, as the early
founders of Waldorf schools had been. These
were parents who were generally dissatisfied
with existing forms of education and had an
idea of what they wanted. They were deeply
moved by Waldorf education and in some
cases laid deep and strong foundations for
schools that are thriving today. In other cases
they acted too quickly and founded schools
that have struggled greatly. I have met with
many new initiatives over the years, and am
consistently impressed with the parents—
whether they move slowly or in haste—for
3 3
they have a deep love for their children and
for the children of others. Arising from this
love and from dissatisfaction with existing
forms of education, they invest enormous
amounts of time, energy, and money to bring
Waldorf schools into existence.
The deeper impulse of such parents was
described to me by a mother, who told me
of a dream she had while pregnant with her
first child. In the dream he appeared as a
radiant child, a child of the sun. In his early
years his light continued to burn brightly,
showering warmth on all those around him.
Then, still in the dream, she placed her
child, now six, in a box and all the light was
cut off. She awoke deeply shaken by this
dream and determined to find a form of
education that would not cut off the sun-
filled radiance of her child. Her search led
her to Waldorf education.
Often Waldorf teachers will half joke that
it seems as if it is the children who lead the
parents to Waldorf education. More and more
I think there is great truth in this. A teacher
who helped found a kindergarten in South
Africa described a mother from a township
who brought her five-year-old daughter for a
visit. The child looked around and promptly
announced, “This is my kindergarten. This is
where I want to go.” The mother then
explained that her daughter kept describing
the kindergarten of her dreams. It was a very
beautiful kindergarten, full of wonder, and
with regret the mother had to tell her there
was no such kindergarten. Then she heard of
the opening of the Waldorf kindergarten and
took her child to see it. The child seemed to
recognize the kindergarten. This was the one
she had been looking for, and she happily
settled into it.
A teacher-trainee in her twenties related to
me that all through her teens she told her
mother she wanted to be a kindergarten
teacher and even described the kindergarten
shape the next century with honesty, social
and ecological commitment, and new depths
of spiritual insight. Yet this is only half the
picture. The other half is that this very
generation has suffered greatly through the
new ideas about education and child-rearing
that have arisen during the past 25 years. In
the United States, and increasingly in other
countries, the idea has taken hold that one
must stimulate children as much as possible
mentally and from as young an age as
possible. To allow children to play and dream
through early childhood is considered a waste
of time. Cognitive knowledge is considered
all-important, and every effort is made to
awaken children to writing, reading, and
arithmetic in the nursery school and
kindergarten. This thrust is now interwoven
with exposure to the electronic media,
including computers, and the result is an
intensive bombardment of the nerve-sense
system, so that few children escape a
premature awakeness. To transform children’s
innate awareness too early into worldly
awakeness places a great burden on them, and
has the effect of limiting rather than
enhancing their capacities.
It is significant that during this time
Waldorf education has also come into much
greater demand. Beginning around 1970
parents all over the world began calling for
more Waldorf schools. These were not
seasoned anthroposophists, as the early
founders of Waldorf schools had been. These
were parents who were generally dissatisfied
with existing forms of education and had an
idea of what they wanted. They were deeply
moved by Waldorf education and in some
cases laid deep and strong foundations for
schools that are thriving today. In other cases
they acted too quickly and founded schools
that have struggled greatly. I have met with
many new initiatives over the years, and am
consistently impressed with the parents—
whether they move slowly or in haste—for
they have a deep love for their children and
for the children of others. Arising from this
love and from dissatisfaction with existing
forms of education, they invest enormous
amounts of time, energy, and money to bring
Waldorf schools into existence.
The deeper impulse of such parents was
described to me by a mother, who told me
of a dream she had while pregnant with her
first child. In the dream he appeared as a
radiant child, a child of the sun. In his early
years his light continued to burn brightly,
showering warmth on all those around him.
Then, still in the dream, she placed her
child, now six, in a box and all the light was
cut off. She awoke deeply shaken by this
dream and determined to find a form of
education that would not cut off the sun-
filled radiance of her child. Her search led
her to Waldorf education.
Often Waldorf teachers will half joke that
it seems as if it is the children who lead the
parents to Waldorf education. More and more
I think there is great truth in this. A teacher
who helped found a kindergarten in South
Africa described a mother from a township
who brought her five-year-old daughter for a
visit. The child looked around and promptly
announced, “This is my kindergarten. This is
where I want to go.” The mother then
explained that her daughter kept describing
the kindergarten of her dreams. It was a very
beautiful kindergarten, full of wonder, and
with regret the mother had to tell her there
was no such kindergarten. Then she heard of
the opening of the Waldorf kindergarten and
took her child to see it. The child seemed to
recognize the kindergarten. This was the one
she had been looking for, and she happily
settled into it.
A teacher-trainee in her twenties related to
me that all through her teens she told her
mother she wanted to be a kindergarten
teacher and even described the kindergarten
of her dreams. The walls were painted softly,
the toys were simple and made of natural
materials. There was even a beautiful
instrument, like a lyre, that she played each
day for the children. Neither the girl nor her
mother had ever heard of Waldorf education,
but when the young woman was about 21, she
saw an announcement for an open house at a
Waldorf school. She took her mother with her
and went. Here was the kindergarten of her
dreams, right down to the lyre. She recognized
it at once and soon enrolled in an orientation
year, in preparation for becoming a Waldorf
kindergarten teacher.
There is little doubt that a very wonderful
generation has come to earth, not only
because of their connection to Waldorf
education but because of their overall
commitment to serve the earth and help it
in a human way, both environmentally and
spiritually. Yet the general conditions that
greet this generation are not conducive to
their healthy development. They are
confronted with over-stimulation from
infancy onward. Their life has little rhythm
and abounds with unnecessary activities
such as sports, gymnastics, and ballet
beginning at age four or five. They are often
in daycare from a young age and spend too
little time with their parents. Very often
their lives have more intensity and stress
than they can integrate and transform. Many
are overcome by the difficulties, and
statistics show that they are suffering greatly.
In the United States, for instance, the
percentage of children diagnosed with
serious handicaps has grown from about 1.6
percent in 1963 to 6.4 percent in 1993.
Among poor children the number is over 10
percent, and these numbers continue to
grow, for we have not begun to correct the
problems. Hyperactivity is rampant, like an
epidemic, and some estimate that 1/3 of
American children are now on the drug
Ritalin to stabilize their activity.
4 4
These attacks on childhood and the
growing pattern of illnesses often associated
with nervousness and stress would be a
tragedy for any generation. That it affects
today’s youth, with their tremendous gifts and
offerings to the world, makes it a double
tragedy. What can we do about it? Within our
own kindergartens we can renew our
commitment to work with parents toward
creating a healthy home life full of love and
warmth, a solid rhythm, good food, joyous
festivals, and many opportunities to play and
imitate. All of this is of the greatest
importance, yet it is not enough, and we need
to enlist our colleagues as allies in the battle
for children, because the problems continue
into the grades and high school. We need a
school-wide endeavor that enlists faculty and
parents. From there we are in a position to
help awaken the public through workshops
and conferences. We will find many allies
among the parents in our schools and, in the
wider community, among university
professors, educators, doctors, and others who
carry the well-being of children strongly in
their hearts. There is no shortage of allies, but
one has to look broadly and without prejudice.
There is work to be done on behalf of
children, and they cannot afford for us to wait
much longer.
This generation has already been
profoundly affected by modern life. They
have been made ill by it. What about the
next group that is waiting to come? Rudolf
Steiner spoke of the souls who would
probably incarnate at the end of the century
and the beginning of the next century. His
descriptions leads one to feel that the next
wave of children will bring even greater
capacities with them and be able to serve in
yet more profound ways. Yet what awaits
them here? Not only television as we have
known it, but the information highway with
500 channels in every home. Not only
computers as we have known them, but
of her dreams. The walls were painted softly,
the toys were simple and made of natural
materials. There was even a beautiful
instrument, like a lyre, that she played each
day for the children. Neither the girl nor her
mother had ever heard of Waldorf education,
but when the young woman was about 21, she
saw an announcement for an open house at a
Waldorf school. She took her mother with her
and went. Here was the kindergarten of her
dreams, right down to the lyre. She recognized
it at once and soon enrolled in an orientation
year, in preparation for becoming a Waldorf
kindergarten teacher.
There is little doubt that a very wonderful
generation has come to earth, not only
because of their connection to Waldorf
education but because of their overall
commitment to serve the earth and help it
in a human way, both environmentally and
spiritually. Yet the general conditions that
greet this generation are not conducive to
their healthy development. They are
confronted with over-stimulation from
infancy onward. Their life has little rhythm
and abounds with unnecessary activities
such as sports, gymnastics, and ballet
beginning at age four or five. They are often
in daycare from a young age and spend too
little time with their parents. Very often
their lives have more intensity and stress
than they can integrate and transform. Many
are overcome by the difficulties, and
statistics show that they are suffering greatly.
In the United States, for instance, the
percentage of children diagnosed with
serious handicaps has grown from about 1.6
percent in 1963 to 6.4 percent in 1993.
Among poor children the number is over 10
percent, and these numbers continue to
grow, for we have not begun to correct the
problems. Hyperactivity is rampant, like an
epidemic, and some estimate that 1/3 of
American children are now on the drug
Ritalin to stabilize their activity.
These attacks on childhood and the
growing pattern of illnesses often associated
with nervousness and stress would be a
tragedy for any generation. That it affects
today’s youth, with their tremendous gifts and
offerings to the world, makes it a double
tragedy. What can we do about it? Within our
own kindergartens we can renew our
commitment to work with parents toward
creating a healthy home life full of love and
warmth, a solid rhythm, good food, joyous
festivals, and many opportunities to play and
imitate. All of this is of the greatest
importance, yet it is not enough, and we need
to enlist our colleagues as allies in the battle
for children, because the problems continue
into the grades and high school. We need a
school-wide endeavor that enlists faculty and
parents. From there we are in a position to
help awaken the public through workshops
and conferences. We will find many allies
among the parents in our schools and, in the
wider community, among university
professors, educators, doctors, and others who
carry the well-being of children strongly in
their hearts. There is no shortage of allies, but
one has to look broadly and without prejudice.
There is work to be done on behalf of
children, and they cannot afford for us to wait
much longer.
This generation has already been
profoundly affected by modern life. They
have been made ill by it. What about the
next group that is waiting to come? Rudolf
Steiner spoke of the souls who would
probably incarnate at the end of the century
and the beginning of the next century. His
descriptions leads one to feel that the next
wave of children will bring even greater
capacities with them and be able to serve in
yet more profound ways. Yet what awaits
them here? Not only television as we have
known it, but the information highway with
500 channels in every home. Not only
computers as we have known them, but
programs that interact with the television so
that the illusion of learning from machines
becomes even more compelling. Yet to come,
but now emerging, is virtual reality, through
which the next generation will be able to
learn about life in such a way that they do
not need to interact with physical or spiritual
reality very much at all. There is little
promise that tomorrow’s homes will be any
calmer, more rhythmic, or more loving than
today’s. More and more children will be
raised in daycare centers from infancy
onward, and unless these can be helped to
become warm and loving centers, they will
add to the stress of the child’s existence.
How do we work to create a healthier
environment for children, and at the same
time avoid becoming discouraged by the
difficult task facing us? How do we find the
courage to proceed and the forgiveness of
failures—our own and others’—that allows us
to go forward? How do we recognize the forces
behind these attacks on children and find the
courage and strength to overcome these
forces? Rudolf Steiner points to the beings
that are by our side and ready to help in these
battles. There is Michael, the great Archangel,
who inspires us to meet the problems of our
time with courage. There is the Christ being,
whose love and forgiveness fill us with a
capacity to bring about change and
transformation, even in the most difficult
situations. There is the wisdom of Sophia,
who allows us to understand the struggles that
both adults and children face. With their help
we can become like the twelfth wise woman in
Briar Rose, who could not take away the evil
sentence of death, but she could soften it.
Neither can we lift the burden of difficulty
from every child, much as we long to do so,
but we can soften their burdens, making them
bearable and letting the children know we care
deeply about them and that we recognize
their gifts and their struggles.
programs that interact with the television so
that the illusion of learning from machines
becomes even more compelling. Yet to come,
but now emerging, is virtual reality, through
which the next generation will be able to
learn about life in such a way that they do
not need to interact with physical or spiritual
reality very much at all. There is little
promise that tomorrow’s homes will be any
calmer, more rhythmic, or more loving than
today’s. More and more children will be
raised in daycare centers from infancy
onward, and unless these can be helped to
become warm and loving centers, they will
add to the stress of the child’s existence.
How do we work to create a healthier
environment for children, and at the same
time avoid becoming discouraged by the
difficult task facing us? How do we find the
courage to proceed and the forgiveness of
failures—our own and others’—that allows us
to go forward? How do we recognize the forces
behind these attacks on children and find the
courage and strength to overcome these
forces? Rudolf Steiner points to the beings
that are by our side and ready to help in these
battles. There is Michael, the great Archangel,
who inspires us to meet the problems of our
time with courage. There is the Christ being,
whose love and forgiveness fill us with a
capacity to bring about change and
transformation, even in the most difficult
situations. There is the wisdom of Sophia,
who allows us to understand the struggles that
both adults and children face. With their help
we can become like the twelfth wise woman in
Briar Rose, who could not take away the evil
sentence of death, but she could soften it.
Neither can we lift the burden of difficulty
from every child, much as we long to do so,
but we can soften their burdens, making them
bearable and letting the children know we care
deeply about them and that we recognize
their gifts and their struggles.

Joan Almon is on the Board of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, is the Joan Almon is on the Board of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, is the
General Secretary of the Anthrosposophical Society in America, and is U.S. Coordinator of the General Secretary of the Anthrosposophical Society in America, and is U.S. Coordinator of the
Alliance for Childhood. (Many of these ideas were presented in a lecture at the International Alliance for Childhood. (Many of these ideas were presented in a lecture at the International
Waldorf Teachers’ Conference in Dornach, Switzerland, in April 1996.) Waldorf Teachers’ Conference in Dornach, Switzerland, in April 1996.)

5 5
Young Child in the World Today
Dr. Renate Lang-Breipohl
The Universal Aspect of Childhood
Much praise is given to modern civilization
and its high technological standards by
contemporaries, while, on the other hand,
many concerns have been raised by educators
about its dangers for children. There is an
increasing awareness that childhood, as a
unique and fundamental life experience, has to
be protected. But what is childhood?
To understand it one has to look into the
past, one has to understand the repetition of
collective experiences within the individual
development of consciousness. Within Waldorf
education much consideration has been given
to the problem of matching the content derived
from cultural history to the appropriate stage of
the child’s evolving consciousness. However, not
much of this consideration has then been made
public. After all, kindergartens do not “teach.”
Yet, beside the question of selection of content,
there is a need for identifying the features of a
child’s consciousness between the ages of three
and seven and of relating it back to the
evolution of humanity. Does the child in its
early years relive ancient Lemuria, Atlantis, or
the Old Indian cultural epoch? There is no easy
answer to this. Two streams unite in the child:
the spiritual one coming from the life before
birth and the earthly one containing the
hereditary aspect and the acquisition of
earth-consciousness.
7 7
Karl König, founder of the Camphill
movement, researched the child’s path down to
earth and described in beautiful images the
process of incarnation. At one stage he
compares the initial stages of gestation with
the creation story of the Bible and with the
expulsion from paradise. He compares the
breaking of the water at birth with the
Atlantean flood and sees the child born into
the post-Atlantean world. Then come the very
special first three years under the protection of
the hierarchies and the Christ Being: a time of
unity in consciousness with the spiritual world
in which the fundamental human qualities of
walking, talking, and thinking are acquired. Up
to this point it is nearly impossible to mark any
sequence of evolutionary stages in the
development of the individual human being. It
seems more appropriate to think of elements of
early evolutionary times reappearing and
coloring the time before birth and during the
first three years. This changes around the third
year. With the appearance of a rudimentary
consciousness of the “I” and the beginning of a
gradual freeing of the etheric forces of memory
and fantasy on the other, an inner soul space is
established, a stage on which the child’s will,
feeling, and thinking will gradually unfold. This
happens in a consciousness comparable to
dreaming-feeling, and in constant will activity
accompanied by the still-subterranean stream
of thinking. This process goes beyond the
Young Child in the World Today
Dr. Renate Lang-Breipohl
The Universal Aspect of Childhood
Much praise is given to modern civilization
and its high technological standards by
contemporaries, while, on the other hand,
many concerns have been raised by educators
about its dangers for children. There is an
increasing awareness that childhood, as a
unique and fundamental life experience, has to
be protected. But what is childhood?
To understand it one has to look into the
past, one has to understand the repetition of
collective experiences within the individual
development of consciousness. Within Waldorf
education much consideration has been given
to the problem of matching the content derived
from cultural history to the appropriate stage of
the child’s evolving consciousness. However, not
much of this consideration has then been made
public. After all, kindergartens do not “teach.”
Yet, beside the question of selection of content,
there is a need for identifying the features of a
child’s consciousness between the ages of three
and seven and of relating it back to the
evolution of humanity. Does the child in its
early years relive ancient Lemuria, Atlantis, or
the Old Indian cultural epoch? There is no easy
answer to this. Two streams unite in the child:
the spiritual one coming from the life before
birth and the earthly one containing the
hereditary aspect and the acquisition of
earth-consciousness.
Karl König, founder of the Camphill
movement, researched the child’s path down to
earth and described in beautiful images the
process of incarnation. At one stage he
compares the initial stages of gestation with
the creation story of the Bible and with the
expulsion from paradise. He compares the
breaking of the water at birth with the
Atlantean flood and sees the child born into
the post-Atlantean world. Then come the very
special first three years under the protection of
the hierarchies and the Christ Being: a time of
unity in consciousness with the spiritual world
in which the fundamental human qualities of
walking, talking, and thinking are acquired. Up
to this point it is nearly impossible to mark any
sequence of evolutionary stages in the
development of the individual human being. It
seems more appropriate to think of elements of
early evolutionary times reappearing and
coloring the time before birth and during the
first three years. This changes around the third
year. With the appearance of a rudimentary
consciousness of the “I” and the beginning of a
gradual freeing of the etheric forces of memory
and fantasy on the other, an inner soul space is
established, a stage on which the child’s will,
feeling, and thinking will gradually unfold. This
happens in a consciousness comparable to
dreaming-feeling, and in constant will activity
accompanied by the still-subterranean stream
of thinking. This process goes beyond the
seventh year, encompassing years three to nine.
This time can be characterized as one of
participatory or sentient soul consciousness.
In his lectures on the evolution of
consciousness, Steiner has pointed repeatedly
to the importance of the third post-Atlantean
epoch for our own time, and he encourages
teachers to study this time especially carefully.
Much of what was pre-formed in the Egypto-
Chaldean epoch is of significance for our
time, the age of the consciousness soul. Much
of what Steiner has to say about this time
seems to have a connection with the way the
child experiences the world between the ages
of three and nine:
1. The close connection to nature—
living in natural rhythms, immersed in
sense perception.
2. The seemingly materialistic way of relating
to the spiritual world (as can be seen in
Egyptian death rites).
3. The importance of images
and mythology.
4. An objectivity in feeling that is still void of
personal emotion (as can be seen in the
Isis-Osiris myth).
Although there are obvious differences
between the child of three years and, say, a
seven- or eight-year-old regarding the degree of
their thinking ability, there are many
similarities. For example, their outer expression
of feeling, their way of dealing with human
relationships, the consciousness of belonging,
of oneness with the world are still quite similar.
“Only between the ninth and tenth year
does the child begin to feel himself separate
from the world. Therefore, when the child
starts school (first grade), things in the
environment have to be transformed into living
beings. One does not speak about plants, but
plants speak themselves and to each other as
living beings. All contemplation of nature has
8 8
to be transformed into imagination—plants
speak, trees speak, clouds speak. The child at
this age should not feel the difference between
himself and the world.” (Rudolf Steiner,
Education and Modern Spiritual Life, 1923)
This consciousness is universal in children.
They all start life relating to the past, to the
dreaming of images, to participation and
imitation. Yet, while children in some parts of
the world remain in this consciousness
undisturbed—sometimes even with little
possibility of evolving further—children of
awakened, western-oriented societies are not
allowed much of this necessary reliving of the
past. They are awakened from their dreaming
and affirmed in their consciousness of “I” before
the consciousness of “we” can consolidate. In
many cases these are the children we deal with
in Waldorf kindergartens and schools today.
Challenges and Dangers for Children
Jorgen Smit (The Child, The Teachers, The
Community, Lecture 2, Mercury Press, 1992)
speaks about Lucifer and Ahriman making their
appearance in childhood. Lucifer stands at the
entrance to the period of participatory
consciousness as the bearer of consciousness and
memory, casting his shadow over the years to
come. Ahriman stands at the nine-year
threshold of the child, foreshadowing what is to
come after the age of participation. This
situation has existed for quite some time:
Lucifer calling prematurely on the child’s
feeling, Ahriman trying to gain access to the
child’s thinking prematurely and thus weakening
its life forces. What is new is the fertile soil in
the souls of those who educate and bring up
children today. In his lecture series, The Fall of
the Spirits of Darkness, Steiner has pointed to
the attempts of Ahriman to gain access to the
children of today, and he states that of all areas
of life, education has succumbed most deeply to
materialistic thought. He emphasizes that
knowing evil is the foremost task at the end of
seventh year, encompassing years three to nine.
This time can be characterized as one of
participatory or sentient soul consciousness.
In his lectures on the evolution of
consciousness, Steiner has pointed repeatedly
to the importance of the third post-Atlantean
epoch for our own time, and he encourages
teachers to study this time especially carefully.
Much of what was pre-formed in the Egypto-
Chaldean epoch is of significance for our
time, the age of the consciousness soul. Much
of what Steiner has to say about this time
seems to have a connection with the way the
child experiences the world between the ages
of three and nine:
1. The close connection to nature—
living in natural rhythms, immersed in
sense perception.
2. The seemingly materialistic way of relating
to the spiritual world (as can be seen in
Egyptian death rites).
3. The importance of images
and mythology.
4. An objectivity in feeling that is still void of
personal emotion (as can be seen in the
Isis-Osiris myth).
Although there are obvious differences
between the child of three years and, say, a
seven- or eight-year-old regarding the degree of
their thinking ability, there are many
similarities. For example, their outer expression
of feeling, their way of dealing with human
relationships, the consciousness of belonging,
of oneness with the world are still quite similar.
“Only between the ninth and tenth year
does the child begin to feel himself separate
from the world. Therefore, when the child
starts school (first grade), things in the
environment have to be transformed into living
beings. One does not speak about plants, but
plants speak themselves and to each other as
living beings. All contemplation of nature has
to be transformed into imagination—plants
speak, trees speak, clouds speak. The child at
this age should not feel the difference between
himself and the world.” (Rudolf Steiner,
Education and Modern Spiritual Life, 1923)
This consciousness is universal in children.
They all start life relating to the past, to the
dreaming of images, to participation and
imitation. Yet, while children in some parts of
the world remain in this consciousness
undisturbed—sometimes even with little
possibility of evolving further—children of
awakened, western-oriented societies are not
allowed much of this necessary reliving of the
past. They are awakened from their dreaming
and affirmed in their consciousness of “I” before
the consciousness of “we” can consolidate. In
many cases these are the children we deal with
in Waldorf kindergartens and schools today.
Challenges and Dangers for Children
Jorgen Smit (The Child, The Teachers, The
Community, Lecture 2, Mercury Press, 1992)
speaks about Lucifer and Ahriman making their
appearance in childhood. Lucifer stands at the
entrance to the period of participatory
consciousness as the bearer of consciousness and
memory, casting his shadow over the years to
come. Ahriman stands at the nine-year
threshold of the child, foreshadowing what is to
come after the age of participation. This
situation has existed for quite some time:
Lucifer calling prematurely on the child’s
feeling, Ahriman trying to gain access to the
child’s thinking prematurely and thus weakening
its life forces. What is new is the fertile soil in
the souls of those who educate and bring up
children today. In his lecture series, The Fall of
the Spirits of Darkness, Steiner has pointed to
the attempts of Ahriman to gain access to the
children of today, and he states that of all areas
of life, education has succumbed most deeply to
materialistic thought. He emphasizes that
knowing evil is the foremost task at the end of
this century. Thus teachers and parents are
asked to become guardians of childhood and to
stand up against tendencies to over-stimulate
the child’s dreaming soul in both the area of
feeling and of thinking.
One can notice the Luciferic influence in
many children today. Anxiety in children and
feelings of isolation, which arise anyway in
early childhood as a consequence of the
necessary processes of separation, have
increased through the tendency of parents and
educators to make children conscious of
themselves, their decisions, and their ever-
changing wishes. It is regarded as a sign of
open-mindedness and progressiveness to draw
children into the emotional life of adults and
to discuss feelings. Beyond the sphere of the
normal, exposure to adult sexuality and
emotional and sexual abuse of children have
increased and become a problem in society.
Whenever sexual talk appears in the
kindergarten—and what kindergarten teacher
today has not experienced this—it is
accompanied by a disturbance of feelings in
the children involved. Children’s drawings tell
about it. Wherever astrality becomes too
strong too early, the etheric forces of the
children suffer. The classroom, even the
kindergarten room becomes a social
battlefield: who is the leader, who is best
friend, whom does one hate and what are the
conditions of being loved? There is no
participation, only division, no playing or
learning together, only social turmoil.
Another observation can be made regarding
the tendency to address children as ego-beings
at an early age. A. C. Harwood (The Way of a
Child, Chapter VI, Rudolf Steiner Press, 1988)
points to the fact that, in the age of the
consciousness soul, the ego consciousness
appears first at the age of three in an immature
form. It should rightly appear only at the age of
twenty-one with the birth of the ego after the
establishment of the etheric and the astral
9 9
bodies. Without adult help and guidance, this
ego-quality could be dragged down to the level
of astrality and deteriorate to egotism. (This
often becomes evident quite abruptly.) This
egotism is different from egocentrism, the
specific form through which children experience
the world. Egotism manifests in ever increasing
demands and wishes of children, in the need to
be in the center of happenings, being the first
and getting as much attention as possible from
adults and other children. Whenever children
become overly focused on their bodily cravings
and emotional needs and are distracted from
sensing and exploring the world in play or
learning, Lucifer attempts to take hold of their
souls. Adults often feel overwhelmed by the
intensity of children’s wishes and they may give
in more than is beneficial for the child. After all,
egotism is such a widespread phenomenon
today that it may not even be recognized as a
danger with far-reaching consequences.
Regarding the Ahrimanic influence, Steiner
indicates that the middle of the last century
was a decisive time for the development of
modern materialism in that the Ahrimanic
powers gained entry into human affairs for the
first time in human history. The ways of
Ahriman’s working are well described in
anthroposophical publications. I want to relate
two aspects that have special importance for
young children.
In the 1940s, a time for which Steiner
predicted the appearance of the new spiritual
faculty of etheric perception in an increasing
number of human beings, there appeared in the
then only modestly developed mass media new
images that were to exercise a great influence.
Some of these can be found in Disney’s
animated feature films, with their powerful
colors. Superman and Batman also emerged as
new heroes (both of whom have recently
celebrated come-backs). Who are they? What is
the power of their attraction for even young
children? Some of my kindergarten children
this century. Thus teachers and parents are
asked to become guardians of childhood and to
stand up against tendencies to over-stimulate
the child’s dreaming soul in both the area of
feeling and of thinking.
One can notice the Luciferic influence in
many children today. Anxiety in children and
feelings of isolation, which arise anyway in
early childhood as a consequence of the
necessary processes of separation, have
increased through the tendency of parents and
educators to make children conscious of
themselves, their decisions, and their ever-
changing wishes. It is regarded as a sign of
open-mindedness and progressiveness to draw
children into the emotional life of adults and
to discuss feelings. Beyond the sphere of the
normal, exposure to adult sexuality and
emotional and sexual abuse of children have
increased and become a problem in society.
Whenever sexual talk appears in the
kindergarten—and what kindergarten teacher
today has not experienced this—it is
accompanied by a disturbance of feelings in
the children involved. Children’s drawings tell
about it. Wherever astrality becomes too
strong too early, the etheric forces of the
children suffer. The classroom, even the
kindergarten room becomes a social
battlefield: who is the leader, who is best
friend, whom does one hate and what are the
conditions of being loved? There is no
participation, only division, no playing or
learning together, only social turmoil.
Another observation can be made regarding
the tendency to address children as ego-beings
at an early age. A. C. Harwood (The Way of a
Child, Chapter VI, Rudolf Steiner Press, 1988)
points to the fact that, in the age of the
consciousness soul, the ego consciousness
appears first at the age of three in an immature
form. It should rightly appear only at the age of
twenty-one with the birth of the ego after the
establishment of the etheric and the astral
bodies. Without adult help and guidance, this
ego-quality could be dragged down to the level
of astrality and deteriorate to egotism. (This
often becomes evident quite abruptly.) This
egotism is different from egocentrism, the
specific form through which children experience
the world. Egotism manifests in ever increasing
demands and wishes of children, in the need to
be in the center of happenings, being the first
and getting as much attention as possible from
adults and other children. Whenever children
become overly focused on their bodily cravings
and emotional needs and are distracted from
sensing and exploring the world in play or
learning, Lucifer attempts to take hold of their
souls. Adults often feel overwhelmed by the
intensity of children’s wishes and they may give
in more than is beneficial for the child. After all,
egotism is such a widespread phenomenon
today that it may not even be recognized as a
danger with far-reaching consequences.
Regarding the Ahrimanic influence, Steiner
indicates that the middle of the last century
was a decisive time for the development of
modern materialism in that the Ahrimanic
powers gained entry into human affairs for the
first time in human history. The ways of
Ahriman’s working are well described in
anthroposophical publications. I want to relate
two aspects that have special importance for
young children.
In the 1940s, a time for which Steiner
predicted the appearance of the new spiritual
faculty of etheric perception in an increasing
number of human beings, there appeared in the
then only modestly developed mass media new
images that were to exercise a great influence.
Some of these can be found in Disney’s
animated feature films, with their powerful
colors. Superman and Batman also emerged as
new heroes (both of whom have recently
celebrated come-backs). Who are they? What is
the power of their attraction for even young
children? Some of my kindergarten children
told me, “Batman is good, he kills the bad
guys.” If one looks at this modern hero, with his
black, flowing cloak, wearing the sign of the bat
on the heart and holding the gun in the hand of
the raised right arm, one is reminded of an
angel in a perverted form, a dark force with
remembrances of a Michaelic gesture—evil
hidden behind the illusion of the good. Many
children who are born today will have come to
earth with the intention of participating in the
Michaelic battle against Ahriman. How can
their sense perception and their thinking learn
to judge between truth and deception if
untruthful images are everywhere around them?
A flood of new images pours upon children
today with every TV-movie event, images of the
subhuman like the Ninja Turtles, ET or the
dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. The deception of
virtual reality did not begin with the invention
of three-dimensional viewing.
It is the intention of Ahriman to bind
human beings to his realm and to tie human
thinking to a robot-like, subhuman realm of
intelligence. Children come from the world of
living thoughts, of unity with the creator spirits,
into a world in which human thinking has
separated itself from the divine intelligence
through the gift of freedom. Through the use of
electro-magnetism the “web of human
thought,” an expression with which Steiner
describes the etheric world, is replaced by the
“worldwide web,” a network of thoughts that
can be entered without much thinking effort.
Pathways of thought can be used according to
the rules of those who set up the Internet. If
children get introduced to this, they will just
follow the flow and the effort of thinking for
oneself will become ever harder. Steiner
predicted that thinking will be taken away from
human beings and established in a subhuman
realm. We can see the beginnings of it now.
Children today are drawn to the realm of
intelligence. The exposure to media and
computers has already changed the way their
minds work. Brain structures become simplified
10
by the selective demands made by television
viewing (Jane Healy, Endangered Minds,
Touchstone, 1990). On the other hand, children
become faster in capturing the essence of
quickly changing visual stimuli and more able to
follow several trains of action at once (Rushkoff,
Children of Chaos, Harper Collins, 1997). They
are lacking in concentration and the ability to go
deeply into a subject matter. What are the
consequences for educating them?
Educating Modern Children
There is no point in just looking to the past,
to the wonders and beauty of the sentient soul
age and its participatory consciousness. With
the discovery of electromagnetism and the
unleashing of these powerful earth forces, we
have entered the future. On the path to
discovering the being of electricity one is led to
the realm of the sun, with its wisdom and light.
Light makes its appearance on earth in
powerful natural forces and also in the
artificially provoked phenomena of channeled
electrical charge. Sun forces hold the potential
for both the highest spiritual development and
for destruction. It is the task of the
consciousness soul age to find the balance.
“Wherever electricity is used . . . there is
far more demonic magic, because this
operates with entirely different forces having
an entirely different significance for the
cosmos. It will be possible to produce great
outer effects in the universe. Counter forces
must be created to reestablish the balance.
They can be created only if humanity again
comes to understand the Christ principle, if
humanity finds the way to Christ. Vocational
karma, into which man enters more and more,
must be counteracted by an understanding of
the spiritual world that can prepare man to
find the way to Christ.” (Rudolf Steiner,
Karma of Vocation, Lecture 9, Anthroposophic
Press, 1984). One needs to look at modern
childhood with a double perspective.
told me, “Batman is good, he kills the bad
guys.” If one looks at this modern hero, with his
black, flowing cloak, wearing the sign of the bat
on the heart and holding the gun in the hand of
the raised right arm, one is reminded of an
angel in a perverted form, a dark force with
remembrances of a Michaelic gesture—evil
hidden behind the illusion of the good. Many
children who are born today will have come to
earth with the intention of participating in the
Michaelic battle against Ahriman. How can
their sense perception and their thinking learn
to judge between truth and deception if
untruthful images are everywhere around them?
A flood of new images pours upon children
today with every TV-movie event, images of the
subhuman like the Ninja Turtles, ET or the
dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. The deception of
virtual reality did not begin with the invention
of three-dimensional viewing.
It is the intention of Ahriman to bind
human beings to his realm and to tie human
thinking to a robot-like, subhuman realm of
intelligence. Children come from the world of
living thoughts, of unity with the creator spirits,
into a world in which human thinking has
separated itself from the divine intelligence
through the gift of freedom. Through the use of
electro-magnetism the “web of human
thought,” an expression with which Steiner
describes the etheric world, is replaced by the
“worldwide web,” a network of thoughts that
can be entered without much thinking effort.
Pathways of thought can be used according to
the rules of those who set up the Internet. If
children get introduced to this, they will just
follow the flow and the effort of thinking for
oneself will become ever harder. Steiner
predicted that thinking will be taken away from
human beings and established in a subhuman
realm. We can see the beginnings of it now.
Children today are drawn to the realm of
intelligence. The exposure to media and
computers has already changed the way their
minds work. Brain structures become simplified
10
by the selective demands made by television
viewing (Jane Healy, Endangered Minds,
Touchstone, 1990). On the other hand, children
become faster in capturing the essence of
quickly changing visual stimuli and more able to
follow several trains of action at once (Rushkoff,
Children of Chaos, Harper Collins, 1997). They
are lacking in concentration and the ability to go
deeply into a subject matter. What are the
consequences for educating them?
Educating Modern Children
There is no point in just looking to the past,
to the wonders and beauty of the sentient soul
age and its participatory consciousness. With
the discovery of electromagnetism and the
unleashing of these powerful earth forces, we
have entered the future. On the path to
discovering the being of electricity one is led to
the realm of the sun, with its wisdom and light.
Light makes its appearance on earth in
powerful natural forces and also in the
artificially provoked phenomena of channeled
electrical charge. Sun forces hold the potential
for both the highest spiritual development and
for destruction. It is the task of the
consciousness soul age to find the balance.
“Wherever electricity is used . . . there is
far more demonic magic, because this
operates with entirely different forces having
an entirely different significance for the
cosmos. It will be possible to produce great
outer effects in the universe. Counter forces
must be created to reestablish the balance.
They can be created only if humanity again
comes to understand the Christ principle, if
humanity finds the way to Christ. Vocational
karma, into which man enters more and more,
must be counteracted by an understanding of
the spiritual world that can prepare man to
find the way to Christ.” (Rudolf Steiner,
Karma of Vocation, Lecture 9, Anthroposophic
Press, 1984). One needs to look at modern
childhood with a double perspective.
 Certainly the first seven years of life bear the
sign of the moon, of Jahve, the Creator God.
The qualities gained from this period, qualities
of picture consciousness, are vital for a healthy
human life. Children have to relive the past in
order to establish on earth some of the qualities
of the spiritual world to which they are still so
close. Many children do this naturally, provided
the environment is right. But there are also
children who attend a beautifully set up
kindergarten with a program to match
childhood consciousness and yet they seem to
look for something else. Are they just the
unhappy, damaged ones? One cannot be sure,
but they seem to come more often from homes
with a strong presence of modern technology.
Teachers have observed such children over
many years. Some of them have come to earth
to be servants of Michael and they prepare
themselves for encountering the realm of the
dragon. In their movement they show
something of the quality of light, resembling
however the beam of electrical light: fast,
straight, piercing. Their faces are often
serious, but they become radiant like the sun
if they are met with understanding and love.
In their play one observes the tendency to be
on the move, spreading out across the room,
using sticks, rods, ropes, and ties for antennas
and tools, for wiring and telephone cables.
Travel means going up into space.
These children show that they have partly
left behind the dreaming consciousness through
their critical comments on stories and songs,
their reluctance to participate in circle time,
their maneuvers to distract others, and their
sometimes abrupt and aggressive behavior. They



Renate Lang-Breipohl is a former Waldorf kindergarten teacher who leads the Waldorf
Kindergarten teacher training at Parcival College in Sydney, Australia. This article is written from
notes compiled from three lectures given to early childhood and kindergarten teachers in Adelaide in
April 1997 during the Vital Years Conference.
11
do not touch the silk veils or puppets as they do
not like to look back into the world they came
from. But these children long for rhythm, for
order, for somebody to hold the world together.
Even though they make fun of the story the
teacher was just telling, one can perceive how
lovingly they are connected with their teacher.
In meeting, from being to being, they are
moved in a deeply moral way.
Having experienced this, I asked myself
how it was possible to balance what comes
from the moon and the past with what is
represented in the sun as the forces of the
future. This question led me to reassess the
range of play materials that might meet the
need for “technical inventions” of the modern
young child. The age of the child and the
suitability of the “invented” would, of course,
have to be kept in mind. One could also think
of colors, room arrangements, and fabrics for
decorating purposes with the aim of providing
an etheric mood that would prevent the astral
element from working too strongly. One might
also pay close attention to the choosing of
stories. I remember telling the Grimm’s tale
Old Rinkrank and seeing all those awake and
precociously intellectual children sitting still,
totally immersed in this story.
Yet, it is important that the Sun quality live
in human relationships, in the social
interaction among children, teacher, and
parents. Planning and implementing a
curriculum then develops a new dimension,
not only opening the gate to the world, but also
bearing witness to the love and earnestness in
the striving of the teacher. To this human
quality the child of the future will respond.
Certainly the first seven years of life bear the
sign of the moon, of Jahve, the Creator God.
The qualities gained from this period, qualities
of picture consciousness, are vital for a healthy
human life. Children have to relive the past in
order to establish on earth some of the qualities
of the spiritual world to which they are still so
close. Many children do this naturally, provided
the environment is right. But there are also
children who attend a beautifully set up
kindergarten with a program to match
childhood consciousness and yet they seem to
look for something else. Are they just the
unhappy, damaged ones? One cannot be sure,
but they seem to come more often from homes
with a strong presence of modern technology.
Teachers have observed such children over
many years. Some of them have come to earth
to be servants of Michael and they prepare
themselves for encountering the realm of the
dragon. In their movement they show
something of the quality of light, resembling
however the beam of electrical light: fast,
straight, piercing. Their faces are often
serious, but they become radiant like the sun
if they are met with understanding and love.
In their play one observes the tendency to be
on the move, spreading out across the room,
using sticks, rods, ropes, and ties for antennas
and tools, for wiring and telephone cables.
Travel means going up into space.
These children show that they have partly
left behind the dreaming consciousness through
their critical comments on stories and songs,
their reluctance to participate in circle time,
their maneuvers to distract others, and their
sometimes abrupt and aggressive behavior. They
Renate Lang-Breipohl is a former Waldorf kindergarten teacher who leads the Waldorf
Kindergarten teacher training at Parcival College in Sydney, Australia. This article is written from
notes compiled from three lectures given to early childhood and kindergarten teachers in Adelaide in
April 1997 during the Vital Years Conference.
11
do not touch the silk veils or puppets as they do
not like to look back into the world they came
from. But these children long for rhythm, for
order, for somebody to hold the world together.
Even though they make fun of the story the
teacher was just telling, one can perceive how
lovingly they are connected with their teacher.
In meeting, from being to being, they are
moved in a deeply moral way.
Having experienced this, I asked myself
how it was possible to balance what comes
from the moon and the past with what is
represented in the sun as the forces of the
future. This question led me to reassess the
range of play materials that might meet the
need for “technical inventions” of the modern
young child. The age of the child and the
suitability of the “invented” would, of course,
have to be kept in mind. One could also think
of colors, room arrangements, and fabrics for
decorating purposes with the aim of providing
an etheric mood that would prevent the astral
element from working too strongly. One might
also pay close attention to the choosing of
stories. I remember telling the Grimm’s tale
Old Rinkrank and seeing all those awake and
precociously intellectual children sitting still,
totally immersed in this story.
Yet, it is important that the Sun quality live
in human relationships, in the social
interaction among children, teacher, and
parents. Planning and implementing a
curriculum then develops a new dimension,
not only opening the gate to the world, but also
bearing witness to the love and earnestness in
the striving of the teacher. To this human
quality the child of the future will respond.
Caring for the Life Forces Caring for the Life Forces
of the Young Child of the Young Child
Dr. Renate Lang-Breipohl Dr. Renate Lang-Breipohl

What are life forces?
One may be inclined to connect the
concept of life forces with the amount of
energy, liveliness, or physical activity displayed
by a person. Certainly life forces may manifest
somehow within these phenomena. Yet one
can get to a more precise description by first
considering life forces in nature, and then
looking at human beings again. Nature, in its
mineral content, has been investigated
extensively through natural science. Nature, as
far as the plant world is concerned, embraces
water, air, light, and the warmth of the sun.
These elements make life on earth possible,
providing the necessary conditions for plants,
animals, and humans. Scientific research has
not been able to explain the phenomenon of
life, but we may get an inkling of it by
observing plant growth: the unfolding from
seed to flower, the balance of forces that pull
downward and push upward. Many secrets are
hidden in the growing child. Let us call “life
forces” all that works behind the scene in
sustaining a living organism, making it grow,
and preventing it from falling into the
condition of the mineral world, which is the
condition of death.
In Waldorf education we look at the life
forces as a part of the spiritual world working
into the human being. And we look at the
human being as connected by his life forces
with the world of the plants and its rhythms.
Why is it important to be conscious of
life forces in young children?
Unique processes of forming, shaping and
growing occur in the body of a young child
between birth and the seventh year. Bones,
inner organs, senses, and the brain have not yet
achieved their final shape at the time of birth.
The brain refines in form up to the age of four,
the eye matures only at age eight, heart and
blood circulation are still developing until age
16, and bones grow until the age of 21. There is
a specific emphasis on shaping bones and inner
organs in the first seven years of life, followed
by growth up to year 21, with another strongly
formative time around puberty.
From a spiritual viewpoint it is most
important not to disturb the functioning of
the life forces during early childhood as they
work toward the completion of the final,
individual shape of the physical body. Care
has to be taken that life forces do not recede
before this work is accomplished, which would
result in a weakened physical body and make
it difficult to support the intellect, the feeling,
and the will forces of the child later on.
What are life forces?
One may be inclined to connect the
concept of life forces with the amount of
energy, liveliness, or physical activity displayed
by a person. Certainly life forces may manifest
somehow within these phenomena. Yet one
can get to a more precise description by first
considering life forces in nature, and then
looking at human beings again. Nature, in its
mineral content, has been investigated
extensively through natural science. Nature, as
far as the plant world is concerned, embraces
water, air, light, and the warmth of the sun.
These elements make life on earth possible,
providing the necessary conditions for plants,
animals, and humans. Scientific research has
not been able to explain the phenomenon of
life, but we may get an inkling of it by
observing plant growth: the unfolding from
seed to flower, the balance of forces that pull
downward and push upward. Many secrets are
hidden in the growing child. Let us call “life
forces” all that works behind the scene in
sustaining a living organism, making it grow,
and preventing it from falling into the
condition of the mineral world, which is the
condition of death.
In Waldorf education we look at the life
forces as a part of the spiritual world working
into the human being. And we look at the
human being as connected by his life forces
with the world of the plants and its rhythms.
Why is it important to be conscious of
life forces in young children?
Unique processes of forming, shaping and
growing occur in the body of a young child
between birth and the seventh year. Bones,
inner organs, senses, and the brain have not yet
achieved their final shape at the time of birth.
The brain refines in form up to the age of four,
the eye matures only at age eight, heart and
blood circulation are still developing until age
16, and bones grow until the age of 21. There is
a specific emphasis on shaping bones and inner
organs in the first seven years of life, followed
by growth up to year 21, with another strongly
formative time around puberty.
From a spiritual viewpoint it is most
important not to disturb the functioning of
the life forces during early childhood as they
work toward the completion of the final,
individual shape of the physical body. Care
has to be taken that life forces do not recede
before this work is accomplished, which would
result in a weakened physical body and make
it difficult to support the intellect, the feeling,
and the will forces of the child later on.

13 13
How can we recognize the working of life
forces and discriminate whether they are
strong or weak?
Some of the effects of the life forces are
most evident in a baby. We are met by great
softness, we see the rosy skin color and feel
the special atmosphere in a baby’s room: a
glow around the baby that radiates life and
warmth. Babies and young children may be
delicately built or sturdy—this depends on a
variety of factors—but they should have
nothing bony, hard, or angular yet. The round
shape and the “juiciness” characterize a child
up to school age, when the life forces have
finished their major tasks in the physical body
and are mostly set free for new ones.
Compare facial features of a first grade child
early in the year with those of a child at the
end of the second grade. It will be obvious
how much more distinct, angular and
individual the faces have become.
The older we get, the more we dry up
naturally. But some children do this early,
becoming somewhat hardened and tense. It is
important to put one’s attention to these
phenomena, as they often derive from
conditions of modern life that may be
changeable. Yet it is also important to
discriminate a weakness of life forces from
individual features of size, build, and
temperament. A child with strong life forces
will not necessarily be more active than a
child with weakened life forces. The amount
of physical activity depends also on physical
constitution and aspects of emotional and
social development. Quite often a much more
reliable sign for healthy life forces is whether a
child gives the impression of inner activity in
play, of absorption, of being self-contained
and self-directed. On the other hand,
precocious speech and intellect may be signs
that the life forces have already receded from
their task in the physical body and are being
used within the life of the soul.
14
Among these precocious children one often
observes a pale skin color and a lack of
naturally flowing, graceful movement. These
children seem to be stifled and are often
unaware of what their feet and hands are
doing. This phenomenon conveys an
important message: intellectual work uses up
life forces. Anybody who has observed students
studying for exams can confirm this; they look
drained, because their life force is being drawn
out. As such this is just a confirmation that
there exists a polarity of forces: forces of life
and death. This is a fact of life on earth. Yet,
concerning the young child, anything that
leads to hardening or deadening must be
carefully monitored and minimized. Modern
life has too many death forces.
Where are death forces at work affecting
our children?
1. Death forces work in anything that
restricts the child’s natural desire to move
and be active. Where there is life there is
rhythmical movement. We may look at
television from this aspect. Only the eyes
move while the rest of the body is inactive.
Another example is bike riding in the early
years—a limited range of movements is
performed where the whole body should
still be active, as in walking.
A lack of rhythm in daily life pulls the child
into consciousness instead of allowing him
or her to flow along and be active within a
consistent structure of family life. There is
nowadays a great emphasis on verbal
communication with children in early years
and on early displays of intellectual
abilities. If the child is thus pulled out of
the dreaming connection with the life
around him, the vitality of the child may
suffer from it. Yet the mere advice, “Go
outside and play,” may not suffice. Surely,
there is space to move, but there is no
guarantee for the quality of movement.
How can we recognize the working of life
forces and discriminate whether they are
strong or weak?
Some of the effects of the life forces are
most evident in a baby. We are met by great
softness, we see the rosy skin color and feel
the special atmosphere in a baby’s room: a
glow around the baby that radiates life and
warmth. Babies and young children may be
delicately built or sturdy—this depends on a
variety of factors—but they should have
nothing bony, hard, or angular yet. The round
shape and the “juiciness” characterize a child
up to school age, when the life forces have
finished their major tasks in the physical body
and are mostly set free for new ones.
Compare facial features of a first grade child
early in the year with those of a child at the
end of the second grade. It will be obvious
how much more distinct, angular and
individual the faces have become.
The older we get, the more we dry up
naturally. But some children do this early,
becoming somewhat hardened and tense. It is
important to put one’s attention to these
phenomena, as they often derive from
conditions of modern life that may be
changeable. Yet it is also important to
discriminate a weakness of life forces from
individual features of size, build, and
temperament. A child with strong life forces
will not necessarily be more active than a
child with weakened life forces. The amount
of physical activity depends also on physical
constitution and aspects of emotional and
social development. Quite often a much more
reliable sign for healthy life forces is whether a
child gives the impression of inner activity in
play, of absorption, of being self-contained
and self-directed. On the other hand,
precocious speech and intellect may be signs
that the life forces have already receded from
their task in the physical body and are being
used within the life of the soul.
14
Among these precocious children one often
observes a pale skin color and a lack of
naturally flowing, graceful movement. These
children seem to be stifled and are often
unaware of what their feet and hands are
doing. This phenomenon conveys an
important message: intellectual work uses up
life forces. Anybody who has observed students
studying for exams can confirm this; they look
drained, because their life force is being drawn
out. As such this is just a confirmation that
there exists a polarity of forces: forces of life
and death. This is a fact of life on earth. Yet,
concerning the young child, anything that
leads to hardening or deadening must be
carefully monitored and minimized. Modern
life has too many death forces.
Where are death forces at work affecting
our children?
1. Death forces work in anything that
restricts the child’s natural desire to move
and be active. Where there is life there is
rhythmical movement. We may look at
television from this aspect. Only the eyes
move while the rest of the body is inactive.
Another example is bike riding in the early
years—a limited range of movements is
performed where the whole body should
still be active, as in walking.
A lack of rhythm in daily life pulls the child
into consciousness instead of allowing him
or her to flow along and be active within a
consistent structure of family life. There is
nowadays a great emphasis on verbal
communication with children in early years
and on early displays of intellectual
abilities. If the child is thus pulled out of
the dreaming connection with the life
around him, the vitality of the child may
suffer from it. Yet the mere advice, “Go
outside and play,” may not suffice. Surely,
there is space to move, but there is no
guarantee for the quality of movement.
 The caring adult must provide protected
space, preferably inside, offering a variety of
stimulation and opportunities for play that
can then come from inside the child.
2. Death forces meet adults and children in
modern technology. One could describe a
computer as preserved human thought. Its
invention and refinement in recent decades
is the outcome of the rapidly increasing
intellectual capacity of the modern human
being. Compared with thinking, dealing with
computers uses up more life forces. The
purpose of such a statement is not to go back
to the past, but to be aware of the need to
compensate for the time spent in front of a
computer. And definitely, computers and the
entertainment that goes with them are
poison for children. They counteract the
work of the life forces in the physical body
and thereby hinder the development of
creative thinking at a later age. In a less
spectacular way we have technology
around us in the form of household
machines. The push of a button has replaced
a wide range of varied movements and
actions. For the sake of children and their
natural need for doing we may have to bring
some of the handwork back into the
household and thus meet the child’s
developmental needs.
3. Death forces are at work in what is sold
as entertainment for children. Certainly
this is most obvious in the wide range of
toys related to war and aggression, but also
less obviously in “educational” toys
designed to steer the young child’s
thinking into the direction of abstract
concepts. Entertainment in the form of
television and video compromises the
child’s discrimination between reality and
illusion. It connects the child to a world
that is unreal and alienates her or him
from real life experiences and the natural
desire to respond actively. Children
15
become either passive or restless and
aggressive as a counteraction. This
phenomenon is widely acknowledged and
of great concern for many educators.
4. Death forces are at work in the global
destruction of the environment, in wars,
and in destructive processes within
society. It is amazing how young children
absorb these phenomena of destruction
seemingly “through the air,” even if they
have not watched the news or overheard
adult conversation. There is no way to
protect a child entirely from this, but the
contact can be minimized and balanced
by experiences that convey love and
morality as spiritual forces working in the
world as well.
How can we care for the child’s life
forces so that they may remain strong to
serve the child’s health and well-being?
1. The need for rhythm. One of the first
things one has to look at for strengthening
the life forces is rhythm in daily life. Nature
is full of rhythm: in the plant’s growing and
dying, in day and night, the sequence of
the months, the season of the year; but also
in man’s physical body, in breathing,
heartbeat, and digestion. Rhythm no longer
occurs naturally in daily life, and yet
children still need rhythm as much as daily
bread for their physical and emotional
health. They cannot set and maintain a
rhythm for themselves. They need the ego
of the adult to do this, as their own ego is
not yet the “master of the house.” In
preschool the teacher takes responsibility
for ordering the rhythms of in-breathing
and out-breathing in daily activities and the
gesture of contraction and expansion in the
course of the year. At home a mother or
father can do the same in structuring
family life so that there are times and
routines for getting up in the morning,
The caring adult must provide protected
space, preferably inside, offering a variety of
stimulation and opportunities for play that
can then come from inside the child.
2. Death forces meet adults and children in
modern technology. One could describe a
computer as preserved human thought. Its
invention and refinement in recent decades
is the outcome of the rapidly increasing
intellectual capacity of the modern human
being. Compared with thinking, dealing with
computers uses up more life forces. The
purpose of such a statement is not to go back
to the past, but to be aware of the need to
compensate for the time spent in front of a
computer. And definitely, computers and the
entertainment that goes with them are
poison for children. They counteract the
work of the life forces in the physical body
and thereby hinder the development of
creative thinking at a later age. In a less
spectacular way we have technology
around us in the form of household
machines. The push of a button has replaced
a wide range of varied movements and
actions. For the sake of children and their
natural need for doing we may have to bring
some of the handwork back into the
household and thus meet the child’s
developmental needs.
3. Death forces are at work in what is sold
as entertainment for children. Certainly
this is most obvious in the wide range of
toys related to war and aggression, but also
less obviously in “educational” toys
designed to steer the young child’s
thinking into the direction of abstract
concepts. Entertainment in the form of
television and video compromises the
child’s discrimination between reality and
illusion. It connects the child to a world
that is unreal and alienates her or him
from real life experiences and the natural
desire to respond actively. Children
15
become either passive or restless and
aggressive as a counteraction. This
phenomenon is widely acknowledged and
of great concern for many educators.
4. Death forces are at work in the global
destruction of the environment, in wars,
and in destructive processes within
society. It is amazing how young children
absorb these phenomena of destruction
seemingly “through the air,” even if they
have not watched the news or overheard
adult conversation. There is no way to
protect a child entirely from this, but the
contact can be minimized and balanced
by experiences that convey love and
morality as spiritual forces working in the
world as well.
How can we care for the child’s life
forces so that they may remain strong to
serve the child’s health and well-being?
1. The need for rhythm. One of the first
things one has to look at for strengthening
the life forces is rhythm in daily life. Nature
is full of rhythm: in the plant’s growing and
dying, in day and night, the sequence of
the months, the season of the year; but also
in man’s physical body, in breathing,
heartbeat, and digestion. Rhythm no longer
occurs naturally in daily life, and yet
children still need rhythm as much as daily
bread for their physical and emotional
health. They cannot set and maintain a
rhythm for themselves. They need the ego
of the adult to do this, as their own ego is
not yet the “master of the house.” In
preschool the teacher takes responsibility
for ordering the rhythms of in-breathing
and out-breathing in daily activities and the
gesture of contraction and expansion in the
course of the year. At home a mother or
father can do the same in structuring
family life so that there are times and
routines for getting up in the morning,
 going to bed, for “how things are done in
our family” and for “how we celebrate our
festivals.” Rhythm allows us to breathe, to
feel secure, to open up and unfold.
2. Meals are festivals. Meals are another
opportunity for nurturing life forces. A
family, as a living organism, needs the
polarity of dispersing and coming together.
Going one’s way seems to be easy, holding a
family together and caring for the nurturing
of each family member needs to be taken
up as a special responsibility. Mealtimes,
especially the dinner, are wonderful
opportunities for this and can be made into
the little festivals of the day.
If children are fed in the kitchen while
mother is still cooking the husband’s
dinner or doing other housework, much is
taken away from the joy of eating and the
involvement of the whole being of the
child. How meals are presented and the
atmosphere around them will influence the
child’s life forces and emotional well-being.
A shared meal is a social event and should
not be disrupted by other things, such as
watching television or listening to the
radio. Certainly working conditions or
specific circumstances can make it difficult
to arrange common meals, in which case it
is still preferable that one adult eats with
the children rather than leaving them
alone with their meal. Many bad eating
habits, such as getting up from the table
and running around or eating only half the
meal, can be related to the way meals are
organized in a family. A number of eating
disorders can result from disregarding the
importance of meals.
3. Keeping the etheric sheath intact. Let us
look again at the major task of the life forces
in early childhood; the final shaping of
bones, senses, inner organs and the brain.
Until the appearance of the second teeth at
age seven, the child needs to be protected
16
from damaging influences on the life forces
in the same way that the fetus was
physically sheltered in the mother’s womb
before birth. We can call this protection
around the young child the etheric sheath, a
kind of spiritual womb out of which the
child emerges at the end of the first seven-
year period of its life, now with independent
soul forces of thinking, feeling, and willing.
Before this stage these soul forces are not
ready to be accessed from outside, just as
the fetus cannot yet exist outside the
womb. Parents can help prevent the
premature birth of these life forces.
Even when parents are proud of early signs
of verbal or intellectual capacities in their
child, they may consciously choose to
abstain from stimulating these abilities
with adult conversation. Talked to in this
manner, the intellect of the child emerges
too early from the etheric sheath and is
drawn out of the unity of “I” and world.
Children who have experienced this often
have difficulties imitating. They cannot
adopt into their inner being what is going
on around them or transform it into their
own activity. Through play, intellect and
speech are practiced within the etheric
sheath. Then speech accompanies the
process of play, which still happens in the
dreaming mood.
One can give children the experience of
enjoying speech without waking them up.
Reciting nursery rhymes and poetry
suitable for children is a wonderful way to
do this. Young children live into the
rhythm and sound of poetry, not so much
into the meaning. Thus they absorb art
deeply, but not intellectually, into their
being and form the emotional basis for
later intellectual comprehension. As a first
step toward taking care of the life forces,
one could assess the verbal communication
at home, determining the relative roles of
going to bed, for “how things are done in
our family” and for “how we celebrate our
festivals.” Rhythm allows us to breathe, to
feel secure, to open up and unfold.
2. Meals are festivals. Meals are another
opportunity for nurturing life forces. A
family, as a living organism, needs the
polarity of dispersing and coming together.
Going one’s way seems to be easy, holding a
family together and caring for the nurturing
of each family member needs to be taken
up as a special responsibility. Mealtimes,
especially the dinner, are wonderful
opportunities for this and can be made into
the little festivals of the day.
If children are fed in the kitchen while
mother is still cooking the husband’s
dinner or doing other housework, much is
taken away from the joy of eating and the
involvement of the whole being of the
child. How meals are presented and the
atmosphere around them will influence the
child’s life forces and emotional well-being.
A shared meal is a social event and should
not be disrupted by other things, such as
watching television or listening to the
radio. Certainly working conditions or
specific circumstances can make it difficult
to arrange common meals, in which case it
is still preferable that one adult eats with
the children rather than leaving them
alone with their meal. Many bad eating
habits, such as getting up from the table
and running around or eating only half the
meal, can be related to the way meals are
organized in a family. A number of eating
disorders can result from disregarding the
importance of meals.
3. Keeping the etheric sheath intact. Let us
look again at the major task of the life forces
in early childhood; the final shaping of
bones, senses, inner organs and the brain.
Until the appearance of the second teeth at
age seven, the child needs to be protected
16
from damaging influences on the life forces
in the same way that the fetus was
physically sheltered in the mother’s womb
before birth. We can call this protection
around the young child the etheric sheath, a
kind of spiritual womb out of which the
child emerges at the end of the first seven-
year period of its life, now with independent
soul forces of thinking, feeling, and willing.
Before this stage these soul forces are not
ready to be accessed from outside, just as
the fetus cannot yet exist outside the
womb. Parents can help prevent the
premature birth of these life forces.
Even when parents are proud of early signs
of verbal or intellectual capacities in their
child, they may consciously choose to
abstain from stimulating these abilities
with adult conversation. Talked to in this
manner, the intellect of the child emerges
too early from the etheric sheath and is
drawn out of the unity of “I” and world.
Children who have experienced this often
have difficulties imitating. They cannot
adopt into their inner being what is going
on around them or transform it into their
own activity. Through play, intellect and
speech are practiced within the etheric
sheath. Then speech accompanies the
process of play, which still happens in the
dreaming mood.
One can give children the experience of
enjoying speech without waking them up.
Reciting nursery rhymes and poetry
suitable for children is a wonderful way to
do this. Young children live into the
rhythm and sound of poetry, not so much
into the meaning. Thus they absorb art
deeply, but not intellectually, into their
being and form the emotional basis for
later intellectual comprehension. As a first
step toward taking care of the life forces,
one could assess the verbal communication
at home, determining the relative roles of
 explanation, negotiation, and arguing.
Based on this a conscious effort may be
made to meet the child’s developmental
level in communication. Family life may
become easier by eliminating lengthy
discussions about what may be right or
“what to do or not to do,” and “why it is
so.” A simple “now we do it this way” may
be a relief for a child, who really wants to
trust and follow a beloved person.
In preschool we rarely approach the
children verbally in a direct way. Language
lives in stories, rhymes, and poems.
Questions are not asked about what a child
has done, and few explanations are given.
Neither is a child made to think back to
past events or recall stories. Some children
may know a whole series of poems by heart
but not speak them until suddenly, with
memory triggered by a word or sight, they
will recite the entire morning circle. Out of
patience and respect for the child we wait
for such a time and do not ask the child to
recall what we want to know.
Our young children are such a wonderful
gift. Without them we would experience only
death around us. With each child a new life
impulse is brought into the world. We have a
great responsibility to help children rightly to
use the life forces they have brought with them
from the spiritual world.
explanation, negotiation, and arguing.
Based on this a conscious effort may be
made to meet the child’s developmental
level in communication. Family life may
become easier by eliminating lengthy
discussions about what may be right or
“what to do or not to do,” and “why it is
so.” A simple “now we do it this way” may
be a relief for a child, who really wants to
trust and follow a beloved person.
In preschool we rarely approach the
children verbally in a direct way. Language
lives in stories, rhymes, and poems.
Questions are not asked about what a child
has done, and few explanations are given.
Neither is a child made to think back to
past events or recall stories. Some children
may know a whole series of poems by heart
but not speak them until suddenly, with
memory triggered by a word or sight, they
will recite the entire morning circle. Out of
patience and respect for the child we wait
for such a time and do not ask the child to
recall what we want to know.
Our young children are such a wonderful
gift. Without them we would experience only
death around us. With each child a new life
impulse is brought into the world. We have a
great responsibility to help children rightly to
use the life forces they have brought with them
from the spiritual world.

Renate Lang-Breipohl is a former Waldorf kindergarten teacher who leads the Waldorf Renate Lang-Breipohl is a former Waldorf kindergarten teacher who leads the Waldorf
Kindergarten teacher training at Parcival College in Sydney, Australia. Kindergarten teacher training at Parcival College in Sydney, Australia.

17 17
As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap
Sally Jenkinson
This article was written in the context of a
British educational reform process in which
government authorities established “Desirable
Outcomes” for education, including early
childhood education, similar to trends in the
U.S. toward “outcome-based education” and
national standards.
Despite meeting most of the requirements
set out in the Desirable Outcomes for
Literacy and Numeracy document, Waldorf
philosophy differs in a crucial respect: we
believe in developmentally appropriate
education, in education which acknowledges
the maturational stage of the child and
provides a curriculum sensitive to each phase.
We stand against the current tide of
educational thinking which seeks to rush
children through childhood at an accelerated
pace. We feel that early learning is of more
value and is more child-appropriate than early
instruction. In our view the Desirable
Outcomes for Literacy and Numeracy place
premature demands on the developing
faculties of the four-year-old child.
We do not wish to hurry the child into
formal learning; we feel that early instruction
is detrimental and may cause anxiety, tension,
and low motivation to work at future stages.
There are indications that forcing children to
learn skills before they are maturationally
19
ready is both ineffective and
counterproductive. Full perceptual processing
ability is not complete in a child of four-
years-old and we respect the process of
gradual development that allows the aural
and visual senses to mature slowly over time.
Research indicates that the younger the child,
the more difficulty she will have moving her
eyes across a page. A young child will skip
words, use her finger and jump lines, simply
because her eyes are not yet sufficiently
developed to cope with the task before her.
We feel that accelerated formal learning is
achieved at a cost. Our concern is that “hot
house” children may prove to be less robust
in the long term. We subscribe to the view
that the experiences of childhood are
intrinsically worthwhile and that they should
be lingered over rather than fast-tracked.
Children have the right to their childhood.
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I
understood as a child, I thought as a child . . .”
These beautiful words, wonderfully simple yet
devastatingly profound, bear testimony to a
truth long held dear by respectful educators:
children’s minds and souls are not like ours,
nor are children simply miniature adults. As A.
V. Kelly, the Dean of the Faculty of Education
and Professor or Curriculum Studies at
Goldsmiths writes:
As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap
Sally Jenkinson
This article was written in the context of a
British educational reform process in which
government authorities established “Desirable
Outcomes” for education, including early
childhood education, similar to trends in the
U.S. toward “outcome-based education” and
national standards.
Despite meeting most of the requirements
set out in the Desirable Outcomes for
Literacy and Numeracy document, Waldorf
philosophy differs in a crucial respect: we
believe in developmentally appropriate
education, in education which acknowledges
the maturational stage of the child and
provides a curriculum sensitive to each phase.
We stand against the current tide of
educational thinking which seeks to rush
children through childhood at an accelerated
pace. We feel that early learning is of more
value and is more child-appropriate than early
instruction. In our view the Desirable
Outcomes for Literacy and Numeracy place
premature demands on the developing
faculties of the four-year-old child.
We do not wish to hurry the child into
formal learning; we feel that early instruction
is detrimental and may cause anxiety, tension,
and low motivation to work at future stages.
There are indications that forcing children to
learn skills before they are maturationally
19
ready is both ineffective and
counterproductive. Full perceptual processing
ability is not complete in a child of four-
years-old and we respect the process of
gradual development that allows the aural
and visual senses to mature slowly over time.
Research indicates that the younger the child,
the more difficulty she will have moving her
eyes across a page. A young child will skip
words, use her finger and jump lines, simply
because her eyes are not yet sufficiently
developed to cope with the task before her.
We feel that accelerated formal learning is
achieved at a cost. Our concern is that “hot
house” children may prove to be less robust
in the long term. We subscribe to the view
that the experiences of childhood are
intrinsically worthwhile and that they should
be lingered over rather than fast-tracked.
Children have the right to their childhood.
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I
understood as a child, I thought as a child . . .”
These beautiful words, wonderfully simple yet
devastatingly profound, bear testimony to a
truth long held dear by respectful educators:
children’s minds and souls are not like ours,
nor are children simply miniature adults. As A.
V. Kelly, the Dean of the Faculty of Education
and Professor or Curriculum Studies at
Goldsmiths writes:
 [Rousseau suggested that] . . . We select
[children’s] educational diet by reference to
what he called their “childish interests” rather
than to the subjects we adults feel they ought
to learn, whatever the reasons for our choices.
We should not do what Rousseau says most
educationalists do, who are “always looking for
the man in the child,” without considering what
he is before he becomes a man . . . we must
respect what Charles Dickens once called the
childhood of the mind, and accept his warning
against the possibilities of injuring this.
Rousseau knew that children have their own
ways of seeing, feeling and thinking and that
working with their inclinations was the best way
to promote their education. The child shouldn’t
be adapted to the curriculum, it should be the
other way round. (Kelly, 1990, p. 91)
In her book Early Childhood Education
(Bruce, 1995), Tina Bruce notes that Froebel,
Montessori, and Steiner, the three founders of
early years education, share a common
understanding of and belief in the intrinsic
value of childhood: they do not underestimate
its value nor do they regard it merely as time
to prepare for adulthood. Cathy Nutbrown,
writing in similar vein, states:
There is a sense of urgency about childhood—of
hastening progress, of accelerating
development. Is this born out of wanting the
best for children or from some belief or value
base which says the state of childhood is worth
less than the state of adulthood and so we must
do all we can to reach the day when childhood
is over . . . But children have their own pace and
while, as adults, we pursue our own (and
others’) timelines and agendas, we need to be
mindful of the need young children have to take
their time. Pausing to listen to an airplane in
the sky, stooping to watch a ladybird on a plant,
sitting on a rock to watch the waves crash over
the quayside—children have their own agendas
and timelines, as they find out more about their
world and their place in it: they work hard not
to let adults hurry them and we need to hear
their message. (Nutbrown, 1996, p. 53).
20
Children need their childhood: each stage [Rousseau suggested that] . . . We select
of life has its own secrets to impart and its own [children’s] educational diet by reference to
discoveries to be made and we should respect what he called their “childish interests” rather
the child’s experience and mode of learning. than to the subjects we adults feel they ought
Two universal features, which characterize to learn, whatever the reasons for our choices.
We should not do what Rousseau says most
their earliest way of learning, and which are in
educationalists do, who are “always looking for
effect the sina qua non of childhood, are
the man in the child,” without considering what
imitation and play. These twin impulses are at he is before he becomes a man . . . we must
their strongest before second dentition. After respect what Charles Dickens once called the
this time, when certain physical processes are childhood of the mind, and accept his warning
complete, they give way to other modes of against the possibilities of injuring this.
learning: this is when we feel the child has Rousseau knew that children have their own
reached the stage of school readiness. ways of seeing, feeling and thinking and that
Imitation allows the child to belong to a working with their inclinations was the best way
community, to learn its language and to copy to promote their education. The child shouldn’t
various models of behavior, and play involves be adapted to the curriculum, it should be the
the child in imaginative, transformative other way round. (Kelly, 1990, p. 91)
exploratory activity—in “physical thinking.” In
In her book Early Childhood Education
a seamless way, these two attributes create a
(Bruce, 1995), Tina Bruce notes that Froebel,
lively and fluid dynamic that supports affective
Montessori, and Steiner, the three founders of
and cognitive development. By means of play
early years education, share a common
and imitation, children begin to know and
understanding of and belief in the intrinsic
understand the world; they become
value of childhood: they do not underestimate
empathizers and explorers and they learn in
its value nor do they regard it merely as time
the way most suited to their age and ability.
to prepare for adulthood. Cathy Nutbrown,
Allowing children to make sense of their world
writing in similar vein, states:
by using the means which are so clearly there
to help them with the task, seems to be a far There is a sense of urgency about childhood—of
more productive and principled approach than hastening progress, of accelerating
does the struggle to make them assimilate development. Is this born out of wanting the
abstract information. (We find that when our best for children or from some belief or value
Grade 1 children, aged six, do begin to learn base which says the state of childhood is worth
formally, it happens very quickly.) less than the state of adulthood and so we must
do all we can to reach the day when childhood
For the Waldorf school movement, the is over . . . But children have their own pace and
notion of the protection and extension of while, as adults, we pursue our own (and
childhood is paramount. Just as a good others’) timelines and agendas, we need to be
gardener protects his seedlings until they are mindful of the need young children have to take
strong enough to withstand the elements, so their time. Pausing to listen to an airplane in
do we feel that children should be shielded the sky, stooping to watch a ladybird on a plant,
from the pressure of formal learning until they sitting on a rock to watch the waves crash over
are intellectually mature. Similar arguments the quayside—children have their own agendas
are raised by Earl Ogletree in School and timelines, as they find out more about their
Readiness: The Developmental View (Steiner world and their place in it: they work hard not
to let adults hurry them and we need to hear
Education Monograph, 1997). Ogletree writes
their message. (Nutbrown, 1996, p. 53).
about children under stress:
20
Children need their childhood: each stage
of life has its own secrets to impart and its own
discoveries to be made and we should respect
the child’s experience and mode of learning.
Two universal features, which characterize
their earliest way of learning, and which are in
effect the sina qua non of childhood, are
imitation and play. These twin impulses are at
their strongest before second dentition. After
this time, when certain physical processes are
complete, they give way to other modes of
learning: this is when we feel the child has
reached the stage of school readiness.
Imitation allows the child to belong to a
community, to learn its language and to copy
various models of behavior, and play involves
the child in imaginative, transformative
exploratory activity—in “physical thinking.” In
a seamless way, these two attributes create a
lively and fluid dynamic that supports affective
and cognitive development. By means of play
and imitation, children begin to know and
understand the world; they become
empathizers and explorers and they learn in
the way most suited to their age and ability.
Allowing children to make sense of their world
by using the means which are so clearly there
to help them with the task, seems to be a far
more productive and principled approach than
does the struggle to make them assimilate
abstract information. (We find that when our
Grade 1 children, aged six, do begin to learn
formally, it happens very quickly.)
For the Waldorf school movement, the
notion of the protection and extension of
childhood is paramount. Just as a good
gardener protects his seedlings until they are
strong enough to withstand the elements, so
do we feel that children should be shielded
from the pressure of formal learning until they
are intellectually mature. Similar arguments
are raised by Earl Ogletree in School
Readiness: The Developmental View (Steiner
Education Monograph, 1997). Ogletree writes
about children under stress:
 There is what Elkind (The Hurried Child, 1981)
calls a depletion of “clock energy”—the energy
we need for daily living. The early symptoms of
stress associated with “clock energy” are
fatigue, loss of appetite, and decreased
efficiency. If early learning puts too much strain
on children, they begin to dip into their
reserves of “calendar energy” (energy that is of
a fixed quality for physical growth and
maintenance of the body, etc.). Rudolf Steiner
arrived at the same conclusion over seven
decades ago: “If we force intellectual powers in
the child we arrest growth . . . certain organic
processes that tend inwardly to harden the
body are brought into play.” (Steiner, 1928)
In effect, children become old before their
time. Rudolf Steiner’s passionate concern was
that children before second dentition should
be busy building strong, healthy bodies and
not using immature intellectual faculties
which cause them to draw upon their precious
supplies of calendar energy, properly reserved
for later.
So when to begin? For Waldorf educators,
this rests with the concept of readiness—the
experience of learning appropriate to age or
biological development. Elkind notes with
dismay that readiness, once an honored
educational concept, has been shelved in the
desire to accelerate children’s acquisition of
academic skills and has been replaced with
programs which favor early intervention. He
states, “We are a time-oriented and time
regulated society and we impart these values
to our children . . . we hurry our children
because we hurry ourselves.” (Elkind, 1981, p.
185) This headlong rush can be misdirected as
Ogletree argues:
A child’s intersensory development—sight and
hearing—is not fully developed until age 8 or
later. Before age 7 a child has perceptual
difficulties; he often cannot distinguish
visually between b and d and q and p. He
cannot hear the difference between b and d;
and m and n; g and k; and z, etc. Full
21
perceptual processing ability may not occur
until age 9. Visual development, e.g., the
ability to decode letters, shapes, and words
serially, essential to most reading programs,
occurs later than auditory development. Our
conventional psychometric approach to
education of pouring knowledge into the child
and “fitting him into a curriculum” that is
foreign to his nature must cease. We must
replace it with a developmental approach that
examines the needs of the child and how and
why he develops as he does . . . Child
development research suggests that forcing a
child to learn a skill or to master a subject
before he is maturationally ready is ineffective
and inefficient. It takes him longer to learn it,
and the learning is less complete . . . formal-
instructional preschool programs are not the
most propitious way of preparing children for
school. (Ogletree, p. 40)
Cathy Nutbrown is unequivocal. In her
view: “There is a mischievous mistruth in the
belief that doing certain things early helps
children to get ready for the next stage.”
(Nutbrown, p. 54)
At a consultation meeting I was moved by
a heartfelt request from a nursery teacher who
said: “Please don’t make us teach them things
too soon.” Sadly, many teachers know how
disheartening this experience can be. As E.
Carpenter, professor of early childhood
education at Kent State University recognizes:
Children are constantly involved in different
degrees of readiness. As babies they are put on
their feet to walk and plop down on the floor.
The older child is called to meals and they
linger. There are signs for being ready and for
not being ready. The state of readiness has not
come about through practice of things to come
but through a maturing process fed by
successions of related experiences. A child does
not become ready for walking by walking [my
italics]. When all elements are perfectly
coordinated he begins to walk and he perfects
his skill over a long period of time.” (op. cit. in
Better Late than Early, p. 210).
There is what Elkind (The Hurried Child, 1981)
calls a depletion of “clock energy”—the energy
we need for daily living. The early symptoms of
stress associated with “clock energy” are
fatigue, loss of appetite, and decreased
efficiency. If early learning puts too much strain
on children, they begin to dip into their
reserves of “calendar energy” (energy that is of
a fixed quality for physical growth and
maintenance of the body, etc.). Rudolf Steiner
arrived at the same conclusion over seven
decades ago: “If we force intellectual powers in
the child we arrest growth . . . certain organic
processes that tend inwardly to harden the
body are brought into play.” (Steiner, 1928)
In effect, children become old before their
time. Rudolf Steiner’s passionate concern was
that children before second dentition should
be busy building strong, healthy bodies and
not using immature intellectual faculties
which cause them to draw upon their precious
supplies of calendar energy, properly reserved
for later.
So when to begin? For Waldorf educators,
this rests with the concept of readiness—the
experience of learning appropriate to age or
biological development. Elkind notes with
dismay that readiness, once an honored
educational concept, has been shelved in the
desire to accelerate children’s acquisition of
academic skills and has been replaced with
programs which favor early intervention. He
states, “We are a time-oriented and time
regulated society and we impart these values
to our children . . . we hurry our children
because we hurry ourselves.” (Elkind, 1981, p.
185) This headlong rush can be misdirected as
Ogletree argues:
A child’s intersensory development—sight and
hearing—is not fully developed until age 8 or
later. Before age 7 a child has perceptual
difficulties; he often cannot distinguish
visually between b and d and q and p. He
cannot hear the difference between b and d;
and m and n; g and k; and z, etc. Full
21
perceptual processing ability may not occur
until age 9. Visual development, e.g., the
ability to decode letters, shapes, and words
serially, essential to most reading programs,
occurs later than auditory development. Our
conventional psychometric approach to
education of pouring knowledge into the child
and “fitting him into a curriculum” that is
foreign to his nature must cease. We must
replace it with a developmental approach that
examines the needs of the child and how and
why he develops as he does . . . Child
development research suggests that forcing a
child to learn a skill or to master a subject
before he is maturationally ready is ineffective
and inefficient. It takes him longer to learn it,
and the learning is less complete . . . formal-
instructional preschool programs are not the
most propitious way of preparing children for
school. (Ogletree, p. 40)
Cathy Nutbrown is unequivocal. In her
view: “There is a mischievous mistruth in the
belief that doing certain things early helps
children to get ready for the next stage.”
(Nutbrown, p. 54)
At a consultation meeting I was moved by
a heartfelt request from a nursery teacher who
said: “Please don’t make us teach them things
too soon.” Sadly, many teachers know how
disheartening this experience can be. As E.
Carpenter, professor of early childhood
education at Kent State University recognizes:
Children are constantly involved in different
degrees of readiness. As babies they are put on
their feet to walk and plop down on the floor.
The older child is called to meals and they
linger. There are signs for being ready and for
not being ready. The state of readiness has not
come about through practice of things to come
but through a maturing process fed by
successions of related experiences. A child does
not become ready for walking by walking [my
italics]. When all elements are perfectly
coordinated he begins to walk and he perfects
his skill over a long period of time.” (op. cit. in
Better Late than Early, p. 210).
 These are the elements with which we work
in our Waldorf kindergartens—we concentrate
on pre-literacy and pre-numeracy skills, skills
which are “caught rather than taught.” Our
children have good phonological awareness,
their oral skills are strong, their vocabulary is
extensive and by their seventh year they are
ready and physiologically able to learn. By
creating a friendly environment, where each
child feels safe and not under pressure to
perform, the kindergarten teacher weaves a
tapestry of learning experiences for the child,
all the elements of which have context and
meaning and arise from the life of the
kindergarten itself. Through familiar events,
which make sense to the child, at her level—
and which relate to the well ordered
kindergarten daily, weekly and yearly
rhythms—children cook, bake, garden, paint,
draw; they listen quietly to stories told to
them by their teachers, they celebrate festivals
together and they learn to consider the needs
of others. All learning is practical and
substantive. To quote Rousseau again: “What
is the use of inscribing on their brains a list of
symbols which mean nothing to them? They
will learn the symbols when they learn the
things signified.” (Rousseau, 1762, p. 76)
Our children do involve themselves in
activities such as making their own books;
many write their names and a few discover
reading but most are busy with their own
“serious work” and we support their self-
initiated activity.
I recently visited a kindergarten where
teacher and child were having a conversation.
It went like this:
Child: “I’ve got some lawn seed.”
Teacher: Is Mummy going to sow it?”
Child: (After a pause and looking very
puzzled) “No, not that kind of
lawn, I mean soil.”
Teacher: “Yes, is Mummy going to sow it?”
22
Child: “No, she’s not going to sew it,
she’s going to scatter it.”
Teacher nods (scatter and sow agree).
Despite his unwillingness to accept the
teacher’s new use of the word sew (at least
this time round), the child has learnt, in a
non-conceptual way, that although sewing and
sowing are identical phonetically, there are two
meanings to one word. (The image of his
mother sewing seeds must have been very
confusing.) The teacher chose not to point
out the child’s mistake and correct him.
Instead, she repeated the sentence, gently
using the word again as an example for him.
Her responses and her awareness of his
confusion, helped the child to extend his
knowledge in the context of a very natural and
non-didactic exchange. She created a
structure for his learning borne out of their
close relationship and she supported his
individual learning need: her teaching was
relevant, not arbitrary.
Later that morning, I sat next to a friendly
boy who introduced himself to me by telling
me that his name was “M.O.T.” and that he
was a car. I said that I thought he must be a
very safe car. His friend, sitting nearby, turned
to me with a withering look and said: “His
name’s Tom really . . . that’s M.O.T.
backwards.” The two boys took great pleasure
in their good-natured jest—especially as I had
been so effectively caught out; we all laughed
and things moved on. The morning was full of
letter writing which the children were keen to
show me, particularly when the window misted
over, making an irresistible writing surface:
“This is my name, and this is Mummy’s
name.” “That’s an A.” “Those are my letters.”
Numbers also scored well; fingers were
spontaneously used to denote their owner’s
ages and children sang along with the teacher’s
counting rhymes. They took great pleasure in
the alliteration and onomatopoeia of that
morning’s “slithery slippery snake” rhyme.
These are the elements with which we work
in our Waldorf kindergartens—we concentrate
on pre-literacy and pre-numeracy skills, skills
which are “caught rather than taught.” Our
children have good phonological awareness,
their oral skills are strong, their vocabulary is
extensive and by their seventh year they are
ready and physiologically able to learn. By
creating a friendly environment, where each
child feels safe and not under pressure to
perform, the kindergarten teacher weaves a
tapestry of learning experiences for the child,
all the elements of which have context and
meaning and arise from the life of the
kindergarten itself. Through familiar events,
which make sense to the child, at her level—
and which relate to the well ordered
kindergarten daily, weekly and yearly
rhythms—children cook, bake, garden, paint,
draw; they listen quietly to stories told to
them by their teachers, they celebrate festivals
together and they learn to consider the needs
of others. All learning is practical and
substantive. To quote Rousseau again: “What
is the use of inscribing on their brains a list of
symbols which mean nothing to them? They
will learn the symbols when they learn the
things signified.” (Rousseau, 1762, p. 76)
Our children do involve themselves in
activities such as making their own books;
many write their names and a few discover
reading but most are busy with their own
“serious work” and we support their self-
initiated activity.
I recently visited a kindergarten where
teacher and child were having a conversation.
It went like this:
Child: “I’ve got some lawn seed.”
Teacher: Is Mummy going to sow it?”
Child: (After a pause and looking very
puzzled) “No, not that kind of
lawn, I mean soil.”
Teacher: “Yes, is Mummy going to sow it?”
22
Child: “No, she’s not going to sew it,
she’s going to scatter it.”
Teacher nods (scatter and sow agree).
Despite his unwillingness to accept the
teacher’s new use of the word sew (at least
this time round), the child has learnt, in a
non-conceptual way, that although sewing and
sowing are identical phonetically, there are two
meanings to one word. (The image of his
mother sewing seeds must have been very
confusing.) The teacher chose not to point
out the child’s mistake and correct him.
Instead, she repeated the sentence, gently
using the word again as an example for him.
Her responses and her awareness of his
confusion, helped the child to extend his
knowledge in the context of a very natural and
non-didactic exchange. She created a
structure for his learning borne out of their
close relationship and she supported his
individual learning need: her teaching was
relevant, not arbitrary.
Later that morning, I sat next to a friendly
boy who introduced himself to me by telling
me that his name was “M.O.T.” and that he
was a car. I said that I thought he must be a
very safe car. His friend, sitting nearby, turned
to me with a withering look and said: “His
name’s Tom really . . . that’s M.O.T.
backwards.” The two boys took great pleasure
in their good-natured jest—especially as I had
been so effectively caught out; we all laughed
and things moved on. The morning was full of
letter writing which the children were keen to
show me, particularly when the window misted
over, making an irresistible writing surface:
“This is my name, and this is Mummy’s
name.” “That’s an A.” “Those are my letters.”
Numbers also scored well; fingers were
spontaneously used to denote their owner’s
ages and children sang along with the teacher’s
counting rhymes. They took great pleasure in
the alliteration and onomatopoeia of that
morning’s “slithery slippery snake” rhyme.
 None of the learning experiences quoted
above would translate neatly into the precise
wording of the Desirable Outcomes. Because
Waldorf educators choose not to teach
children to “recognize letters of the alphabet
by shape and sound or to write their names
with appropriate use of upper and lower case
letters” and because we don’t demand that
they record numbers, for the reasons outlined
in this paper—we forfeit our right to
funding—at least in the scheme as it was
structured. The only way to “read” our
principled approach to not forcing early
literacy and numeracy, after codification via
the inspector’s tick-box assessment form, is as
a program with “significant weaknesses.” We
feel this is unfair, ruefully narrow-minded, and
a misrepresentation of our position: the
“choice” hailed by the scheme’s creators turns
out to be no choice at all for our parents. Our
training courses, our attention to child
development, our own advisory bodies, and
the demonstrable success of our pupils, are all
dismissed. The notion that there can be
quality of education without the teaching of
formal skills is swept aside in the face of a
more rigid ideology.
Kenneth Kenniston, depreciating this
trend, wrote as long ago as 1976:
We measure the success of schools not by the
kinds of human beings they promote but by
whatever increases in reading scores they chalk
up. We have allowed quantitative standards, so
central to the adult economic system, to
become the principal yardstick for our
definition of children’s worth. (Elkind, p. 54)
Approaches which promote many faceted
intellectual development in a wider sense, in a
manner which allows child-initiated activity
and in a way which supports the gradual
development of many competencies are, of
course, much more difficult to assess. Clearly
they don’t lend themselves to tick box
inspection reports; they require the teacher to
23
become a skilled and subtle observer of her
children and, above all, they require time, time
to implement and time to assess. An age-
appropriate approach may not “deliver the
goods” in the short term but may offer the
child a better chance of becoming a sensitive,
purposeful and thoughtful adult who is both
intellectually and emotionally literate. Children
whose needs are considered will grow up to
consider the needs of other people in return.
Anyone who observes children with care
will discover that they learn from everything
around them in ways that are multi-
dimensional, exciting, and sometimes
breathtaking. Methods of learning more suited
to older children can have a crippling effect
when applied too vigorously in the early years.
Too much instruction too early can turn
children into dependent learners who are
unable to learn unaided. Sharon Lynn Kagan,
senior associate at Yale University’s Bush
Centre for Child Development and social
policy, asks the question:
What if a child can say his ABC’s but has no
curiosity to learn? The result will be a child
who learns only what he is supposed to learn.
Such an attitude is particularly dangerous as we
head into the 21st century, when initiative and
creativity in the workplace will be especially
important. Many educators believe motivation
to learn is more important than knowledge
itself. (Seal, 1997 p. 20)
Children who can’t think for themselves risk
becoming disadvantaged as adults.
Another danger of delivering packaged
learning programs is that such methods,
which by their nature focus on narrow
categories of learning, can effectively curb the
diversity and creativity of the very intelligence
they seek to promote. Moore quotes American
psychologist, Dr. Hans Furth, who argues:
“Mark well these twin conditions: learn
reading and forget your intellect . . . Neither
the process of reading itself nor the
None of the learning experiences quoted
above would translate neatly into the precise
wording of the Desirable Outcomes. Because
Waldorf educators choose not to teach
children to “recognize letters of the alphabet
by shape and sound or to write their names
with appropriate use of upper and lower case
letters” and because we don’t demand that
they record numbers, for the reasons outlined
in this paper—we forfeit our right to
funding—at least in the scheme as it was
structured. The only way to “read” our
principled approach to not forcing early
literacy and numeracy, after codification via
the inspector’s tick-box assessment form, is as
a program with “significant weaknesses.” We
feel this is unfair, ruefully narrow-minded, and
a misrepresentation of our position: the
“choice” hailed by the scheme’s creators turns
out to be no choice at all for our parents. Our
training courses, our attention to child
development, our own advisory bodies, and
the demonstrable success of our pupils, are all
dismissed. The notion that there can be
quality of education without the teaching of
formal skills is swept aside in the face of a
more rigid ideology.
Kenneth Kenniston, depreciating this
trend, wrote as long ago as 1976:
We measure the success of schools not by the
kinds of human beings they promote but by
whatever increases in reading scores they chalk
up. We have allowed quantitative standards, so
central to the adult economic system, to
become the principal yardstick for our
definition of children’s worth. (Elkind, p. 54)
Approaches which promote many faceted
intellectual development in a wider sense, in a
manner which allows child-initiated activity
and in a way which supports the gradual
development of many competencies are, of
course, much more difficult to assess. Clearly
they don’t lend themselves to tick box
inspection reports; they require the teacher to
23
become a skilled and subtle observer of her
children and, above all, they require time, time
to implement and time to assess. An age-
appropriate approach may not “deliver the
goods” in the short term but may offer the
child a better chance of becoming a sensitive,
purposeful and thoughtful adult who is both
intellectually and emotionally literate. Children
whose needs are considered will grow up to
consider the needs of other people in return.
Anyone who observes children with care
will discover that they learn from everything
around them in ways that are multi-
dimensional, exciting, and sometimes
breathtaking. Methods of learning more suited
to older children can have a crippling effect
when applied too vigorously in the early years.
Too much instruction too early can turn
children into dependent learners who are
unable to learn unaided. Sharon Lynn Kagan,
senior associate at Yale University’s Bush
Centre for Child Development and social
policy, asks the question:
What if a child can say his ABC’s but has no
curiosity to learn? The result will be a child
who learns only what he is supposed to learn.
Such an attitude is particularly dangerous as we
head into the 21st century, when initiative and
creativity in the workplace will be especially
important. Many educators believe motivation
to learn is more important than knowledge
itself. (Seal, 1997 p. 20)
Children who can’t think for themselves risk
becoming disadvantaged as adults.
Another danger of delivering packaged
learning programs is that such methods,
which by their nature focus on narrow
categories of learning, can effectively curb the
diversity and creativity of the very intelligence
they seek to promote. Moore quotes American
psychologist, Dr. Hans Furth, who argues:
“Mark well these twin conditions: learn
reading and forget your intellect . . . Neither
the process of reading itself nor the
comprehension of its easy content can be
considered an activity well suited to the
developing mind of the young child.” (Moore,
1975, p. 96) He argues that the acquisition of
limited skills in literacy and numeracy is not
congruent with supporting many-faceted,
intellectual development in the early years.
David Elkind draws attention to two
metaphors, one agricultural and the other
industrial which have been used to illustrate
differing views of the child (these are loosely
linked with the views of Rousseau and Locke,
respectively). In the agricultural image, the
child is likened to a plant that unfolds and
develops according to seasonal time. In the
industrial image, the child is a product,
“predictably fashioned and quantitatively
measured,” subject to machine time and outer
demands. Elkind suggests that those who
work with children work with the metaphor of
the growing organism, according to rhythm
and season, whereas those who make policies
view the child as an assembly line product.
Words that relate to traditional agriculture
are: growth, ripeness, plant, fertilize, yield,
harvest. Words that relate to industry are:
outputs, deadlines, targets. In the headlong
rush to meet quotas, achieve attainment
levels and get results, the natural cycle of
unfolding developmental activity has been set
aside. Audrey Curtis acknowledges the lack of
study in child development in many current
teacher education programs.
The new three-year Bachelor of Arts in
Education course, with its emphasis upon
subject teaching and, for the youngest children, a
narrowly defined skills curriculum of literacy and
numeracy, will go against all the principles of
early childhood education. The concept of a
broad based, integrated approach to the
curriculum has long been the hallmark of good
early years practice . . . Traditionally, it has always
been considered that a sound knowledge of child
development was fundamental to the training of
early years teachers. Compared with their
24
counterparts in Europe the early years teacher
in the UK has far less training in child
development. Good educational practice should
aim both to understand and nurture the learner’s
development and to create an appropriate
learning environment. (Curtis, 1996 p. 71)
Cathy Nutbrown also addresses this issue. In
an elegant and apparently paradoxical phrase
she puts forward the principle of simultaneously
“seizing the day and biding one’s time.” (p. 53)
This seemingly contradictory statement lends
itself to a delicate adjustment of Elkind’s
exposition of “clock energy and calendar
energy.” My adaptation, with apologies to
Elkind, relates to clock and calendar time rather
than energy. In clock time, within the rhythm of
the daily plan and in an appropriate learning
environment, we need to be alive and awake to
the needs of the moment, to the needs of every
second. We need to be in tune with our children
and ready to support their learning and respond
to their feelings in such a way that they are
satisfied and fulfilled. When we are being
creative and spontaneous, and getting it right -
when we are practicing the “Zen” of teaching,
we are “seizing the day,” we are making the best
use of our clock time. In calendar time, we
understand and nurture the learner’s
development and we do not hurry the child. In
calendar time, we pay attention to the
maturational timetable and respect the
unfolding capacities, some of which the child
already has at her disposal and some of which
will arrive later. This is bidding one’s time. To
“seize the day and bide one’s time” is an
educational challenge: a challenge which exhorts
us to make the most of every moment and to
have patience and consideration for the slow but
infinitely wise pace of child development.
“As ye sow, so shall ye reap”
The value of delaying early instruction
and allowing children to play and learn at
their own level also has positive repercussions
comprehension of its easy content can be
considered an activity well suited to the
developing mind of the young child.” (Moore,
1975, p. 96) He argues that the acquisition of
limited skills in literacy and numeracy is not
congruent with supporting many-faceted,
intellectual development in the early years.
David Elkind draws attention to two
metaphors, one agricultural and the other
industrial which have been used to illustrate
differing views of the child (these are loosely
linked with the views of Rousseau and Locke,
respectively). In the agricultural image, the
child is likened to a plant that unfolds and
develops according to seasonal time. In the
industrial image, the child is a product,
“predictably fashioned and quantitatively
measured,” subject to machine time and outer
demands. Elkind suggests that those who
work with children work with the metaphor of
the growing organism, according to rhythm
and season, whereas those who make policies
view the child as an assembly line product.
Words that relate to traditional agriculture
are: growth, ripeness, plant, fertilize, yield,
harvest. Words that relate to industry are:
outputs, deadlines, targets. In the headlong
rush to meet quotas, achieve attainment
levels and get results, the natural cycle of
unfolding developmental activity has been set
aside. Audrey Curtis acknowledges the lack of
study in child development in many current
teacher education programs.
The new three-year Bachelor of Arts in
Education course, with its emphasis upon
subject teaching and, for the youngest children, a
narrowly defined skills curriculum of literacy and
numeracy, will go against all the principles of
early childhood education. The concept of a
broad based, integrated approach to the
curriculum has long been the hallmark of good
early years practice . . . Traditionally, it has always
been considered that a sound knowledge of child
development was fundamental to the training of
early years teachers. Compared with their
24
counterparts in Europe the early years teacher
in the UK has far less training in child
development. Good educational practice should
aim both to understand and nurture the learner’s
development and to create an appropriate
learning environment. (Curtis, 1996 p. 71)
Cathy Nutbrown also addresses this issue. In
an elegant and apparently paradoxical phrase
she puts forward the principle of simultaneously
“seizing the day and biding one’s time.” (p. 53)
This seemingly contradictory statement lends
itself to a delicate adjustment of Elkind’s
exposition of “clock energy and calendar
energy.” My adaptation, with apologies to
Elkind, relates to clock and calendar time rather
than energy. In clock time, within the rhythm of
the daily plan and in an appropriate learning
environment, we need to be alive and awake to
the needs of the moment, to the needs of every
second. We need to be in tune with our children
and ready to support their learning and respond
to their feelings in such a way that they are
satisfied and fulfilled. When we are being
creative and spontaneous, and getting it right -
when we are practicing the “Zen” of teaching,
we are “seizing the day,” we are making the best
use of our clock time. In calendar time, we
understand and nurture the learner’s
development and we do not hurry the child. In
calendar time, we pay attention to the
maturational timetable and respect the
unfolding capacities, some of which the child
already has at her disposal and some of which
will arrive later. This is bidding one’s time. To
“seize the day and bide one’s time” is an
educational challenge: a challenge which exhorts
us to make the most of every moment and to
have patience and consideration for the slow but
infinitely wise pace of child development.
“As ye sow, so shall ye reap”
The value of delaying early instruction
and allowing children to play and learn at
their own level also has positive repercussions
in social development as the findings of the
recently published research from the High
Scope Educational Research Foundation in
America demonstrate. This study (1997) now
has data through age 23. At the outset of the
study, 68 three-and four-year-old African-
American children who were living in poverty
and at risk of school failure, were randomly
assigned to one of three groups, each
following a different early years program. The
first taught formal academic skills in a
traditional and rigid manner; the second
allowed children to plan, carry out, and
review their own activities with teacher
support; and the third used the conventional
nursery school model with a loosely
structured play environment. Those who had
faced the more formal regime were found to
be four times more likely to have a criminal
record by the age of 23 than those in the
other two groups and eight times more likely
to have had treatment for emotional
problems. “The study supports the idea that
early childhood programs in which children
initiate their own learning are superior to
programs based on teacher-directed
instruction.” (Lasting Differences, 1997)
According to Dr. Weikart, who helped
perform the study: “It shows that while high
intensity teaching may not affect a person
academically, it can have very negative
consequences for their social behavior.”
(Guardian 22/04/97)
We feel that, by delaying formal education,
valuing childhood, and being mindful of
children’s needs, many skills and qualities will
develop and unfold. It is our belief that,
when the time comes, the eventual yield and
benefit, both to the individual and to society
at large, will be greater and the harvest richer.
This is the genuinely desirable outcome of
Waldorf early years education and we
earnestly hope that the government will
embrace real freedom of choice for parents—
all of whom have the right (according to
European convention) to proper financial
support in order to effect the education of
their choice.
in social development as the findings of the
recently published research from the High
Scope Educational Research Foundation in
America demonstrate. This study (1997) now
has data through age 23. At the outset of the
study, 68 three-and four-year-old African-
American children who were living in poverty
and at risk of school failure, were randomly
assigned to one of three groups, each
following a different early years program. The
first taught formal academic skills in a
traditional and rigid manner; the second
allowed children to plan, carry out, and
review their own activities with teacher
support; and the third used the conventional
nursery school model with a loosely
structured play environment. Those who had
faced the more formal regime were found to
be four times more likely to have a criminal
record by the age of 23 than those in the
other two groups and eight times more likely
to have had treatment for emotional
problems. “The study supports the idea that
early childhood programs in which children
initiate their own learning are superior to
programs based on teacher-directed
instruction.” (Lasting Differences, 1997)
According to Dr. Weikart, who helped
perform the study: “It shows that while high
intensity teaching may not affect a person
academically, it can have very negative
consequences for their social behavior.”
(Guardian 22/04/97)
We feel that, by delaying formal education,
valuing childhood, and being mindful of
children’s needs, many skills and qualities will
develop and unfold. It is our belief that,
when the time comes, the eventual yield and
benefit, both to the individual and to society
at large, will be greater and the harvest richer.
This is the genuinely desirable outcome of
Waldorf early years education and we
earnestly hope that the government will
embrace real freedom of choice for parents—
all of whom have the right (according to
European convention) to proper financial
support in order to effect the education of
their choice.

Bibliography
Ball, Sir C. Start Right Document. RSA, 1994.
Bruce, T. Early Childhood Education. Hodder and Stoughton, 1995.
Donaldson, M. Children’s Minds. Fontana, 1978.
Drummond, M.J. Assessing Children’s Learning. David Fulton, 1993.
Elkind, David. The Hurried Child. Addison Wesley.
Kelly, A.V. The National Curriculum-A critical review. Paul Chapman, 1990.
Masters, B. (Ed.) Early Childhood-A Steiner Education Monograph, 1997.
Moore, R. S. and Moore, R. D. Better Late Than Early. Readers Digest Press, NY, 1975.
Nutbrown, Cathy, ed. Respectful Educators-Capable Learners, Paul Chapman, 1996.
Rousseau, J.J., Emilie, 1762 (English Edition, Dent, 1991).
Schweinhart, L.J. & Weikart, D.P., Lasting Differences, High Scope Press, 1997.
The Bible (1876 Edition).
Bibliography
Ball, Sir C. Start Right Document. RSA, 1994.
Bruce, T. Early Childhood Education. Hodder and Stoughton, 1995.
Donaldson, M. Children’s Minds. Fontana, 1978.
Drummond, M.J. Assessing Children’s Learning. David Fulton, 1993.
Elkind, David. The Hurried Child. Addison Wesley.
Kelly, A.V. The National Curriculum-A critical review. Paul Chapman, 1990.
Masters, B. (Ed.) Early Childhood-A Steiner Education Monograph, 1997.
Moore, R. S. and Moore, R. D. Better Late Than Early. Readers Digest Press, NY, 1975.
Nutbrown, Cathy, ed. Respectful Educators-Capable Learners, Paul Chapman, 1996.
Rousseau, J.J., Emilie, 1762 (English Edition, Dent, 1991).
Schweinhart, L.J. & Weikart, D.P., Lasting Differences, High Scope Press, 1997.
The Bible (1876 Edition).

Sally Jenkinson is active in the Waldorf movement in the United Kingdom. A former Waldorf Sally Jenkinson is active in the Waldorf movement in the United Kingdom. A former Waldorf
kindergarten teacher, she has worked with the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship where she has kindergarten teacher, she has worked with the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship where she has
been engaged in outreach and advocacy on behalf of the young child. been engaged in outreach and advocacy on behalf of the young child.

25 25
New Health Problems of Children and Youth
Press Release from the Center for Research on Childhood and Adolescence, University of Bielefeld,
Germany, translated for the International Waldorf Kindergarten Association by A. Buschatz.
Compared to the countries of the third
world, the living standards of children and
youth in our first world are mostly favorable.
Perilous infectious diseases have been nearly
abolished, hunger is conquered, material
provisions are mostly abundant, and there is
ample room for self-development.
In spite of these undeniable
accomplishments, a growing number of
children and youth are doing badly, according
to the Center for Research on Childhood and
Adolescence at the University of Bielefeld.
The director of the center, Professor Claus
Hurrelmann, says in this regard:
The modern way of living in the highly
developed industrial societies, with their
attractions and temptations, their urbanization
and highly complex planning of people’s lives,
has its price for the mind and health of even
the young and very little citizens. One thing is
undeniable: conspicuous behavior and illnesses
are on the rise again. In spite of a high
standard of living, in spite of a well-maintained
educational system and quite good medical
and psychological counseling and help, the
faculties and abilities of more and more
children are not sufficient to cope with the
social and ecological environment.
The results of the investigations of the
research team in Bielefeld are unequivocal: 10-
27
15 percent of children and youth suffer from
psychological disorders: hyperactivity,
aggressiveness, working deficiencies, reading
and writing disorders, emotional instability,
and depression. Suicides attempted and
accomplished are reported in ever increasing
numbers. New kinds of pathological symptoms
are growing. According to the specialists in
Bielefeld, at least 10 percent of all children and
youth suffer from chronic diseases. Allergies of
all kinds—especially asthma, which has spread
to at least 4 percent of every age group,
neurodermatitis (skin inflammations, such as
eczema, related to the nervous system), and
hay fever—are expanding like epidemics.
The spectrum of psychosomatic symptoms
widens. Digestion and eating disorders are
increasing and are now encountered in 1
percent of juveniles. About 15 percent of
children and youth suffer from obesity. In a
research project at the Center for Research on
Childhood and Adolescence, a high incidence
of headaches, nervousness and unrest, spine
and backache, dizziness, stomach ache and
sleeping problems was found: one-third of
every age group.
Where do the causes lie? According to
Professor Hurrelmann they do not result solely
from genetic characteristics or physical
disorders, but also from social and psychological
New Health Problems of Children and Youth
Press Release from the Center for Research on Childhood and Adolescence, University of Bielefeld,
Germany, translated for the International Waldorf Kindergarten Association by A. Buschatz.
Compared to the countries of the third
world, the living standards of children and
youth in our first world are mostly favorable.
Perilous infectious diseases have been nearly
abolished, hunger is conquered, material
provisions are mostly abundant, and there is
ample room for self-development.
In spite of these undeniable
accomplishments, a growing number of
children and youth are doing badly, according
to the Center for Research on Childhood and
Adolescence at the University of Bielefeld.
The director of the center, Professor Claus
Hurrelmann, says in this regard:
The modern way of living in the highly
developed industrial societies, with their
attractions and temptations, their urbanization
and highly complex planning of people’s lives,
has its price for the mind and health of even
the young and very little citizens. One thing is
undeniable: conspicuous behavior and illnesses
are on the rise again. In spite of a high
standard of living, in spite of a well-maintained
educational system and quite good medical
and psychological counseling and help, the
faculties and abilities of more and more
children are not sufficient to cope with the
social and ecological environment.
The results of the investigations of the
research team in Bielefeld are unequivocal: 10-
27
15 percent of children and youth suffer from
psychological disorders: hyperactivity,
aggressiveness, working deficiencies, reading
and writing disorders, emotional instability,
and depression. Suicides attempted and
accomplished are reported in ever increasing
numbers. New kinds of pathological symptoms
are growing. According to the specialists in
Bielefeld, at least 10 percent of all children and
youth suffer from chronic diseases. Allergies of
all kinds—especially asthma, which has spread
to at least 4 percent of every age group,
neurodermatitis (skin inflammations, such as
eczema, related to the nervous system), and
hay fever—are expanding like epidemics.
The spectrum of psychosomatic symptoms
widens. Digestion and eating disorders are
increasing and are now encountered in 1
percent of juveniles. About 15 percent of
children and youth suffer from obesity. In a
research project at the Center for Research on
Childhood and Adolescence, a high incidence
of headaches, nervousness and unrest, spine
and backache, dizziness, stomach ache and
sleeping problems was found: one-third of
every age group.
Where do the causes lie? According to
Professor Hurrelmann they do not result solely
from genetic characteristics or physical
disorders, but also from social and psychological
overburdening. Rising rates of illnesses and
symptoms are a signal of stress, which is caused
by an overstraining of the capability to cope
with oneself and one’s environment:
They are, so to speak, an expression of the costs
of a modern way of life. They express the
problems that young people have in coping
with their social and ecological surroundings
and trying to absorb these surroundings into
their own bodies. Finally, they are an indicator
that children are not experiencing the measure
of respect, dignity, and free development of
their own personality that healthy development
requires. In many areas of daily life their
elementary need for respect, attention, security,
and fulfillment is neglected. Their right to a
sound environment is violated.
The family plays a key role:
A growing number of parents cannot meet the
responsibilities that accompany having
children. Relationships between parents are less
stable than before. More than a third of
marriages end in divorce. (In the U.S. the
figure is about 50 percent.) About the same
percentage of children and youth have to cope
with the consequences of divorce. The number
of children growing up with just one parent is
on the rise. The legitimate striving for self-
fulfillment of parents is carried out on the
backs of their children. They are the ones who
have to pay the highest price for the loss in
relationships and for divorce, which they did
not cause.
According to Professor Hurrelmann, our
society has reacted inadequately to the
problems that result from more open and
more liberal relationships between parents.
Parents are left completely alone with the
education of their children; it is seen as a
private matter. Families need more public
support if they are not to be pushed aside.
That means financial help, adequate housing
for families, streets free for play with centers
for children, more flexible working hours,
28
more kindergartens, more grade schools with
day care, more full time schools and more
institutions for counseling and help.
According to the researchers at Bielefeld,
the difficult situation of families is not the
only cause of overburdened children: Social
and psychological tensions also arise from
school and leisure time. The demands for
performance are too mechanical. The
contents of lessons disregard the real
interests of children. Our schools still see
themselves merely as institutions to pass
knowledge. They do not have anything in
common with social learning and the
development of the personality. Parents
place good grades and decent test scores
first. They put their children under
considerable pressure if a drop in
performance is noticed. All this is breeding
substantial tension, which is the background
of the new stress-related illnesses that are
growing so strongly today.
The “natural” environment today does not
help the sound development of children and
youth. The common areas, residences, and
streets are far from adequate for children,
according to the scientists at Bielefeld.
Because of their dangers they constitute the
most frequent cause of death in this age
group. They do not meet the real needs and
interests of the young ones. “Pollution of the
air, water, ground, and food, as well as high
noise levels, contribute to many physical and
psychological disorders and illnesses of
children and adolescents.”
These studies conclude that the reasons for
this continuous decline in health can be
found in an overburdening of the capacities
for development in this age group:
We already draw little children completely into
the rhythm of adult life, not caring if they have
the psychic strength to deal with the problems
of relationships, performance pressures, and fear
for the future. We expose them to an
overburdening. Rising rates of illnesses and
symptoms are a signal of stress, which is caused
by an overstraining of the capability to cope
with oneself and one’s environment:
They are, so to speak, an expression of the costs
of a modern way of life. They express the
problems that young people have in coping
with their social and ecological surroundings
and trying to absorb these surroundings into
their own bodies. Finally, they are an indicator
that children are not experiencing the measure
of respect, dignity, and free development of
their own personality that healthy development
requires. In many areas of daily life their
elementary need for respect, attention, security,
and fulfillment is neglected. Their right to a
sound environment is violated.
The family plays a key role:
A growing number of parents cannot meet the
responsibilities that accompany having
children. Relationships between parents are less
stable than before. More than a third of
marriages end in divorce. (In the U.S. the
figure is about 50 percent.) About the same
percentage of children and youth have to cope
with the consequences of divorce. The number
of children growing up with just one parent is
on the rise. The legitimate striving for self-
fulfillment of parents is carried out on the
backs of their children. They are the ones who
have to pay the highest price for the loss in
relationships and for divorce, which they did
not cause.
According to Professor Hurrelmann, our
society has reacted inadequately to the
problems that result from more open and
more liberal relationships between parents.
Parents are left completely alone with the
education of their children; it is seen as a
private matter. Families need more public
support if they are not to be pushed aside.
That means financial help, adequate housing
for families, streets free for play with centers
for children, more flexible working hours,
28
more kindergartens, more grade schools with
day care, more full time schools and more
institutions for counseling and help.
According to the researchers at Bielefeld,
the difficult situation of families is not the
only cause of overburdened children: Social
and psychological tensions also arise from
school and leisure time. The demands for
performance are too mechanical. The
contents of lessons disregard the real
interests of children. Our schools still see
themselves merely as institutions to pass
knowledge. They do not have anything in
common with social learning and the
development of the personality. Parents
place good grades and decent test scores
first. They put their children under
considerable pressure if a drop in
performance is noticed. All this is breeding
substantial tension, which is the background
of the new stress-related illnesses that are
growing so strongly today.
The “natural” environment today does not
help the sound development of children and
youth. The common areas, residences, and
streets are far from adequate for children,
according to the scientists at Bielefeld.
Because of their dangers they constitute the
most frequent cause of death in this age
group. They do not meet the real needs and
interests of the young ones. “Pollution of the
air, water, ground, and food, as well as high
noise levels, contribute to many physical and
psychological disorders and illnesses of
children and adolescents.”
These studies conclude that the reasons for
this continuous decline in health can be
found in an overburdening of the capacities
for development in this age group:
We already draw little children completely into
the rhythm of adult life, not caring if they have
the psychic strength to deal with the problems
of relationships, performance pressures, and fear
for the future. We expose them to an
environment that objectively harms their
physical development. So it can be of no
surprise that the physical and psychic immune
systems that normally protect young children
more and more often fail them. The
development of the vital strength necessary to
cope with daily life is not only hampered in the
social and mental field, but also in the physical,
because more and more children are
overburdened. Eventually it makes them sick
The appropriate answer to this challenge,
says Professor Hurrelmann, is not merely
further extending medical and social services:
“The important thing is to shift in all political
realms toward an environment that is more
friendly to children and families. The illness of
our children is a sign of the unhealthy
conditions of daily life in our society.
environment that objectively harms their
physical development. So it can be of no
surprise that the physical and psychic immune
systems that normally protect young children
more and more often fail them. The
development of the vital strength necessary to
cope with daily life is not only hampered in the
social and mental field, but also in the physical,
because more and more children are
overburdened. Eventually it makes them sick
The appropriate answer to this challenge,
says Professor Hurrelmann, is not merely
further extending medical and social services:
“The important thing is to shift in all political
realms toward an environment that is more
friendly to children and families. The illness of
our children is a sign of the unhealthy
conditions of daily life in our society.

29 29
Sexual Abuse of Children:
Understanding, Prevention, and Treatment
Dr. Michaela Glöckler
Recognizing Sexual Abuse
The general public has only become aware
of the harmful effects of sexual abuse of
children since the 1980s. Sexual abuse is a
serious injury to the child's entire personality.
The place where the child should feel most
secure—at home or another “normal” place—
suddenly becomes a place of danger. Things
happen in these places which may have
started out as loving and tender but have
become incomprehensible and nightmarish.
Often a person who is very close to the child
performs these acts. The child's natural need
for closeness and security is permeated with
fear and disgust. This confusion of feelings
makes it difficult for the child to trust her
feelings and perception of truth. This deep-
seated feeling of insecurity is increased the
earlier the abuse begins and the longer it lasts.
The definition of a sexually abusive
relationship between adult and child is:
1. When the goal of the adult's action is to
become sexually excited, regardless of how
he reaches this goal
2. When the child can not prevent the
adult's actions, feels exploited, or has no
one to talk with or from whom help can
be received.
31
When it comes to abuse, the child's body,
the close human connection with the adult,
and the child's trust in the relationship are all
victims. This is particularly disastrous when
the perpetrator is the adult closest to the
child—an adult who knows the child and
his/her needs. The child experiences
powerlessness and confusion to an especially
great degree when the adult initiates the
sexual activity in a way that is hardly
perceptible at first to the child but which
grows over time. The victim does not know
who actually is guilty of the sexual acts,
especially when the perpetrator introduces
the abuse as something beautiful and
desirable. Thus, many victims do believe, at
first, that they themselves had wanted these
acts and that they too had enjoyed this
“special” being together. With the pressure of
keeping it secret, feelings of guilt arise
because the child senses that what is
happening is not right. The child also
unconsciously takes on the adult's guilt
feelings as her own, for she is not yet able to
separate her own individuality from the adult.
This is especially true for the young child.
The victim is thus pulled back and forth
between the fear that the secret might be
discovered and the hope that it will be, so
that the abuse can end. This causes the
Sexual Abuse of Children:
Understanding, Prevention, and Treatment
Dr. Michaela Glöckler
Recognizing Sexual Abuse
The general public has only become aware
of the harmful effects of sexual abuse of
children since the 1980s. Sexual abuse is a
serious injury to the child's entire personality.
The place where the child should feel most
secure—at home or another “normal” place—
suddenly becomes a place of danger. Things
happen in these places which may have
started out as loving and tender but have
become incomprehensible and nightmarish.
Often a person who is very close to the child
performs these acts. The child's natural need
for closeness and security is permeated with
fear and disgust. This confusion of feelings
makes it difficult for the child to trust her
feelings and perception of truth. This deep-
seated feeling of insecurity is increased the
earlier the abuse begins and the longer it lasts.
The definition of a sexually abusive
relationship between adult and child is:
1. When the goal of the adult's action is to
become sexually excited, regardless of how
he reaches this goal
2. When the child can not prevent the
adult's actions, feels exploited, or has no
one to talk with or from whom help can
be received.
31
When it comes to abuse, the child's body,
the close human connection with the adult,
and the child's trust in the relationship are all
victims. This is particularly disastrous when
the perpetrator is the adult closest to the
child—an adult who knows the child and
his/her needs. The child experiences
powerlessness and confusion to an especially
great degree when the adult initiates the
sexual activity in a way that is hardly
perceptible at first to the child but which
grows over time. The victim does not know
who actually is guilty of the sexual acts,
especially when the perpetrator introduces
the abuse as something beautiful and
desirable. Thus, many victims do believe, at
first, that they themselves had wanted these
acts and that they too had enjoyed this
“special” being together. With the pressure of
keeping it secret, feelings of guilt arise
because the child senses that what is
happening is not right. The child also
unconsciously takes on the adult's guilt
feelings as her own, for she is not yet able to
separate her own individuality from the adult.
This is especially true for the young child.
The victim is thus pulled back and forth
between the fear that the secret might be
discovered and the hope that it will be, so
that the abuse can end. This causes the
victim to have great difficulty in expressing
herself. Often she must speak to many people
before someone understands the message of
abuse, gains the child's trust, and is able to
offer help.
Certainly dealing with this problem in its
multi-layered complexity requires great
sensitivity. With any suspicion of sexual
abuse, we strongly recommend that
professional advice be sought. Family
counselors, social workers, medical
practitioners, and experienced child and
juvenile psychiatrists can and should be the
first ones to contact. We must not
overestimate the fact that we have made
progress, and nowadays we may speak openly
about this dark side of sexuality
characterized by violence, perversion,
addiction, and dependency. The general
public as well as parents, teachers, social
workers, and doctors need to become ever
more sensitized so that victims and
perpetrators can be helped.
Many symptoms of abuse appear to be of a
general rather than specific nature. It is all
the more important to recognize them so that
the abuse may be discovered. The possibility
of sexual abuse lies so far outside the range of
normal human feeling that many symptoms
are easily overlooked. We must warn against
immediately thinking of abuse when
presented with symptoms such as headaches,
bad moods, nervousness, and fearfulness. But
the possibility of abuse should be seriously
considered if the behavior of the child
changes without any other recognizable
cause. Depending upon the child's age, the
above-mentioned symptoms can occur
separately or together in a less or more
obvious form. A more detailed description of
symptoms follows.
Physical Symptoms: External injuries are
rare, however if they are visible in the genital
area they offer definite proof. This is also the
32
case with bite wounds or bloody marks on
the breast, abdomen, buttocks or thighs,
repeated inflammation of the genitals, or
bloody underwear.
Psychosomatic Symptoms: Inclination to
headaches, lack of appetite, vomiting, non-
specific stomach ache, sleeplessness, wetting
and soiling, attacks of fear at night, fear of
suffocation, asthma, speech and eye problems,
and difficulty in concentrating.
Mental Symptoms: Feelings of inferiority,
strong self-doubt, general conditions of fear;
specific fears, such as fear of men, of locked
spaces, of darkness, of being alone, or of
AIDS. Contact and relationship difficulties
through excessive touching of the genitals,
tendency to separation, a tendency to isolate
oneself socially, overly affectionate behavior,
or a tendency to lie. Feelings of shame and
guilt, decrease in performance or
performance denial, extreme achievement,
significant helplessness, extreme striving for
power, flight into a fantasy world,
psychological diseases, e.g. obsessions,
depressions, phobias, psychosis.
Possible Abnormality in Conduct: Playing at
sexual behavior and using corresponding
expressions, showing womanly poses, excessive
masturbation, sexual grasping of children and
adults, exaggerated shame, refusing to be
undressed. With babies, exceptional
difficulties while changing diapers; auto-
aggressive behavior such as pulling out hair,
nail biting, cutting things into bits, suicide
attempts, addictive behavior, or painting or
drawing of sexual or abuse-related images at
home and in nursery school.
Direct verbal expressions are quite variable,
depending on the child's vocabulary. At times
explicitly clear, they can also be figurative,
circumstantial, or encoded. Some possible
expressions in which children try to report or
speak about abuse, hoping it will be heard, are
as follows:
victim to have great difficulty in expressing
herself. Often she must speak to many people
before someone understands the message of
abuse, gains the child's trust, and is able to
offer help.
Certainly dealing with this problem in its
multi-layered complexity requires great
sensitivity. With any suspicion of sexual
abuse, we strongly recommend that
professional advice be sought. Family
counselors, social workers, medical
practitioners, and experienced child and
juvenile psychiatrists can and should be the
first ones to contact. We must not
overestimate the fact that we have made
progress, and nowadays we may speak openly
about this dark side of sexuality
characterized by violence, perversion,
addiction, and dependency. The general
public as well as parents, teachers, social
workers, and doctors need to become ever
more sensitized so that victims and
perpetrators can be helped.
Many symptoms of abuse appear to be of a
general rather than specific nature. It is all
the more important to recognize them so that
the abuse may be discovered. The possibility
of sexual abuse lies so far outside the range of
normal human feeling that many symptoms
are easily overlooked. We must warn against
immediately thinking of abuse when
presented with symptoms such as headaches,
bad moods, nervousness, and fearfulness. But
the possibility of abuse should be seriously
considered if the behavior of the child
changes without any other recognizable
cause. Depending upon the child's age, the
above-mentioned symptoms can occur
separately or together in a less or more
obvious form. A more detailed description of
symptoms follows.
Physical Symptoms: External injuries are
rare, however if they are visible in the genital
area they offer definite proof. This is also the
32
case with bite wounds or bloody marks on
the breast, abdomen, buttocks or thighs,
repeated inflammation of the genitals, or
bloody underwear.
Psychosomatic Symptoms: Inclination to
headaches, lack of appetite, vomiting, non-
specific stomach ache, sleeplessness, wetting
and soiling, attacks of fear at night, fear of
suffocation, asthma, speech and eye problems,
and difficulty in concentrating.
Mental Symptoms: Feelings of inferiority,
strong self-doubt, general conditions of fear;
specific fears, such as fear of men, of locked
spaces, of darkness, of being alone, or of
AIDS. Contact and relationship difficulties
through excessive touching of the genitals,
tendency to separation, a tendency to isolate
oneself socially, overly affectionate behavior,
or a tendency to lie. Feelings of shame and
guilt, decrease in performance or
performance denial, extreme achievement,
significant helplessness, extreme striving for
power, flight into a fantasy world,
psychological diseases, e.g. obsessions,
depressions, phobias, psychosis.
Possible Abnormality in Conduct: Playing at
sexual behavior and using corresponding
expressions, showing womanly poses, excessive
masturbation, sexual grasping of children and
adults, exaggerated shame, refusing to be
undressed. With babies, exceptional
difficulties while changing diapers; auto-
aggressive behavior such as pulling out hair,
nail biting, cutting things into bits, suicide
attempts, addictive behavior, or painting or
drawing of sexual or abuse-related images at
home and in nursery school.
Direct verbal expressions are quite variable,
depending on the child's vocabulary. At times
explicitly clear, they can also be figurative,
circumstantial, or encoded. Some possible
expressions in which children try to report or
speak about abuse, hoping it will be heard, are
as follows:
 At night, a dark spirit often comes; it wants to
kill me.
The piano teacher is always grabbing me in such
a funny way. I don't want to go there anymore.
I have a real secret with Grandpa. When I tell
you, Mom will be very sick.
Peter is still wetting his bed too. (A juvenile
is meant.)
Our coach always puts his fingers everywhere.
Why doesn't our leader ever bring his own
sleeping bag to camp? Doesn't he have the money to
buy one?
Once one has a reasonable suspicion, the
next difficult step has to be taken—talking
with the child to verify and confirm the
suspicion. The most important thing is to win
the confidence of the child, so that he will
open up and tell you about his problems. Some
techniques that have proven effective include:
speaking to the child in a calm, undisturbed,
child-friendly atmosphere; relieving the child of
the burden of secrecy (“You may talk about
it.”); helping the child to sequence events in
their proper order (“Was it before or after your
birthday, before or after Christmas? Was it on a
school day, on a weekend, or during
vacation?”). Formulate questions simply and
openly and always wait for the response. (“Do
you want to tell me what your uncle was
doing?”) Never force the child to speak. Avoid
“why” questions because they suppose an
active participation of the child in the sexual
abuse and can thus reinforce the feelings of
guilt (“Why didn't you resist?”). Consider that
frequently the child also has good feelings
about the perpetrator.
It must be clearly shown that the
perpetrator is responsible for the actions and
carries the blame for the sexual abuse without
being devalued as a person. Do not investigate
any contradictions or absurdities with other
people, but try always to clarify things with
the child. Do not overwhelm the victim with
33
your own feelings and judgments (“It's awful
what your uncle has done to you!”). Assure
the child that you will tell her every action
that is taken and that nothing will be done
behind her back.
It is crucial that the helping adult take
time to consider all the steps calmly. Acting
too fast or without thinking things through—
for instance, prematurely informing the
mother, the teacher, or relatives—can make
the situation worse for the child. It can
happen in such a case that the child would be
strongly pressured by the family members to
deny the sexual abuse; he would then once
again be turned over to the same old misery.
The most important goal, aside from waiting
for the best moment, should always be to
separate perpetrator and victim as soon as
possible and to bring them both to treatment.
When we first become aware of this topic,
either through hearing about it or reading
about it, we may have difficulty believing that
sexual abuse can occur from infancy on.
Perpetrators come from all walks of life, are in
all kinds of professions, and their ages can vary
greatly. The data about the frequency of abuse
fluctuates, but it is certain that victims can be
found in every group of nursery children and
in every school class. Parents and educators
must begin to realize that afflicted children
can be anywhere.
Understanding the Perpetrator
But how does one become sexually abusive?
How does a person become a perpetrator?
Experience shows that not only former victims
or members of conspicuously violent families
can become perpetrators at a later date; this
can happen also to members of
“inconspicuous” families. The need to sexually
abuse defenseless children sometimes seems to
be triggered by a particular situation, as is the
case with other sexual needs and actions. Such
At night, a dark spirit often comes; it wants to
kill me.
The piano teacher is always grabbing me in such
a funny way. I don't want to go there anymore.
I have a real secret with Grandpa. When I tell
you, Mom will be very sick.
Peter is still wetting his bed too. (A juvenile
is meant.)
Our coach always puts his fingers everywhere.
Why doesn't our leader ever bring his own
sleeping bag to camp? Doesn't he have the money to
buy one?
Once one has a reasonable suspicion, the
next difficult step has to be taken—talking
with the child to verify and confirm the
suspicion. The most important thing is to win
the confidence of the child, so that he will
open up and tell you about his problems. Some
techniques that have proven effective include:
speaking to the child in a calm, undisturbed,
child-friendly atmosphere; relieving the child of
the burden of secrecy (“You may talk about
it.”); helping the child to sequence events in
their proper order (“Was it before or after your
birthday, before or after Christmas? Was it on a
school day, on a weekend, or during
vacation?”). Formulate questions simply and
openly and always wait for the response. (“Do
you want to tell me what your uncle was
doing?”) Never force the child to speak. Avoid
“why” questions because they suppose an
active participation of the child in the sexual
abuse and can thus reinforce the feelings of
guilt (“Why didn't you resist?”). Consider that
frequently the child also has good feelings
about the perpetrator.
It must be clearly shown that the
perpetrator is responsible for the actions and
carries the blame for the sexual abuse without
being devalued as a person. Do not investigate
any contradictions or absurdities with other
people, but try always to clarify things with
the child. Do not overwhelm the victim with
33
your own feelings and judgments (“It's awful
what your uncle has done to you!”). Assure
the child that you will tell her every action
that is taken and that nothing will be done
behind her back.
It is crucial that the helping adult take
time to consider all the steps calmly. Acting
too fast or without thinking things through—
for instance, prematurely informing the
mother, the teacher, or relatives—can make
the situation worse for the child. It can
happen in such a case that the child would be
strongly pressured by the family members to
deny the sexual abuse; he would then once
again be turned over to the same old misery.
The most important goal, aside from waiting
for the best moment, should always be to
separate perpetrator and victim as soon as
possible and to bring them both to treatment.
When we first become aware of this topic,
either through hearing about it or reading
about it, we may have difficulty believing that
sexual abuse can occur from infancy on.
Perpetrators come from all walks of life, are in
all kinds of professions, and their ages can vary
greatly. The data about the frequency of abuse
fluctuates, but it is certain that victims can be
found in every group of nursery children and
in every school class. Parents and educators
must begin to realize that afflicted children
can be anywhere.
Understanding the Perpetrator
But how does one become sexually abusive?
How does a person become a perpetrator?
Experience shows that not only former victims
or members of conspicuously violent families
can become perpetrators at a later date; this
can happen also to members of
“inconspicuous” families. The need to sexually
abuse defenseless children sometimes seems to
be triggered by a particular situation, as is the
case with other sexual needs and actions. Such
a trigger might be a passing fantasy that most
people would not act upon. For the
perpetrator, however, this fantasy becomes an
uncontrollable need with a definite addictive
quality, and it makes him seek—often with
much skill and intelligence—the opportunity
to practice the abuse.
For the most part, the circumstances are
very similar: the perpetrator demands strict
secrecy about the “especially beautiful game”
or says there is “a great secret between us” and
threatens dire consequences in case of
betrayal. Examples of this are that the mother
would become ill, that the child would have
to go into an institution, that it would bring
misfortune to the whole family, or, simply,
that the child would appear ridiculous
“because nobody will believe you anyway.”
Protected by the wall of enforced silence, the
perpetrator begins the process of abuse,
cautiously, carefully and slowly, or quickly and
violently. The perpetrator knows very well that
it is a matter of abuse, but he is in denial
about it because acknowledging that his
actions were abusive would demand a change
his behavior. His motivation and will to
change are too weak, as is the case with other
types of addicts. The perpetrator’s thinking is
powerless next to the feeling and will-life that
are bound up with the addiction; it has lost
the ability to influence or instruct them.
Thus, the perpetrator is incapable—”for
reasonable reasons”—of giving up his
intentions and behavior.
The perpetrator usually lives near the victim
and belongs to her family or close social circle.
Sometimes, he is a young person who as a child
has been sexually abused himself, so there is an
overlap of being victim and perpetrator. It is
particularly shocking when mothers, who
themselves as children were victims of sexual
abuse, end up finding out years later that their
own fathers, now as grandfathers, are sexually
abusing their own grandchildren.
34
In thinking of perpetrators, we must
ask the question: How can the development
of sexuality with an addictive character be
prevented? A clear answer to this question
is hampered by a number of problems
and uncertainties:
• The anxiety of setting up a new moral code.
• The present attitude on the part of many
educators who react negatively to the
child’s harmless discovery of her own body
and genital play, and who condemn any
type of passing “show-me” play for fear of
deviant behavior.
• The difficulty of distinguishing the
symptoms of deviant sexuality in its
beginning stages from the harmless and
necessary discovery of one's own body and
its functions.
• The inability to speak freely about sexuality.
• The inability to determine when it is correct
to de-emphasize a situation or be silent and
when one is in denial of a problem.
• The difficulty nowadays of speaking about
human relationships without sexual
fantasies and suspicions immediately
playing into them; with widespread
publication in the media of every form of
sexual activity, many people's minds have
been “sexualized.”
• The problem of sexuality—its forms,
techniques, and the frequency of sexual
activity—entering into our everyday
conversation to such a large extent that it
presents difficulties for those coming into
maturity and learning to deal with their own
sexuality. We are constantly being offered
models and ideas for our own experience
which, although we may indeed find them
mostly inappropriate, we can hardly ignore.
It takes a lot of work to overcome these
uncertainties. We must continue to ask this
question: Which factors come together in the
a trigger might be a passing fantasy that most
people would not act upon. For the
perpetrator, however, this fantasy becomes an
uncontrollable need with a definite addictive
quality, and it makes him seek—often with
much skill and intelligence—the opportunity
to practice the abuse.
For the most part, the circumstances are
very similar: the perpetrator demands strict
secrecy about the “especially beautiful game”
or says there is “a great secret between us” and
threatens dire consequences in case of
betrayal. Examples of this are that the mother
would become ill, that the child would have
to go into an institution, that it would bring
misfortune to the whole family, or, simply,
that the child would appear ridiculous
“because nobody will believe you anyway.”
Protected by the wall of enforced silence, the
perpetrator begins the process of abuse,
cautiously, carefully and slowly, or quickly and
violently. The perpetrator knows very well that
it is a matter of abuse, but he is in denial
about it because acknowledging that his
actions were abusive would demand a change
his behavior. His motivation and will to
change are too weak, as is the case with other
types of addicts. The perpetrator’s thinking is
powerless next to the feeling and will-life that
are bound up with the addiction; it has lost
the ability to influence or instruct them.
Thus, the perpetrator is incapable—”for
reasonable reasons”—of giving up his
intentions and behavior.
The perpetrator usually lives near the victim
and belongs to her family or close social circle.
Sometimes, he is a young person who as a child
has been sexually abused himself, so there is an
overlap of being victim and perpetrator. It is
particularly shocking when mothers, who
themselves as children were victims of sexual
abuse, end up finding out years later that their
own fathers, now as grandfathers, are sexually
abusing their own grandchildren.
34
In thinking of perpetrators, we must
ask the question: How can the development
of sexuality with an addictive character be
prevented? A clear answer to this question
is hampered by a number of problems
and uncertainties:
• The anxiety of setting up a new moral code.
• The present attitude on the part of many
educators who react negatively to the
child’s harmless discovery of her own body
and genital play, and who condemn any
type of passing “show-me” play for fear of
deviant behavior.
• The difficulty of distinguishing the
symptoms of deviant sexuality in its
beginning stages from the harmless and
necessary discovery of one's own body and
its functions.
• The inability to speak freely about sexuality.
• The inability to determine when it is correct
to de-emphasize a situation or be silent and
when one is in denial of a problem.
• The difficulty nowadays of speaking about
human relationships without sexual
fantasies and suspicions immediately
playing into them; with widespread
publication in the media of every form of
sexual activity, many people's minds have
been “sexualized.”
• The problem of sexuality—its forms,
techniques, and the frequency of sexual
activity—entering into our everyday
conversation to such a large extent that it
presents difficulties for those coming into
maturity and learning to deal with their own
sexuality. We are constantly being offered
models and ideas for our own experience
which, although we may indeed find them
mostly inappropriate, we can hardly ignore.
It takes a lot of work to overcome these
uncertainties. We must continue to ask this
question: Which factors come together in the
course of development to lead one to become a
perpetrator of sexual abuse, and what can be
done at home and at school to prevent this? We
stand now only at the beginning of this urgently
needed basic research. There are, however,
already a number of helpful ideas for developing
a greater understanding of this situation.
Developmental Conditions
for Human Sexuality
The Significance of Experiencing Boundaries
In meeting each other sexually, we cross
completely over the physical boundaries that
normally separate us. In order for the ovum
and sperm to unite and bring about
fertilization, there is a moment when even the
immune system comes to a standstill. In any
relationship between two people that includes
devotion and surrender, it is crucial that there
be mutual consent. This presupposes that
each individual has attained autonomy and
self-reliance which, in turn, can only happen
when the opposite of physical union has first
been encouraged to take place: we need to
find ourselves within the limits of our own
boundaries. Before we can know the
boundaries of our body, soul, and spirit they
must first be built up. Only then are we free
to protect them and then to open them.
In early childhood, the experiences of the
body, soul, and spirit are as yet an
undifferentiated, undefined unity. It is also
characteristic of this imitative age that
preschool children are still totally open to the
world, and their desires know no boundaries.
Education at this level has as its goal that the
child learns to differentiate himself. In grade
school, the educational aim must be that each
child learns to accept himself and his
idiosyncrasies. When this foundation has
been built, people can confidently and out of
their own free will give themselves to the
world, as well as to another human being, just
as they did in an unconscious way in early
35
childhood. An especially harmful aspect of
sexual abuse is that it prematurely calls forth
the child's natural ability to surrender himself
to the environment. It is only at a later stage
of consciousness development that sexuality
can be experienced in a truly human and
worthy way.
The experience of freedom and permission
are necessary for the development of the will.
For the development of the child’s
consciousness it is also necessary to learn the
limits demanded by life. Without the latter,
the child is lacking a standard for experiencing
herself and understanding herself in relation
to the world. Uncertainty and unhappiness are
the consequences.
Learning and Self-education as Prerequisites
for Developing Our True Humanity
Through learning, even normal bodily
actions such as seeing and hearing can be
continually refined, differentiated, and
improved. In contrast to animals, human
beings have the ability to evolve and
transform themselves throughout their whole
lives. Full-grown animals cannot continue to
become more animal-like; a human being,
however, can always become more fully
human. In his Philosophy of Spiritual Activity
Rudolf Steiner characterizes this fact thus:
“Nature makes us a nature-being; society
makes us into a lawfully acting being; only we
can make ourselves into a free being.”
When we consider the experiences and
problems connected with sexuality, we see
that nature, society, and free self-
determination can each create harmony or
disharmony in a particular way. Never before
have people had such a wide arena for self-
determination in the area of sexuality as in
the present pluralistic society. And the trend
appears to be to broaden this arena even
further. For this reason, it may seem senseless
to make general remarks on this subject. On
the other hand, it does seem necessary to
course of development to lead one to become a
perpetrator of sexual abuse, and what can be
done at home and at school to prevent this? We
stand now only at the beginning of this urgently
needed basic research. There are, however,
already a number of helpful ideas for developing
a greater understanding of this situation.
Developmental Conditions
for Human Sexuality
The Significance of Experiencing Boundaries
In meeting each other sexually, we cross
completely over the physical boundaries that
normally separate us. In order for the ovum
and sperm to unite and bring about
fertilization, there is a moment when even the
immune system comes to a standstill. In any
relationship between two people that includes
devotion and surrender, it is crucial that there
be mutual consent. This presupposes that
each individual has attained autonomy and
self-reliance which, in turn, can only happen
when the opposite of physical union has first
been encouraged to take place: we need to
find ourselves within the limits of our own
boundaries. Before we can know the
boundaries of our body, soul, and spirit they
must first be built up. Only then are we free
to protect them and then to open them.
In early childhood, the experiences of the
body, soul, and spirit are as yet an
undifferentiated, undefined unity. It is also
characteristic of this imitative age that
preschool children are still totally open to the
world, and their desires know no boundaries.
Education at this level has as its goal that the
child learns to differentiate himself. In grade
school, the educational aim must be that each
child learns to accept himself and his
idiosyncrasies. When this foundation has
been built, people can confidently and out of
their own free will give themselves to the
world, as well as to another human being, just
as they did in an unconscious way in early
35
childhood. An especially harmful aspect of
sexual abuse is that it prematurely calls forth
the child's natural ability to surrender himself
to the environment. It is only at a later stage
of consciousness development that sexuality
can be experienced in a truly human and
worthy way.
The experience of freedom and permission
are necessary for the development of the will.
For the development of the child’s
consciousness it is also necessary to learn the
limits demanded by life. Without the latter,
the child is lacking a standard for experiencing
herself and understanding herself in relation
to the world. Uncertainty and unhappiness are
the consequences.
Learning and Self-education as Prerequisites
for Developing Our True Humanity
Through learning, even normal bodily
actions such as seeing and hearing can be
continually refined, differentiated, and
improved. In contrast to animals, human
beings have the ability to evolve and
transform themselves throughout their whole
lives. Full-grown animals cannot continue to
become more animal-like; a human being,
however, can always become more fully
human. In his Philosophy of Spiritual Activity
Rudolf Steiner characterizes this fact thus:
“Nature makes us a nature-being; society
makes us into a lawfully acting being; only we
can make ourselves into a free being.”
When we consider the experiences and
problems connected with sexuality, we see
that nature, society, and free self-
determination can each create harmony or
disharmony in a particular way. Never before
have people had such a wide arena for self-
determination in the area of sexuality as in
the present pluralistic society. And the trend
appears to be to broaden this arena even
further. For this reason, it may seem senseless
to make general remarks on this subject. On
the other hand, it does seem necessary to
make some attempt at guidance that can help
individuals deal with their own sexuality in a
desirable way. We also need to create
conditions in which children and teenagers
may develop the best possible relationship to
their sexuality in a natural, sociable, and,
above all, free way. The human possibility for
achieving freedom in intimacy can only
happen, however, when the intimacy has been
developed in freedom and has come about
under the influence of self-control. Freedom
cannot be separated from a conscious, self-
chosen act.
But how can intimacy in sexuality be
learned in such a way that no serious personal
and social problems will occur during the
process of physical maturation? Isn't sexual
capacity only a question of an impulse that
simply exists and lives itself out in one way or
another? How can we approach this natural
impulse in education? How can we encourage
the differentiation of feelings and will, and
how can they be integrated into conscious
self-control through self-education?
We must realize that the development of
feeling and will requires as much intensive
care and support in education as the
development and exercise of intelligence. It
has become clear that there are serious
deficits in our emotional or soul development,
as well as in the education of the will, not only
in the area of sexuality but also with regard to
the current problems of drugs and violence.
The suffering of the victims of sexual abuse,
as well as the suffering of drug addicts and
those who are violent, can be seen as a
desperate appeal to study the basis of an
education for feeling and will, and to consider
their development more seriously in
educational practice.
Instinct, Impulse, and Desire
Due to our knowledge of heredity and
genetics as well as our ability to manipulate
body functions through medication, there
36
exists a widespread feeling today that we are
at the mercy of our body's predispositions. We
do not place much trust in the active
spirituality of the body and its functions.
Those who have experienced how physical and
emotional discomfort—sometimes even
illness—can be influenced by self-education
will understand the great task of education,
especially during the time of a child's physical
growth. We must always ask: Which activities
out of the soul-spiritual realm are stimulating
growth and development? What educational
possibilities exist to nurture healthy instincts,
impulses, and desires?
In Lecture IV of Study of Man (newly
translated as The Foundations of Human
Experience) Rudolf Steiner describes in detail
the human will in its relation to the body. He
indicates how the instinctual behavior of the
human being is directly bound to the physical
body, the impulse behavior to the etheric body
(the forces which maintain the life processes),
and the desire life to the astral body (the
sentient life of the soul). Instinct, impulse,
and desire are also linked to the respective
conditions of development of the physical,
etheric, and astral bodies. Wholesome sensory
experiences are the most important stimuli for
the development of a healthy instinctual life.
Through sensory experiences we come to have
strong feelings about light and dark, warm and
cold, harmony and disharmony, motion and
form, and so forth. In this way our basic,
instinctive soul attitudes and reactions to the
self and the world are imprinted. This also
holds true for developing a sense of self and
sympathy for others. The senses are at their
most open and vulnerable stage during the
very first years of life, before the thinking is
activated. If this time is not used well, it is
difficult to restore later what has been missed.
During the first years of life, the child does
not yet think with self-conscious awareness;
the thinking activity acts unconsciously in the
make some attempt at guidance that can help
individuals deal with their own sexuality in a
desirable way. We also need to create
conditions in which children and teenagers
may develop the best possible relationship to
their sexuality in a natural, sociable, and,
above all, free way. The human possibility for
achieving freedom in intimacy can only
happen, however, when the intimacy has been
developed in freedom and has come about
under the influence of self-control. Freedom
cannot be separated from a conscious, self-
chosen act.
But how can intimacy in sexuality be
learned in such a way that no serious personal
and social problems will occur during the
process of physical maturation? Isn't sexual
capacity only a question of an impulse that
simply exists and lives itself out in one way or
another? How can we approach this natural
impulse in education? How can we encourage
the differentiation of feelings and will, and
how can they be integrated into conscious
self-control through self-education?
We must realize that the development of
feeling and will requires as much intensive
care and support in education as the
development and exercise of intelligence. It
has become clear that there are serious
deficits in our emotional or soul development,
as well as in the education of the will, not only
in the area of sexuality but also with regard to
the current problems of drugs and violence.
The suffering of the victims of sexual abuse,
as well as the suffering of drug addicts and
those who are violent, can be seen as a
desperate appeal to study the basis of an
education for feeling and will, and to consider
their development more seriously in
educational practice.
Instinct, Impulse, and Desire
Due to our knowledge of heredity and
genetics as well as our ability to manipulate
body functions through medication, there
36
exists a widespread feeling today that we are
at the mercy of our body's predispositions. We
do not place much trust in the active
spirituality of the body and its functions.
Those who have experienced how physical and
emotional discomfort—sometimes even
illness—can be influenced by self-education
will understand the great task of education,
especially during the time of a child's physical
growth. We must always ask: Which activities
out of the soul-spiritual realm are stimulating
growth and development? What educational
possibilities exist to nurture healthy instincts,
impulses, and desires?
In Lecture IV of Study of Man (newly
translated as The Foundations of Human
Experience) Rudolf Steiner describes in detail
the human will in its relation to the body. He
indicates how the instinctual behavior of the
human being is directly bound to the physical
body, the impulse behavior to the etheric body
(the forces which maintain the life processes),
and the desire life to the astral body (the
sentient life of the soul). Instinct, impulse,
and desire are also linked to the respective
conditions of development of the physical,
etheric, and astral bodies. Wholesome sensory
experiences are the most important stimuli for
the development of a healthy instinctual life.
Through sensory experiences we come to have
strong feelings about light and dark, warm and
cold, harmony and disharmony, motion and
form, and so forth. In this way our basic,
instinctive soul attitudes and reactions to the
self and the world are imprinted. This also
holds true for developing a sense of self and
sympathy for others. The senses are at their
most open and vulnerable stage during the
very first years of life, before the thinking is
activated. If this time is not used well, it is
difficult to restore later what has been missed.
During the first years of life, the child does
not yet think with self-conscious awareness;
the thinking activity acts unconsciously in the
body as a sensory-motor intelligence. Thus, as
well as being susceptible to the outer sense
impressions through its sense organs the
young child is completely vulnerable to and
intuitively understands the spiritual and moral
disposition of the people in its surroundings.
In this context, we must point out a result of
Rudolf Steiner's research that has special
significance for sexual education: the three
higher spiritual senses that are the closest
links to our cognition—the sense of the ego of
the other, the sense of thinking, and the sense
of speech—are still strongly connected during
the first three years of life to the physical
senses—sense of touch, of life, and of self-
movement. The ego sense lies hidden in the
sense of touch, the sense of thinking in the
sense of life, and the sense of speech in the
sense of self-movement.
This means that during these years, the
child recognizes the spirituality in her
surroundings through the activity of her
physical senses. This experience imprints the
child with an understanding that the
experience of body corresponds to the
experience of spirit, that a connection
between the two can consciously be
discovered. The characteristic of healthy
sexual activity is also that these different
spheres of body and spirit can be perceived,
albeit in a totally different state of physicality
and consciousness than that of early
childhood, as streaming together into one
great experience. Thus, we see that in the
earliest years, particular care for the senses of
touch, life, and movement—and their
connection with the senses of ego, thought,
and speech—may be an especially effective
contribution to sexual education. If this is
neglected, the danger exists that later on
sexual satisfaction will be desired independent
of the soul and spirit, for the basic feeling that
body, soul, and spirit are interdependent will
not have been sufficiently developed.
37
Just as the life of instinct is linked to the
physical body, especially by means of the sense
organs, the life of impulses depends on the
care and maintenance of the etheric or life
body. The forces that govern the growth,
development, and function of the inner
organs metamorphose in the soul life into
thought forces, into impulses of learning and
knowing. Thus, the care and support of the
life of thinking is as important as cultivating
good sleeping and eating habits. If the child's
natural interest in the world and eagerness to
learn are met only with abstract knowledge
and “useful” information, he gains merely
superficial knowledge rather than a deeper
understanding of living reality. The child's
developing feeling life will turn away from
these abstract thoughts and seek satisfaction
elsewhere. The child will then look for a one-
sided connection to the experiences of the
sense world rather than the guiding images
and thoughts which would lead him to the
whole of reality. The feeling life will not
mature properly but in adulthood will remain
bound to the physical and sense processes
normal for childhood. It does not find a
connection to the thinking activity and
therefore cannot develop the necessary forces
of enthusiasm and motivation to work toward
idealistic goals and values. The life of impulse
undergoes a one-sided pull toward physicality
and a corresponding impoverishment of the
soul-spiritual aspect of the self.
Desires are carried in the astral body, the
soul organism, for feelings depend on the
astral body just as the senses depend on the
physical body and the thinking on the etheric
body. The soul life of the preschooler is not
yet clearly differentiated into thinking, feeling,
and willing. The emancipation of thinking
from feeling, and feeling from willing comes
about only gradually. In particular, the freeing
of the feeling from the will, is the principle
task of education in grade school when the
sense of pleasure must be further refined and
body as a sensory-motor intelligence. Thus, as
well as being susceptible to the outer sense
impressions through its sense organs the
young child is completely vulnerable to and
intuitively understands the spiritual and moral
disposition of the people in its surroundings.
In this context, we must point out a result of
Rudolf Steiner's research that has special
significance for sexual education: the three
higher spiritual senses that are the closest
links to our cognition—the sense of the ego of
the other, the sense of thinking, and the sense
of speech—are still strongly connected during
the first three years of life to the physical
senses—sense of touch, of life, and of self-
movement. The ego sense lies hidden in the
sense of touch, the sense of thinking in the
sense of life, and the sense of speech in the
sense of self-movement.
This means that during these years, the
child recognizes the spirituality in her
surroundings through the activity of her
physical senses. This experience imprints the
child with an understanding that the
experience of body corresponds to the
experience of spirit, that a connection
between the two can consciously be
discovered. The characteristic of healthy
sexual activity is also that these different
spheres of body and spirit can be perceived,
albeit in a totally different state of physicality
and consciousness than that of early
childhood, as streaming together into one
great experience. Thus, we see that in the
earliest years, particular care for the senses of
touch, life, and movement—and their
connection with the senses of ego, thought,
and speech—may be an especially effective
contribution to sexual education. If this is
neglected, the danger exists that later on
sexual satisfaction will be desired independent
of the soul and spirit, for the basic feeling that
body, soul, and spirit are interdependent will
not have been sufficiently developed.
37
Just as the life of instinct is linked to the
physical body, especially by means of the sense
organs, the life of impulses depends on the
care and maintenance of the etheric or life
body. The forces that govern the growth,
development, and function of the inner
organs metamorphose in the soul life into
thought forces, into impulses of learning and
knowing. Thus, the care and support of the
life of thinking is as important as cultivating
good sleeping and eating habits. If the child's
natural interest in the world and eagerness to
learn are met only with abstract knowledge
and “useful” information, he gains merely
superficial knowledge rather than a deeper
understanding of living reality. The child's
developing feeling life will turn away from
these abstract thoughts and seek satisfaction
elsewhere. The child will then look for a one-
sided connection to the experiences of the
sense world rather than the guiding images
and thoughts which would lead him to the
whole of reality. The feeling life will not
mature properly but in adulthood will remain
bound to the physical and sense processes
normal for childhood. It does not find a
connection to the thinking activity and
therefore cannot develop the necessary forces
of enthusiasm and motivation to work toward
idealistic goals and values. The life of impulse
undergoes a one-sided pull toward physicality
and a corresponding impoverishment of the
soul-spiritual aspect of the self.
Desires are carried in the astral body, the
soul organism, for feelings depend on the
astral body just as the senses depend on the
physical body and the thinking on the etheric
body. The soul life of the preschooler is not
yet clearly differentiated into thinking, feeling,
and willing. The emancipation of thinking
from feeling, and feeling from willing comes
about only gradually. In particular, the freeing
of the feeling from the will, is the principle
task of education in grade school when the
sense of pleasure must be further refined and
made worthy of a human being. In early
childhood, experiencing the self and enjoying
the self in the world outweighs all else. The
young child is typically engaged in
discovering, trying, having, and enjoying—a
fact that the modern psychology of advertising
uses very accurately to its own advantage.
A healthy ego and self-concept are based
upon the way of experiencing the self that is
imprinted in early childhood and expressed
innocently at this age. If, however, the
development of the feeling life comes to a
standstill at this egocentric and physical stage,
the ground is laid for many subsequent
developmental and social problems. Children
who do not learn to feel for others and to take
other people's situations as much into
consideration as their own and whose feeling
life seems to be strongly sentimental remain
subjective and tend toward chronic self-pity.
If, however, the feeling life can be freed
through education from the one-sided
physical will and impulse experience, and if it
can be turned toward the world, then the
conditions become ripe for transforming the
life of impulse into a conscious soul life with
its desires and gratifications now raised to a
cultural level.
The most important educational tool for
this freeing of the life of the feeling is the arts.
The goal of all artistic endeavor is to produce
something beautiful and to work on its
perfection. The beauty of language in
storytelling and conversation; the beauty of
colors, forms, and sound; purity in expression,
proportion, and composition—all this diverts
the attention and sympathy from the self to the
universal qualities of light, sound, form, and so
forth. All aesthetic qualities, including beauty
and ugliness, speak directly to the feeling life.
Through the joy in beauty, the desire is
awakened to transform what is ugly, to correct
mistakes, to practice a piece of music until it
sounds really beautiful. If all subjects were
38
taught with an artistic sense, then the feeling
life would constantly be enriched and refined.
Even a feeling for the beauty of mathematical
truth and the purity and power of the law of
numbers can be awakened.
The most important work for the
prevention of problems in the sexual realm is
accomplished when the soul life of children is
artistically educated and stimulated and when
their relationship to the world is established in
such a far-reaching manner.
Therapeutic Steps for
Victim and Perpetrator
The experience of working with mothers
whose children have been sexually abused
shows that both the mother and the child will
need help. The mother's fear and concern
about the damaging effect this experience
may have on her child's life dominate the
situation. Added to this are guilt feelings
because the mother was not able to protect
the child. At this point, the mother needs to
understand clearly that fear is a factor that
will have a negative influence on her child's
development. It is very important that she
realize the benefit of receiving help for both
herself and her child in dealing with guilt
feelings, disappointment, anger, rage, pain,
and sorrow. She can then work toward the true
meaning of trusting in destiny, having an
understanding for the perpetrator and love for
her child. There is nothing in a human being's
life that cannot be transformed into
something good. Every mistake and every
trauma can be viewed not only as bad or
catastrophic, but also as an opportunity. In
overcoming a mistake or working through a
trauma, there is the opportunity to develop
abilities that would not have developed as
strongly without those hindrances. Specific
therapy will depend upon the extent of
damage the child continues to carry from the
abuse. Independent of the therapy, though, it
made worthy of a human being. In early
childhood, experiencing the self and enjoying
the self in the world outweighs all else. The
young child is typically engaged in
discovering, trying, having, and enjoying—a
fact that the modern psychology of advertising
uses very accurately to its own advantage.
A healthy ego and self-concept are based
upon the way of experiencing the self that is
imprinted in early childhood and expressed
innocently at this age. If, however, the
development of the feeling life comes to a
standstill at this egocentric and physical stage,
the ground is laid for many subsequent
developmental and social problems. Children
who do not learn to feel for others and to take
other people's situations as much into
consideration as their own and whose feeling
life seems to be strongly sentimental remain
subjective and tend toward chronic self-pity.
If, however, the feeling life can be freed
through education from the one-sided
physical will and impulse experience, and if it
can be turned toward the world, then the
conditions become ripe for transforming the
life of impulse into a conscious soul life with
its desires and gratifications now raised to a
cultural level.
The most important educational tool for
this freeing of the life of the feeling is the arts.
The goal of all artistic endeavor is to produce
something beautiful and to work on its
perfection. The beauty of language in
storytelling and conversation; the beauty of
colors, forms, and sound; purity in expression,
proportion, and composition—all this diverts
the attention and sympathy from the self to the
universal qualities of light, sound, form, and so
forth. All aesthetic qualities, including beauty
and ugliness, speak directly to the feeling life.
Through the joy in beauty, the desire is
awakened to transform what is ugly, to correct
mistakes, to practice a piece of music until it
sounds really beautiful. If all subjects were
38
taught with an artistic sense, then the feeling
life would constantly be enriched and refined.
Even a feeling for the beauty of mathematical
truth and the purity and power of the law of
numbers can be awakened.
The most important work for the
prevention of problems in the sexual realm is
accomplished when the soul life of children is
artistically educated and stimulated and when
their relationship to the world is established in
such a far-reaching manner.
Therapeutic Steps for
Victim and Perpetrator
The experience of working with mothers
whose children have been sexually abused
shows that both the mother and the child will
need help. The mother's fear and concern
about the damaging effect this experience
may have on her child's life dominate the
situation. Added to this are guilt feelings
because the mother was not able to protect
the child. At this point, the mother needs to
understand clearly that fear is a factor that
will have a negative influence on her child's
development. It is very important that she
realize the benefit of receiving help for both
herself and her child in dealing with guilt
feelings, disappointment, anger, rage, pain,
and sorrow. She can then work toward the true
meaning of trusting in destiny, having an
understanding for the perpetrator and love for
her child. There is nothing in a human being's
life that cannot be transformed into
something good. Every mistake and every
trauma can be viewed not only as bad or
catastrophic, but also as an opportunity. In
overcoming a mistake or working through a
trauma, there is the opportunity to develop
abilities that would not have developed as
strongly without those hindrances. Specific
therapy will depend upon the extent of
damage the child continues to carry from the
abuse. Independent of the therapy, though, it
is important to give as much pedagogical help
as possible in any case.
There are many issues for the victim
including antipathy, perhaps even hate for her
own physical body which may be seen as the
cause for the abuse; guilt feelings about her
participation, connected with disgust for
herself and a feeling of worthlessness;
uncertainty and confusion about what really
happened; deep insecurity in regard to self-
confidence and sense of worth, since the
boundaries upon which self-respect and self-
assurance are based have been forcefully and
repeatedly violated; uncertainty in social
situations and a tendency toward problematic
relationships of different kinds; inability to
give herself fully and consciously in a sexual
relationship with her partner; a tendency
toward auto-aggressive behavior; and a lack of
limits. Often severe traumatization, such as
sexual abuse, will only be remembered years
later through an illness or with the help of an
illness. Identity problems may also occur they
have the risk of developing into a severe
personality disorder or the tendency toward a
split personality.
In all of these possible occurrences the
development of the child's ego-sense is
impaired. Therefore, the education at home and
at school—independent of the indicated
therapy—should concentrate mainly on
restoring and strengthening the personality. If
one can successfully stimulate self-motivation in
the child in all areas and lovingly acknowledge
it, then much can be accomplished.
As far as the child's thinking is concerned, it
is advisable to find age-appropriate stories as
stimulation for the soul and to have
conversations about the contents. This will help
the child learn to work with the content
independently and to place it in a relationship.
Any questions that the child asks should be
answered honestly and without taboo.
For the development of the feeling life, it
39
is very important to protect the child’s
boundaries. Self-respect can only develop
when the child experiences respect as a
person. This is mainly a problem of language.
If the adult must tell the child not to do
something or if clear boundaries need to be
established when she is unhappy or
dissatisfied, it is important that it be said in
such a way that the child feels that it is said
out of love. Whether the adult is allowing or
prohibiting something, the child always needs
to feel the adult's love and approval. How
often does the child hear her name called out
in an unnecessarily scolding tone, in a cold
and loud way, with a cutting sharpness, or in
an aggressive rage by a stressed-out adult?
This needs to change. At the same time the
child has to learn to deal with negative
feelings and frustrations as well as with
extreme sympathy. Thus she needs to
experience that the adult also has to work on
inadequacies and is making progress at
improving unpleasant situations.
In the area of will, encouragement is the
main goal. Insecurity, anger at and disgust for
herself, a lack of courage, feeling small and
ugly in comparison to others—all these
negative attitudes which can hinder the
motivation for activity can only be overcome
if the child can experience small successes
again and again and can feel the adult's trust.
Thus, it is important for the adults to choose
small steps that are manageable for the child.
She should feel neither overwhelmed nor
under-challenged. Every day both at home
and at school, the child needs to experience
success and the adult's happy
acknowledgment of it. Conversations about
the abuse should only happen if the child
non-verbally or verbally signals the need to
talk. It is good if activities of the present can
predominate and the past is allowed to rest.
The stronger the core of the child’s
personality can become through the
educational process, the easier it will be later
is important to give as much pedagogical help
as possible in any case.
There are many issues for the victim
including antipathy, perhaps even hate for her
own physical body which may be seen as the
cause for the abuse; guilt feelings about her
participation, connected with disgust for
herself and a feeling of worthlessness;
uncertainty and confusion about what really
happened; deep insecurity in regard to self-
confidence and sense of worth, since the
boundaries upon which self-respect and self-
assurance are based have been forcefully and
repeatedly violated; uncertainty in social
situations and a tendency toward problematic
relationships of different kinds; inability to
give herself fully and consciously in a sexual
relationship with her partner; a tendency
toward auto-aggressive behavior; and a lack of
limits. Often severe traumatization, such as
sexual abuse, will only be remembered years
later through an illness or with the help of an
illness. Identity problems may also occur they
have the risk of developing into a severe
personality disorder or the tendency toward a
split personality.
In all of these possible occurrences the
development of the child's ego-sense is
impaired. Therefore, the education at home and
at school—independent of the indicated
therapy—should concentrate mainly on
restoring and strengthening the personality. If
one can successfully stimulate self-motivation in
the child in all areas and lovingly acknowledge
it, then much can be accomplished.
As far as the child's thinking is concerned, it
is advisable to find age-appropriate stories as
stimulation for the soul and to have
conversations about the contents. This will help
the child learn to work with the content
independently and to place it in a relationship.
Any questions that the child asks should be
answered honestly and without taboo.
For the development of the feeling life, it
39
is very important to protect the child’s
boundaries. Self-respect can only develop
when the child experiences respect as a
person. This is mainly a problem of language.
If the adult must tell the child not to do
something or if clear boundaries need to be
established when she is unhappy or
dissatisfied, it is important that it be said in
such a way that the child feels that it is said
out of love. Whether the adult is allowing or
prohibiting something, the child always needs
to feel the adult's love and approval. How
often does the child hear her name called out
in an unnecessarily scolding tone, in a cold
and loud way, with a cutting sharpness, or in
an aggressive rage by a stressed-out adult?
This needs to change. At the same time the
child has to learn to deal with negative
feelings and frustrations as well as with
extreme sympathy. Thus she needs to
experience that the adult also has to work on
inadequacies and is making progress at
improving unpleasant situations.
In the area of will, encouragement is the
main goal. Insecurity, anger at and disgust for
herself, a lack of courage, feeling small and
ugly in comparison to others—all these
negative attitudes which can hinder the
motivation for activity can only be overcome
if the child can experience small successes
again and again and can feel the adult's trust.
Thus, it is important for the adults to choose
small steps that are manageable for the child.
She should feel neither overwhelmed nor
under-challenged. Every day both at home
and at school, the child needs to experience
success and the adult's happy
acknowledgment of it. Conversations about
the abuse should only happen if the child
non-verbally or verbally signals the need to
talk. It is good if activities of the present can
predominate and the past is allowed to rest.
The stronger the core of the child’s
personality can become through the
educational process, the easier it will be later
to deal with this trauma through her own
strength or with the help of a therapist.
In order to convince the perpetrator to seek
help from a therapist, it is necessary first to
overcome hate and antipathy, to offer
understanding, and, if possible, to work toward
forgiveness. Sexual activity with children is a
form of sexual addiction just as is promiscuous
homo- or heterosexual activity. In both cases,
we are dealing with someone whose education
in the development and maturation of the
personality has been impaired. Regardless of
the level of education, intelligence, and
profession, the addiction points to an
immaturity in the feeling and the will that
needs to be recognized and understood. Thus,
we find different kinds of perpetrators
including those who are intelligent, cunning,
and cold-blooded, sentimental and swimming
in self-pity; and the violent-aggressor type.
Quite often the sensitive-sentimental
perpetrator, when confronted with the abuse,
will minimize the event or, if confronted years
later by the former victim, will start to weep
out of self-pity. And, instead of apologizing, he
will seek condolence and understanding for
himself. This behavior shows clearly how much
the perpetrators are also victims. They are sick
and have an inability to learn how to master
themselves and to see objectively. In any case,
a thorough biographical history and counseling
are needed to determine if a specific
psychotherapy should follow. The biographical
counseling might then lead into the necessary
process of self-education. It is advisable to
accompany this with art therapy, especially
painting, music, speech, and drama therapy.
During treatment, it is important for the
perpetrator to bring to consciousness the part
that sexual experiences play in the process of
learning to know oneself. Although sexual
experiences happen on the physical plane,



40
they can really only be suitably described in
spiritual or religious terms. When sexuality is
discussed solely in terms of anatomy and
physiology, as it often is, it becomes
superficial, untruthful, and sometimes even
ridiculous. According to his consciousness and
developmental level, each person describes
the soul-spiritual aspect of his sexual
experiences in the terms most readily available
to him. They range from the highest spiritual
realm down to the most extreme level of soul
abyss and terror. For sexuality without a soul
or spiritual relationship with the other person
or without mutual ego participation, sexuality
as a purely physical urge, can only truly be
described as “Hell.” But when harmony with
the soul and understanding of the other
corresponds with the physical act, we can
speak of it in the highest terms as a
“communion”. Without the hidden
dimension of the spiritual, the sexual
experience remains a lustful (perpetrator) or
horrible (victim) illusion.
To learn to master these experiences and to
accept them earnestly as an ingredient of
human self-knowledge frees sexuality from its
lowest form—that of purely physical urge.
Then the soul-spiritual experiences which are
possible through sexuality can also be known
in a purely soulful and spiritual way.
Sexual stimulation and activity—in
whatever form—are used as a substitute to
satisfy nearly every possible physical, soul, and
spiritual need. If we are to strive for health in
this area, we cannot simply settle for learning
outer rules for sexual behavior. It is far more
important to work toward creating conditions in
which young people learn to become free
persons in both sides of their soul development:
in such a way that the physical experience
stimulates spiritual activity and the experiences
of the spirit deepen and enrich the physical.
to deal with this trauma through her own
strength or with the help of a therapist.
In order to convince the perpetrator to seek
help from a therapist, it is necessary first to
overcome hate and antipathy, to offer
understanding, and, if possible, to work toward
forgiveness. Sexual activity with children is a
form of sexual addiction just as is promiscuous
homo- or heterosexual activity. In both cases,
we are dealing with someone whose education
in the development and maturation of the
personality has been impaired. Regardless of
the level of education, intelligence, and
profession, the addiction points to an
immaturity in the feeling and the will that
needs to be recognized and understood. Thus,
we find different kinds of perpetrators
including those who are intelligent, cunning,
and cold-blooded, sentimental and swimming
in self-pity; and the violent-aggressor type.
Quite often the sensitive-sentimental
perpetrator, when confronted with the abuse,
will minimize the event or, if confronted years
later by the former victim, will start to weep
out of self-pity. And, instead of apologizing, he
will seek condolence and understanding for
himself. This behavior shows clearly how much
the perpetrators are also victims. They are sick
and have an inability to learn how to master
themselves and to see objectively. In any case,
a thorough biographical history and counseling
are needed to determine if a specific
psychotherapy should follow. The biographical
counseling might then lead into the necessary
process of self-education. It is advisable to
accompany this with art therapy, especially
painting, music, speech, and drama therapy.
During treatment, it is important for the
perpetrator to bring to consciousness the part
that sexual experiences play in the process of
learning to know oneself. Although sexual
experiences happen on the physical plane,
40
they can really only be suitably described in
spiritual or religious terms. When sexuality is
discussed solely in terms of anatomy and
physiology, as it often is, it becomes
superficial, untruthful, and sometimes even
ridiculous. According to his consciousness and
developmental level, each person describes
the soul-spiritual aspect of his sexual
experiences in the terms most readily available
to him. They range from the highest spiritual
realm down to the most extreme level of soul
abyss and terror. For sexuality without a soul
or spiritual relationship with the other person
or without mutual ego participation, sexuality
as a purely physical urge, can only truly be
described as “Hell.” But when harmony with
the soul and understanding of the other
corresponds with the physical act, we can
speak of it in the highest terms as a
“communion”. Without the hidden
dimension of the spiritual, the sexual
experience remains a lustful (perpetrator) or
horrible (victim) illusion.
To learn to master these experiences and to
accept them earnestly as an ingredient of
human self-knowledge frees sexuality from its
lowest form—that of purely physical urge.
Then the soul-spiritual experiences which are
possible through sexuality can also be known
in a purely soulful and spiritual way.
Sexual stimulation and activity—in
whatever form—are used as a substitute to
satisfy nearly every possible physical, soul, and
spiritual need. If we are to strive for health in
this area, we cannot simply settle for learning
outer rules for sexual behavior. It is far more
important to work toward creating conditions in
which young people learn to become free
persons in both sides of their soul development:
in such a way that the physical experience
stimulates spiritual activity and the experiences
of the spirit deepen and enrich the physical.
 Dr. Michaela Glöckler is currently the head of the Medical Section of the School of Spiritual Dr. Michaela Glöckler is currently the head of the Medical Section of the School of Spiritual
Science in Dornach, Switzerland. She has been active as a pediatrician and school doctor in Science in Dornach, Switzerland. She has been active as a pediatrician and school doctor in
Germany and is the author of A Guide to Child Health, Floris Books. Germany and is the author of A Guide to Child Health, Floris Books.

41 41
ADHD—
A Challenge Of Our Time
Eugene Schwartz
In 1968, the American Psychiatric Society
published the Second Edition of its standard
reference book, Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-II) in
which the term “hyperkinetic reaction of
childhood (or adolescence)” was first used,
supplanting the more generalized term,
“minimal brain dysfunction” or MBD. The
disorder was characterized by “overactivity,
restlessness, distractibility, and short attention
span, especially in young children…” In 1980,
the DSM-III labeled the problem “attention
deficit disorder” or ADD, recognizing that
there were two subtypes: ADD with
hyperactivity and ADD without hyperactivity.
In 1987, the revised Third Edition, DSM-III-
R, changed the term once again, this time to
“attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder” or
ADHD, once again reflecting the importance
of hyperactivity—uncontrolled will—as
central component of the syndrome.1
By the early 1990s, schools were reporting a
10 percent to 20 percent incidence of ADHD
among students, while parents reported as
high an incidence as 30 percent. By the mid-
90s ADHD had become such a pervasive
phenomenon in urban schools that The New
Yorker featured a “back-to-school” cover
entitled the Three R’s showing a blackboard on
which was written, “Readin, Ritin, Ritalin.”
43
Larry Silver, a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
at Georgetown University School of Medicine
and an authority on ADHD noted:
Whatever the dynamics or initial cause, the
family dysfunction must be corrected. The
parents must regain control. Children with
ADHD must feel that they can be controlled.
These changes are essential for the whole
family. Negative control of parents is unhealthy
and unproductive. These children must learn
more acceptable behavioral patterns before
they start using these negative behaviors at
school, with peers, or in the community . . .
First comes the behavioral changes and then
comes . . . awareness and insight . . . Initially,
you must be omnipotent. No more reasoning,
bargaining, bribing, threatening, or trying to
provoke guilt. Parents make the rules. Parents
enforce the rules. Parents’ decisions are final.
You must learn that if you “step into the arena”
and agree to debate or argue with your child,
you will lose.2
Dr. Silver’s comment that “these changes
are essential for the whole family” is
important. Clinicians working with families
of ADHD children (and a 30 percent
incidence implies that a family with three or
more children has a good chance of
experiencing ADHD), have increasingly
recognized that the clarity, authority and
ADHD—
A Challenge Of Our Time
Eugene Schwartz
In 1968, the American Psychiatric Society
published the Second Edition of its standard
reference book, Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-II) in
which the term “hyperkinetic reaction of
childhood (or adolescence)” was first used,
supplanting the more generalized term,
“minimal brain dysfunction” or MBD. The
disorder was characterized by “overactivity,
restlessness, distractibility, and short attention
span, especially in young children…” In 1980,
the DSM-III labeled the problem “attention
deficit disorder” or ADD, recognizing that
there were two subtypes: ADD with
hyperactivity and ADD without hyperactivity.
In 1987, the revised Third Edition, DSM-III-
R, changed the term once again, this time to
“attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder” or
ADHD, once again reflecting the importance
of hyperactivity—uncontrolled will—as
central component of the syndrome.1
By the early 1990s, schools were reporting a
10 percent to 20 percent incidence of ADHD
among students, while parents reported as
high an incidence as 30 percent. By the mid-
90s ADHD had become such a pervasive
phenomenon in urban schools that The New
Yorker featured a “back-to-school” cover
entitled the Three R’s showing a blackboard on
which was written, “Readin, Ritin, Ritalin.”
43
Larry Silver, a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
at Georgetown University School of Medicine
and an authority on ADHD noted:
Whatever the dynamics or initial cause, the
family dysfunction must be corrected. The
parents must regain control. Children with
ADHD must feel that they can be controlled.
These changes are essential for the whole
family. Negative control of parents is unhealthy
and unproductive. These children must learn
more acceptable behavioral patterns before
they start using these negative behaviors at
school, with peers, or in the community . . .
First comes the behavioral changes and then
comes . . . awareness and insight . . . Initially,
you must be omnipotent. No more reasoning,
bargaining, bribing, threatening, or trying to
provoke guilt. Parents make the rules. Parents
enforce the rules. Parents’ decisions are final.
You must learn that if you “step into the arena”
and agree to debate or argue with your child,
you will lose.2
Dr. Silver’s comment that “these changes
are essential for the whole family” is
important. Clinicians working with families
of ADHD children (and a 30 percent
incidence implies that a family with three or
more children has a good chance of
experiencing ADHD), have increasingly
recognized that the clarity, authority and
“omnipotence” the dysfunctional child craves
to experience in his parents is actually
beneficial for his siblings as well.
Of course, not all child psychologists were
ready to make a complete break with the
“child-centered” approach of the 60s, and
attempts were made to help the ADHD child
control his own behavior, independent of
adult guidance. “Cognitive training” was an
elaborate (and expensive) training program
that sought to teach ADHD children how to
cope with difficult social situations in a less
impulsive fashion. The methods involved
something like a junior Parent Effectiveness
Training (P.E.T.) program, with role-playing,
training in social problem-solving skills and
exercises in cooperation. Yet, after a decade of
work in such programs, Howard Abikoff,
M.D., one of the founders of this approach,
said that, “The results [were] very
discouraging.” Cognitive training “did not
reduce the children’s need for stimulant
medication, nor did it result in improved
classroom behavior or in gains in academic
productivity or achievement, [and] social
behavior was similarly unaffected . . .”
CAUSES OF ADHD
Diet/Chemical Imbalance Lack of authority
Physical Basis Behavioral Basis
Biophysical School Behavioral School
In spite of the very real passions excited
by parents, nutritionists, psychologists and
others convinced that one treatment holds
the key to ADHD, many clinicians have
come to recognize that a combination of
treatments, tailored to the individual child
and regularly reviewed, adjusted and
corrected, will yield the best results.
(This comprehensive approach is also
increasingly proposed in the treatment of
44
cancer and Alzheimer’s Syndrome.) As Larry
Silver writes:
The treatment of ADHD must involve several
approaches, including individual and family
education, individual and family counseling,
the use of appropriate behavioral management
programs, and the use of appropriate
medications . . . Such a multi-modal approach
is needed because children and adolescents
with ADHD have multiple areas of difficulty.
To help your daughter or son, you must
understand how the ADHD impacts on her or
him in every aspect of life.3
This approach reflects an understanding
that, in spite of the symptoms that all
ADHD children have in common, it is not
enough to treat the illness, one must also
treat the individual who manifests those
symptoms in his own unique way. This
eclectic method could be paralleled to the
phenomenological school of psychology,
which avoids construction theories, and
whose practitioners believe “that what
happens to a person is not as relevant as to
whom it happens and what it means to
him/her.”4
Disturbance of feelings Multiple causes
Emotional Basis Individual Basis
Intrapsychic School Phenomenological
School
The conflicts concerning the “right” way to
treat ADHD, and their partial resolution in
the accepting attitude evidenced by the
“Individual Basis” or phenomenological
approach, finds a profound resonance in the
image of the human being developed by
Rudolf Steiner. Drawing on ancient traditions,
esoteric teachings, and his own clairvoyant
faculties, Steiner described the human being
as an entity possessing four “bodies,” each of
“omnipotence” the dysfunctional child craves
to experience in his parents is actually
beneficial for his siblings as well.
Of course, not all child psychologists were
ready to make a complete break with the
“child-centered” approach of the 60s, and
attempts were made to help the ADHD child
control his own behavior, independent of
adult guidance. “Cognitive training” was an
elaborate (and expensive) training program
that sought to teach ADHD children how to
cope with difficult social situations in a less
impulsive fashion. The methods involved
something like a junior Parent Effectiveness
Training (P.E.T.) program, with role-playing,
training in social problem-solving skills and
exercises in cooperation. Yet, after a decade of
work in such programs, Howard Abikoff,
M.D., one of the founders of this approach,
said that, “The results [were] very
discouraging.” Cognitive training “did not
reduce the children’s need for stimulant
medication, nor did it result in improved
classroom behavior or in gains in academic
productivity or achievement, [and] social
behavior was similarly unaffected . . .”
CAUSES OF ADHD
Diet/Chemical Imbalance Lack of authority
Physical Basis Behavioral Basis
Biophysical School Behavioral School
In spite of the very real passions excited
by parents, nutritionists, psychologists and
others convinced that one treatment holds
the key to ADHD, many clinicians have
come to recognize that a combination of
treatments, tailored to the individual child
and regularly reviewed, adjusted and
corrected, will yield the best results.
(This comprehensive approach is also
increasingly proposed in the treatment of
44
cancer and Alzheimer’s Syndrome.) As Larry
Silver writes:
The treatment of ADHD must involve several
approaches, including individual and family
education, individual and family counseling,
the use of appropriate behavioral management
programs, and the use of appropriate
medications . . . Such a multi-modal approach
is needed because children and adolescents
with ADHD have multiple areas of difficulty.
To help your daughter or son, you must
understand how the ADHD impacts on her or
him in every aspect of life.3
This approach reflects an understanding
that, in spite of the symptoms that all
ADHD children have in common, it is not
enough to treat the illness, one must also
treat the individual who manifests those
symptoms in his own unique way. This
eclectic method could be paralleled to the
phenomenological school of psychology,
which avoids construction theories, and
whose practitioners believe “that what
happens to a person is not as relevant as to
whom it happens and what it means to
him/her.”4
Disturbance of feelings Multiple causes
Emotional Basis Individual Basis
Intrapsychic School Phenomenological
School
The conflicts concerning the “right” way to
treat ADHD, and their partial resolution in
the accepting attitude evidenced by the
“Individual Basis” or phenomenological
approach, finds a profound resonance in the
image of the human being developed by
Rudolf Steiner. Drawing on ancient traditions,
esoteric teachings, and his own clairvoyant
faculties, Steiner described the human being
as an entity possessing four “bodies,” each of
which manifests itself in a unique manner.
These “bodies” should ideally function in
harmony with one another, resulting in well-
integrated and balanced human beings. In real
life, however, they are often vying for
dominance, overstepping their apportioned
boundaries, and their conflicts may go so far
as to appear as mental imbalance and physical
illness. Except for the “physical body,” the
other “higher members” of the human
entelechy are invisible to ordinary sight. This
does not mean that those of us who are not
clairvoyant must accept them on faith, or
scoff at the pretensions of those who claim to
perceive “invisible bodies.” Steiner was helpful
in delineating the effects through which these
bodies make themselves known in the sensory
world, the ripples and echoes through which
even ordinary perceptive faculties can be
made aware of their presence and activities.
Let us look again at the treatment
modalities for ADHD. The biophysical
approach acknowledges only the physical body.
For the bio-physical researcher, only that to
which the senses can testify really exists. He is
confident that, one day, all “qualities” and
intangibles (e.g. emotions, thoughts, longings
and desires), will be shown to have a
neurological basis, arising from the body’s
electro-chemical composition and amenable
to chemical and electrical manipulation. As
Barbara Ingersoll writes to parents in her
guide, Your Hyperactive Child:
Psychiatry has turned, for example, from
emphasis on disturbances in the mind to a
search for disturbances in the brain as the
source of disordered behavior and emotions.
Research in the neurosciences has produced
enormous gains in our understanding of how
the brain works and how breakdowns in the
brain affect the way we think, feel and behave.5
While neurologists work with ADHD
almost exclusively on the basis of brain
chemistry, others approaching the problem
45
from the biophysical standpoint look to the
child’s metabolic sensitivities as a casual
factor. In this respect, the neuroscientist’s
approach represents a contraction, a focus on
the internal nature of the human body, while
the nutritional/environmental clinician
expands his concern to all that which affects
the child from the outside in. In both cases,
the causes are judged to be completely
material, however infinitesimal the actual
material substance may be:
The Feingold program involves the elimination
of all artificial colors and flavors, the
preservatives BHA and BHT, and the flavor
enhancer MSG. Various other substances are
also eliminated, depending on the degree of the
child’s sensitivity to them. These other
substances include salicylates and various food
additives . . . In many cases that at first appear
unsuccessful with this method of treatment,
the child is absorbing offending substances by
some means other than food intake. Irritating
molecules might be inhaled, or they might be
absorbed through the skin.6
This component of the human being is what
Rudolf Steiner, too, termed the physical body.
At death, or through the severance of any part
of that body from the whole (the cutting of the
hair, the loss of a limb) the physical body will
revert to the same chemical components as are
to be found in the “lifeless” mineral world.
Hence the physical body can also be called the
“mineral body.” Indeed, even when we are alive,
the physical body is on the verge of reverting to
its mineral, chemical basis. It is only due to the
presence and interwoven activity of three
“higher” bodies that the physical body remains
intact and recognizably individuated.
The behavioral school has learned the
power that the “pleasure principle” has over
human behavior, and how a system of rewards
and punishments can alter the way in which a
human being acts. While the biophysical
researcher looks within the human being and
finds every minute “cause” for emotions and
which manifests itself in a unique manner.
These “bodies” should ideally function in
harmony with one another, resulting in well-
integrated and balanced human beings. In real
life, however, they are often vying for
dominance, overstepping their apportioned
boundaries, and their conflicts may go so far
as to appear as mental imbalance and physical
illness. Except for the “physical body,” the
other “higher members” of the human
entelechy are invisible to ordinary sight. This
does not mean that those of us who are not
clairvoyant must accept them on faith, or
scoff at the pretensions of those who claim to
perceive “invisible bodies.” Steiner was helpful
in delineating the effects through which these
bodies make themselves known in the sensory
world, the ripples and echoes through which
even ordinary perceptive faculties can be
made aware of their presence and activities.
Let us look again at the treatment
modalities for ADHD. The biophysical
approach acknowledges only the physical body.
For the bio-physical researcher, only that to
which the senses can testify really exists. He is
confident that, one day, all “qualities” and
intangibles (e.g. emotions, thoughts, longings
and desires), will be shown to have a
neurological basis, arising from the body’s
electro-chemical composition and amenable
to chemical and electrical manipulation. As
Barbara Ingersoll writes to parents in her
guide, Your Hyperactive Child:
Psychiatry has turned, for example, from
emphasis on disturbances in the mind to a
search for disturbances in the brain as the
source of disordered behavior and emotions.
Research in the neurosciences has produced
enormous gains in our understanding of how
the brain works and how breakdowns in the
brain affect the way we think, feel and behave.5
While neurologists work with ADHD
almost exclusively on the basis of brain
chemistry, others approaching the problem
45
from the biophysical standpoint look to the
child’s metabolic sensitivities as a casual
factor. In this respect, the neuroscientist’s
approach represents a contraction, a focus on
the internal nature of the human body, while
the nutritional/environmental clinician
expands his concern to all that which affects
the child from the outside in. In both cases,
the causes are judged to be completely
material, however infinitesimal the actual
material substance may be:
The Feingold program involves the elimination
of all artificial colors and flavors, the
preservatives BHA and BHT, and the flavor
enhancer MSG. Various other substances are
also eliminated, depending on the degree of the
child’s sensitivity to them. These other
substances include salicylates and various food
additives . . . In many cases that at first appear
unsuccessful with this method of treatment,
the child is absorbing offending substances by
some means other than food intake. Irritating
molecules might be inhaled, or they might be
absorbed through the skin.6
This component of the human being is what
Rudolf Steiner, too, termed the physical body.
At death, or through the severance of any part
of that body from the whole (the cutting of the
hair, the loss of a limb) the physical body will
revert to the same chemical components as are
to be found in the “lifeless” mineral world.
Hence the physical body can also be called the
“mineral body.” Indeed, even when we are alive,
the physical body is on the verge of reverting to
its mineral, chemical basis. It is only due to the
presence and interwoven activity of three
“higher” bodies that the physical body remains
intact and recognizably individuated.
The behavioral school has learned the
power that the “pleasure principle” has over
human behavior, and how a system of rewards
and punishments can alter the way in which a
human being acts. While the biophysical
researcher looks within the human being and
finds every minute “cause” for emotions and
behavior—from cells to chromosomes to
molecules to atoms—the behaviorist dismisses
the inner world as a “black box,” and is
content to register “inputs” while altering
“outputs.” What behaviorism will
acknowledge concerning the possibility of
“inner life” is that behavioral responses are
somehow remembered by both animals and
humans; indeed, were there no memory of the
reward or punishment, behavior could not be
altered in any predictable, and thereby useful,
manner. Thus the somatisized memory of an
action and its consequence leads to the
learning of a new pattern of behavior:
Behavior modification is based on the idea that
specific behaviors are learned because they
produce specific effects. In other words, people
(and animals) learn to do many of the things
they do because of the consequences that
follow their actions. Behavior is affected most
strongly by consequences which immediately
follow the behavior . . . Thus, a puppy who is
rewarded with a pat and a biscuit learns to
come when he is called, and a toddler learns to
say “Please” if his behavior results in a cookie.7
When ADHD children are treated by
behaviorist methods, such matters as regular
daily rhythms (meals, bedtimes, etc.) and
consistent responses to their actions are
extremely important as means to reinforce
desirable “patterns” of behavior. The
behaviorist is most interested in those areas
where the human being meets, or interfaces
with, his surroundings.
In Steiner’s model, the etheric body stands
one stage above the physical body, and
responsible for sustaining both its life and its
form; Steiner also calls this member of our
being our “life body.” The etheric body bears
within itself the “memory” of our form (the
“body of formative forces” is yet another term
used to describe it) and, in its interplay with
our physical nature, it carries our
predisposition to health or illness. The
46
immune system recognized by modern
medicine is one of the outward effects of the
interplay of the etheric body with the physical
body. The memory of our form gradually
becomes the capacity to “re-member,” which
as the word implies, is a mental faculty based
on our physiological nature.
The intrapsychic school represents another
“contraction,” returning to the inner nature of
the human being, although on a higher level
than that which concerns the research of the
biophysical school.
For many years—and even today, in some
professional circles—psychologists and
psychiatrists considered psychotherapy the
treatment choice for dealing with disordered
behavior and emotions in both children and
adults . . . Although there are many schools of
psychotherapy, most traditional forms are based
on the assumption that abnormal behavior is
caused by underlying psychological problems.
Psychotherapy attempts to deal with these
underlying problems—the unconscious
conflicts, fears, anxieties, and fantasies—that
interfere with the patient’s ability to cope with
the demands of everyday life.8
In contrast to the biophysical and
behavioral schools, the intrapsychic school
does not treat the human being as a mixture
of chemicals or as a black box, but regards
patients as conscious beings who are endowed
with some control over their actions.
Although, like the other two approaches, the
intrapsychic method recognizes that much
which leads us to act belongs to the
“unconscious” part of our nature, the
psychoanalyst’s goal is to bring what is
unconscious to full consciousness, and thus
under the control of the conscious
component of the patient. The degree to
which the unconscious part of a person
guides her actions is in part dependent on the
age and maturity of an individual, but it is
also determined by those experiences which
behavior—from cells to chromosomes to
molecules to atoms—the behaviorist dismisses
the inner world as a “black box,” and is
content to register “inputs” while altering
“outputs.” What behaviorism will
acknowledge concerning the possibility of
“inner life” is that behavioral responses are
somehow remembered by both animals and
humans; indeed, were there no memory of the
reward or punishment, behavior could not be
altered in any predictable, and thereby useful,
manner. Thus the somatisized memory of an
action and its consequence leads to the
learning of a new pattern of behavior:
Behavior modification is based on the idea that
specific behaviors are learned because they
produce specific effects. In other words, people
(and animals) learn to do many of the things
they do because of the consequences that
follow their actions. Behavior is affected most
strongly by consequences which immediately
follow the behavior . . . Thus, a puppy who is
rewarded with a pat and a biscuit learns to
come when he is called, and a toddler learns to
say “Please” if his behavior results in a cookie.7
When ADHD children are treated by
behaviorist methods, such matters as regular
daily rhythms (meals, bedtimes, etc.) and
consistent responses to their actions are
extremely important as means to reinforce
desirable “patterns” of behavior. The
behaviorist is most interested in those areas
where the human being meets, or interfaces
with, his surroundings.
In Steiner’s model, the etheric body stands
one stage above the physical body, and
responsible for sustaining both its life and its
form; Steiner also calls this member of our
being our “life body.” The etheric body bears
within itself the “memory” of our form (the
“body of formative forces” is yet another term
used to describe it) and, in its interplay with
our physical nature, it carries our
predisposition to health or illness. The
46
immune system recognized by modern
medicine is one of the outward effects of the
interplay of the etheric body with the physical
body. The memory of our form gradually
becomes the capacity to “re-member,” which
as the word implies, is a mental faculty based
on our physiological nature.
The intrapsychic school represents another
“contraction,” returning to the inner nature of
the human being, although on a higher level
than that which concerns the research of the
biophysical school.
For many years—and even today, in some
professional circles—psychologists and
psychiatrists considered psychotherapy the
treatment choice for dealing with disordered
behavior and emotions in both children and
adults . . . Although there are many schools of
psychotherapy, most traditional forms are based
on the assumption that abnormal behavior is
caused by underlying psychological problems.
Psychotherapy attempts to deal with these
underlying problems—the unconscious
conflicts, fears, anxieties, and fantasies—that
interfere with the patient’s ability to cope with
the demands of everyday life.8
In contrast to the biophysical and
behavioral schools, the intrapsychic school
does not treat the human being as a mixture
of chemicals or as a black box, but regards
patients as conscious beings who are endowed
with some control over their actions.
Although, like the other two approaches, the
intrapsychic method recognizes that much
which leads us to act belongs to the
“unconscious” part of our nature, the
psychoanalyst’s goal is to bring what is
unconscious to full consciousness, and thus
under the control of the conscious
component of the patient. The degree to
which the unconscious part of a person
guides her actions is in part dependent on the
age and maturity of an individual, but it is
also determined by those experiences which
formed the psyche in the individual’s
childhood. If the unconscious is merely
“repressed,” it will continue to rebel against
the guidance of the conscious mind; rather,
that which is vexing in the unconscious must
be recalled, re-examined, and integrated into
the conscious mind. In this approach, the
impulsiveness, restlessness and social
clumsiness of the ADHD youngster may all
be signs of a misdirected stage of psychic
growth now erupting out of the unconscious,
craving to be redirected by a strengthened
conscious mind.
The intrapsychic school, with its insights
into human consciousness, is most perceptive
concerning those desires and drives, needs and
fantasies, that work from out of the
unconscious level of our nature and impel us
into action, or, as in the case of Freud’s first
patient, “Anna O., “freeze us into lethargy and
inaction.” The component that Steiner
perceives as most active in this scenario is the
astral body, which is even more subtle in
nature than the etheric body. It is the member
often termed the “soul” or “soul body.”
Steiner also identifies it as the body of wishes
and desires. The etheric body gives us life, but
it is the astral body that gives us sentience
(however dreamlike it may be) and the
capacity to move towards those objects or
images we desire. Whether the object of this
desire is as simple as food and warmth, or as
grandiose as world domination, we are
experiencing the astral body in action. An
important characteristic of this body is its
polarizing tendency. Whatever is astral in
nature in the human being will be two-fold in
nature, manifesting as love and hatred, joy
and sorrow, elation and depression, laughter
and tears, wakefulness and sleep, etc. The
“creative tension” of the interplay between
the conscious and unconscious poles of the
human psyche typifies the very nature of the
astral body.
47
Although the condition of ADHD cannot
be “cured,” and presents challenges which last
a lifetime, many ADHD youngsters mature
into relatively “balanced” adults who appear
to have integrated personalities and the ability
to fit into virtually any life situation. In fact,
the severe behavior difficulties and social
problems so burdensome for them as children
now become positive attributes in their
personal lives and careers. The irksome
restlessness of childhood may manifest as
healthy adult ambition. The child’s short
attention span and distractibility can become
flexibility and cognitive mobility in the adult,
while the impulsiveness that frustrated scores
of teachers throughout his years of schooling
may become a youthful vigor and openness to
change which delights friends and colleagues.
In this remarkable metamorphosis from
childhood to adulthood, we see how the
unique nature of the human individuality
may, under the right circumstances,
sublimate, or compensate for, or even
transcend, the seemingly intractable
symptoms of a deep-seated condition.
It is this transformation over time, i.e.,
that which constitutes the unique
“biography” of the individuality, which most
interests the phenomenological practitioner.
Larry Silver describes his experiences over the
course of time:
Over the past 25 years of working with individuals
with ADHD and/or learning disabilities, I have
followed many of them through their childhood
and adolescence, into their young-adult life.
Often, I ask them to tell me which interventions
were the most helpful for them and which were
not. I explain that I want to learn from them so
that I can better help others. The most consistent
response they give me is “When you first
explained who I was.” Before this time, they saw
themselves as dumb or bad. After this time, they
began to understand their disabilities, and with
this new knowledge of themselves they were able
to rethink and change their self-image.9
formed the psyche in the individual’s
childhood. If the unconscious is merely
“repressed,” it will continue to rebel against
the guidance of the conscious mind; rather,
that which is vexing in the unconscious must
be recalled, re-examined, and integrated into
the conscious mind. In this approach, the
impulsiveness, restlessness and social
clumsiness of the ADHD youngster may all
be signs of a misdirected stage of psychic
growth now erupting out of the unconscious,
craving to be redirected by a strengthened
conscious mind.
The intrapsychic school, with its insights
into human consciousness, is most perceptive
concerning those desires and drives, needs and
fantasies, that work from out of the
unconscious level of our nature and impel us
into action, or, as in the case of Freud’s first
patient, “Anna O., “freeze us into lethargy and
inaction.” The component that Steiner
perceives as most active in this scenario is the
astral body, which is even more subtle in
nature than the etheric body. It is the member
often termed the “soul” or “soul body.”
Steiner also identifies it as the body of wishes
and desires. The etheric body gives us life, but
it is the astral body that gives us sentience
(however dreamlike it may be) and the
capacity to move towards those objects or
images we desire. Whether the object of this
desire is as simple as food and warmth, or as
grandiose as world domination, we are
experiencing the astral body in action. An
important characteristic of this body is its
polarizing tendency. Whatever is astral in
nature in the human being will be two-fold in
nature, manifesting as love and hatred, joy
and sorrow, elation and depression, laughter
and tears, wakefulness and sleep, etc. The
“creative tension” of the interplay between
the conscious and unconscious poles of the
human psyche typifies the very nature of the
astral body.
47
Although the condition of ADHD cannot
be “cured,” and presents challenges which last
a lifetime, many ADHD youngsters mature
into relatively “balanced” adults who appear
to have integrated personalities and the ability
to fit into virtually any life situation. In fact,
the severe behavior difficulties and social
problems so burdensome for them as children
now become positive attributes in their
personal lives and careers. The irksome
restlessness of childhood may manifest as
healthy adult ambition. The child’s short
attention span and distractibility can become
flexibility and cognitive mobility in the adult,
while the impulsiveness that frustrated scores
of teachers throughout his years of schooling
may become a youthful vigor and openness to
change which delights friends and colleagues.
In this remarkable metamorphosis from
childhood to adulthood, we see how the
unique nature of the human individuality
may, under the right circumstances,
sublimate, or compensate for, or even
transcend, the seemingly intractable
symptoms of a deep-seated condition.
It is this transformation over time, i.e.,
that which constitutes the unique
“biography” of the individuality, which most
interests the phenomenological practitioner.
Larry Silver describes his experiences over the
course of time:
Over the past 25 years of working with individuals
with ADHD and/or learning disabilities, I have
followed many of them through their childhood
and adolescence, into their young-adult life.
Often, I ask them to tell me which interventions
were the most helpful for them and which were
not. I explain that I want to learn from them so
that I can better help others. The most consistent
response they give me is “When you first
explained who I was.” Before this time, they saw
themselves as dumb or bad. After this time, they
began to understand their disabilities, and with
this new knowledge of themselves they were able
to rethink and change their self-image.9
 Steiner calls the “I” or Ego that which
allows the human being to experience his or
her individual nature. This Ego is at once the
most universal and the most individualized
aspect of our being. We can call ourselves “I”,
but we can call no one else by that pronoun; it
is a name we all share, yet it is the most
personal part of our nature. The Ego “wears”
the three other bodies like so many veils,
expressing itself through all of them, yet
remaining ineffable and unique. It is this “I”
which constitutes our spiritual nature, eternal
and Divine in essence.
CAUSES OF ADHD
Diet/Chemical Imbalance Lack of authority
Physical Basis Behavioral Basis
Biophysical School Behavioral School
Physical Body Etheric Body
In Steiner’s world-view the Ego ceaselessly
works upon the three “lower” bodies to
spiritualize and perfect them. Its work will
eventually result in the creation of new
members of the human being. The Ego’s
work upon the astral body will lead to the
creation of the Spirit Self; its work upon the
etheric body will result in the Life Spirit, and
its spiritualization of the physical body will
bring about the Spirit Man. Hence, the Ego
stands as the “teacher” of the bodies of the
human being, raising the lower bodies into
the higher by virtue of its eternal nature. In
this respect, the activity of the Ego is the
prototype of all education.
Rudolf Steiner also spoke about the
chronological nature of these four bodies.
Here we find the basis for a comprehensive
study of “developmental psychology.”
Although we are four-fold beings from the
moment of birth, a number of years must
pass for all the bodies to incorporate and act
48
in concert from within the human being.
From birth until age seven (or about the
time of the second dentition) our physical
body is being worked upon, from without, by
the etheric body, and the child’s
consciousness is bound up with processes of
assimilation and growth. From ages seven to
fourteen, the etheric body slowly assumes
the same contours as the physical body; it
now dampens down its predominately
“organic” activity, and its forces are
metamorphosed into the newly-arising
powers of memory. From fourteen to
Disturbance of feelings Multiple causes
Emotional Basis Individual Basis
Intrapsychic School Phenomenological
School
Astral Body Ego
twenty-one, the astral body becomes
dominant as it is incorporated into the
adolescent and young adult. The life of
desire grows strong, and so does the life of
ideals; the capacity to reason is born in the
midst of the turmoil of the life of emotions.
At twenty-one the ego is truly “born” within
us. From this point on, human education is
increasingly a matter of self-education. The
life-long process of becoming adult and fully
human now begins.
Lest these simplified descriptions seem
too rigid, it should be stressed that in the
fullness of his work Rudolf Steiner
approached his picture of the four-fold
human being from a multitude of
perspectives and always stressed the
mobility and transformative quality of the
higher bodies of man. Only modes of
thought which are in themselves mobile can
comprehend the continually
metamorphosing nature of the four-fold
human being.
Steiner calls the “I” or Ego that which
allows the human being to experience his or
her individual nature. This Ego is at once the
most universal and the most individualized
aspect of our being. We can call ourselves “I”,
but we can call no one else by that pronoun; it
is a name we all share, yet it is the most
personal part of our nature. The Ego “wears”
the three other bodies like so many veils,
expressing itself through all of them, yet
remaining ineffable and unique. It is this “I”
which constitutes our spiritual nature, eternal
and Divine in essence.
CAUSES OF ADHD
Diet/Chemical Imbalance Lack of authority
Physical Basis Behavioral Basis
Biophysical School Behavioral School
Physical Body Etheric Body
In Steiner’s world-view the Ego ceaselessly
works upon the three “lower” bodies to
spiritualize and perfect them. Its work will
eventually result in the creation of new
members of the human being. The Ego’s
work upon the astral body will lead to the
creation of the Spirit Self; its work upon the
etheric body will result in the Life Spirit, and
its spiritualization of the physical body will
bring about the Spirit Man. Hence, the Ego
stands as the “teacher” of the bodies of the
human being, raising the lower bodies into
the higher by virtue of its eternal nature. In
this respect, the activity of the Ego is the
prototype of all education.
Rudolf Steiner also spoke about the
chronological nature of these four bodies.
Here we find the basis for a comprehensive
study of “developmental psychology.”
Although we are four-fold beings from the
moment of birth, a number of years must
pass for all the bodies to incorporate and act
48
in concert from within the human being.
From birth until age seven (or about the
time of the second dentition) our physical
body is being worked upon, from without, by
the etheric body, and the child’s
consciousness is bound up with processes of
assimilation and growth. From ages seven to
fourteen, the etheric body slowly assumes
the same contours as the physical body; it
now dampens down its predominately
“organic” activity, and its forces are
metamorphosed into the newly-arising
powers of memory. From fourteen to
Disturbance of feelings Multiple causes
Emotional Basis Individual Basis
Intrapsychic School Phenomenological
School
Astral Body Ego
twenty-one, the astral body becomes
dominant as it is incorporated into the
adolescent and young adult. The life of
desire grows strong, and so does the life of
ideals; the capacity to reason is born in the
midst of the turmoil of the life of emotions.
At twenty-one the ego is truly “born” within
us. From this point on, human education is
increasingly a matter of self-education. The
life-long process of becoming adult and fully
human now begins.
Lest these simplified descriptions seem
too rigid, it should be stressed that in the
fullness of his work Rudolf Steiner
approached his picture of the four-fold
human being from a multitude of
perspectives and always stressed the
mobility and transformative quality of the
higher bodies of man. Only modes of
thought which are in themselves mobile can
comprehend the continually
metamorphosing nature of the four-fold
human being.
 As we have seen, a great deal of the
critical situation that we experience at the
century’s end in regard to our children has
arisen out of the “leveling” and eliminating
of the differences between the child and the
adult. This homogenization of the stages
of life attained its zenith (or nadir) in
Janov’s statement that “there are no
‘grown-ups,’” but it is already implicit in
Freud’s conclusions about infantile
sexuality, and, so many variations on a
theme. It resounds throughout our century,
reaching something of a crescendo in
mainstream approaches to sex education in
America’s grade schools. The developmental
picture provided by Rudolf Steiner, in spite
of its somewhat foreign terminology,
provides a wealth of insights that can help
us answer the questions, “What is the
difference between an adult and a child?”
and “What is a child?”
Rudolf Steiner’s research led him to
conclude that the most profound differences
between adults and children, and even
between children of different ages, were
differences in consciousness. The changes in
consciousness that accompanied the growth
process from infancy, through childhood, to
adulthood (and beyond) paralleled the
development of consciousness that is found in
the course of events and artistic creations
loosely categorized as “cultural history.”10
It would be fatal to take a fetus out of the
womb in its third month and begin nursing it
and playing with it; babies born even one
month premature require special care and a
womb-like setting before they can acclimatize
to the conditions of earthly life. In Steiner’s
view, it is no less deleterious to the child’s soul
health to pull it out of a “younger” stage of
consciousness and begin to treat it like a little
adolescent or young adult. Although infants,
toddlers and grade-schoolers share the same
physical space with us, their consciousness
49
hearkens back to an earlier time. It is only our
insensitivity, our insistence that children “speak
our language” and act as we do, that prevents
us from perceiving this difference and compels
the child to prematurely “modernize” herself.
One practice that Rudolf Steiner suggested
as a means of understanding the child’s state
of consciousness and to empathize with her
experiences in our world is to contemplate the
differences between the states of sleeping,
dreaming and waking.11 When we are asleep,
we are helpless, insensate and oblivious to all
that goes on around us. When awake, we are
independent, we are using our senses and we
are aware of our surroundings and often acting
upon them.
Using Steiner’s fourfold paradigm, sleep is
characterized as the state experienced by the
human being when the physical and etheric
bodies are “present,” while the astral body and
ego have “withdrawn.” We are awake when the
astral body and ego rejoin the two lower
members. If we compare this description to the
chronological unfolding of the human being
over seven-year periods we can see that the
transition from infancy to adulthood is
tantamount to a twenty-one year long
“awakening.” Conversely, every time we awaken
from sleep we are almost instantaneously
recapitulating our own development from baby
to adult. States of consciousness and stages of
consciousness bear a richly reciprocal
relationship to one another.
The state of consciousness that bridges the
polarities of sleeping and waking is that of
dreaming. The importance of the dream as a
mirror of the riddles of human life has never
been lost on artists and philosophers, and it
was Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams that
heralded the birth of psychoanalysis. While
“sleep” is the quintessential state of infant
consciousness and “wakefulness” is endemic to
adulthood, “dreaming” and its many variations
can well characterize the nature of childhood.
As we have seen, a great deal of the
critical situation that we experience at the
century’s end in regard to our children has
arisen out of the “leveling” and eliminating
of the differences between the child and the
adult. This homogenization of the stages
of life attained its zenith (or nadir) in
Janov’s statement that “there are no
‘grown-ups,’” but it is already implicit in
Freud’s conclusions about infantile
sexuality, and, so many variations on a
theme. It resounds throughout our century,
reaching something of a crescendo in
mainstream approaches to sex education in
America’s grade schools. The developmental
picture provided by Rudolf Steiner, in spite
of its somewhat foreign terminology,
provides a wealth of insights that can help
us answer the questions, “What is the
difference between an adult and a child?”
and “What is a child?”
Rudolf Steiner’s research led him to
conclude that the most profound differences
between adults and children, and even
between children of different ages, were
differences in consciousness. The changes in
consciousness that accompanied the growth
process from infancy, through childhood, to
adulthood (and beyond) paralleled the
development of consciousness that is found in
the course of events and artistic creations
loosely categorized as “cultural history.”10
It would be fatal to take a fetus out of the
womb in its third month and begin nursing it
and playing with it; babies born even one
month premature require special care and a
womb-like setting before they can acclimatize
to the conditions of earthly life. In Steiner’s
view, it is no less deleterious to the child’s soul
health to pull it out of a “younger” stage of
consciousness and begin to treat it like a little
adolescent or young adult. Although infants,
toddlers and grade-schoolers share the same
physical space with us, their consciousness
49
hearkens back to an earlier time. It is only our
insensitivity, our insistence that children “speak
our language” and act as we do, that prevents
us from perceiving this difference and compels
the child to prematurely “modernize” herself.
One practice that Rudolf Steiner suggested
as a means of understanding the child’s state
of consciousness and to empathize with her
experiences in our world is to contemplate the
differences between the states of sleeping,
dreaming and waking.11 When we are asleep,
we are helpless, insensate and oblivious to all
that goes on around us. When awake, we are
independent, we are using our senses and we
are aware of our surroundings and often acting
upon them.
Using Steiner’s fourfold paradigm, sleep is
characterized as the state experienced by the
human being when the physical and etheric
bodies are “present,” while the astral body and
ego have “withdrawn.” We are awake when the
astral body and ego rejoin the two lower
members. If we compare this description to the
chronological unfolding of the human being
over seven-year periods we can see that the
transition from infancy to adulthood is
tantamount to a twenty-one year long
“awakening.” Conversely, every time we awaken
from sleep we are almost instantaneously
recapitulating our own development from baby
to adult. States of consciousness and stages of
consciousness bear a richly reciprocal
relationship to one another.
The state of consciousness that bridges the
polarities of sleeping and waking is that of
dreaming. The importance of the dream as a
mirror of the riddles of human life has never
been lost on artists and philosophers, and it
was Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams that
heralded the birth of psychoanalysis. While
“sleep” is the quintessential state of infant
consciousness and “wakefulness” is endemic to
adulthood, “dreaming” and its many variations
can well characterize the nature of childhood.
 Modern education, by and large, is
predicated on the notion that we must
“awaken” children as quickly as possible to
guarantee their “success’ in later life. Little
regard is given in most educational situations
today for the long period of transition
between “sleep” and “wakefulness” that the
human being requires. Although child
psychologists have divided this twenty-one
year period into any number of discrete stages
and observed their particular characteristics
with accuracy, schools tend to obliterate the
differences between the particular age periods
and teach not only similar content, but utilize
similar methods and approaches. Just as even
the most exquisite dream is drowned almost
instantly in the overwhelming deluge of
sights, sounds, and smells that accompanies
awakening, and rarely is recalled in the
fullness of its beauty, so the “dream of
childhood” is forgotten as the physicality of
adolescence and the responsibilities of
adulthood vie for our attention. Educators
working only out of their adult wakeful
consciousness are as little able to penetrate
the nature of the child as a researcher working
with electrodes and oscilloscopes is able to
“perceive” the dream of the sleeper he
is examining.
Another significant correlation indicated
by Steiner is that of the three “soul forces,”
thinking, feeling and willing to the three
stages of consciousness. James Dobson notes:
As I’ve stated, a child’s will is a powerful
force in the human personality. It is one of
the few intellectual components which
arrives full strength at the moment of birth . .
. The will is not delicate and wobbly. Even for
Stage of Life State of Consciousness
Infancy Sleep
Childhood Dream
Adulthood Wakefulness
50
a child in whom the spirit has been
sandbagged, there is often a will of steel,
making him a threat to himself and others as
well . . . My point is that the will is
malleable. It can and should be molded and
polished—not to make a robot of a child for
our own selfish purposes, but to give him the
ability to control his own impulses and
exercise self-discipline later in life.12
The soul force of willing is actually strongest
in infancy, when the human being is most
asleep; it is so strong that it engulfs the delicate
forces of feeling and thinking and subjugates
them. The baby is all will, but it is uncontrolled
will—will born out of the instinctive need to
live and be nurtured— rather than the will that
is reined in intentionally. Not only is the will
strongest when we are asleep; the consciousness
we possess of our activity of willing always
remains at the stage of sleep. The nerve
impulses, muscular contractions and skeletal
movements that are necessary to lift a finger
remain far below the level of wakeful
consciousness. Even in the most intentional
movements, e.g., the activities of a watchmaker
or a surgeon, far more remains below the
threshold of consciousness than above it. When
we live in our will, we become little children
again and, as such, the Kingdom of Heaven is
potentially open to us.
The soul force of thinking, on the other
hand, remains weak in our earliest years,
gradually growing into its ascendant role as
the regent of our adult consciousness. We
can think independently only when we are
awake. True thinking requires us to be fully
present and fully consciousness in relation
to both the content of our thoughts and the
dynamic of their active interplay.13
Active Members Active Soul Force
Physical/Etheric Willing
Etheric/Astral Feeling
Astral/Ego Thinking
Modern education, by and large, is
predicated on the notion that we must
“awaken” children as quickly as possible to
guarantee their “success’ in later life. Little
regard is given in most educational situations
today for the long period of transition
between “sleep” and “wakefulness” that the
human being requires. Although child
psychologists have divided this twenty-one
year period into any number of discrete stages
and observed their particular characteristics
with accuracy, schools tend to obliterate the
differences between the particular age periods
and teach not only similar content, but utilize
similar methods and approaches. Just as even
the most exquisite dream is drowned almost
instantly in the overwhelming deluge of
sights, sounds, and smells that accompanies
awakening, and rarely is recalled in the
fullness of its beauty, so the “dream of
childhood” is forgotten as the physicality of
adolescence and the responsibilities of
adulthood vie for our attention. Educators
working only out of their adult wakeful
consciousness are as little able to penetrate
the nature of the child as a researcher working
with electrodes and oscilloscopes is able to
“perceive” the dream of the sleeper he
is examining.
Another significant correlation indicated
by Steiner is that of the three “soul forces,”
thinking, feeling and willing to the three
stages of consciousness. James Dobson notes:
As I’ve stated, a child’s will is a powerful
force in the human personality. It is one of
the few intellectual components which
arrives full strength at the moment of birth . .
. The will is not delicate and wobbly. Even for
Stage of Life State of Consciousness
Infancy Sleep
Childhood Dream
Adulthood Wakefulness
50
a child in whom the spirit has been
sandbagged, there is often a will of steel,
making him a threat to himself and others as
well . . . My point is that the will is
malleable. It can and should be molded and
polished—not to make a robot of a child for
our own selfish purposes, but to give him the
ability to control his own impulses and
exercise self-discipline later in life.12
The soul force of willing is actually strongest
in infancy, when the human being is most
asleep; it is so strong that it engulfs the delicate
forces of feeling and thinking and subjugates
them. The baby is all will, but it is uncontrolled
will—will born out of the instinctive need to
live and be nurtured— rather than the will that
is reined in intentionally. Not only is the will
strongest when we are asleep; the consciousness
we possess of our activity of willing always
remains at the stage of sleep. The nerve
impulses, muscular contractions and skeletal
movements that are necessary to lift a finger
remain far below the level of wakeful
consciousness. Even in the most intentional
movements, e.g., the activities of a watchmaker
or a surgeon, far more remains below the
threshold of consciousness than above it. When
we live in our will, we become little children
again and, as such, the Kingdom of Heaven is
potentially open to us.
The soul force of thinking, on the other
hand, remains weak in our earliest years,
gradually growing into its ascendant role as
the regent of our adult consciousness. We
can think independently only when we are
awake. True thinking requires us to be fully
present and fully consciousness in relation
to both the content of our thoughts and the
dynamic of their active interplay.13
Active Members Active Soul Force
Physical/Etheric Willing
Etheric/Astral Feeling
Astral/Ego Thinking
 Steiner’s threefold picture of child
development is not unique in its general
outlines. Alan Kay, for example, who is
responsible for the development of the
“menu” and “window” on the Apple
computer, subsequently created a computer-
based program called “Vivarium,” the purpose
of which was to teach children to think. Kay
has acknowledged his debt to Jerome Bruner,
who divided child development into three
stages of learning mentalities.
The child of four and five thinks
kinesthetically by doing—actively. Everything
is done by direct actions, very tactile. Children
a few years older are dominated by the visual.
Their attention moves around the way your
eyes move around on a bulletin board. The
third stage is symbolic thinking, the
practicality of translating their creative ideas
into things or symbols. What seems to happen
in our society is that adults turn into basically
sequential processors and shut down the
creative things that children are able to do.
The Vivarium program attempts to rotate
people’s mentalities from the kinesthetic, to
the visual, to the symbolic.14
In spite of his insight into the changing
nature of the child’s relationship to the world,
Kay is not able to perceive that the computer,
itself a product of the “symbolic thinking”
stage of understanding, may not be an
appropriate learning tool for a youngster still
involved in the “kinesthetic” stage. Kay
perceives the computer “mouse” pointing
device as a method to “engage your body in
the knowledge of things”15 and doesn’t seem
to recognize that the only bodily parts that
the mouse engages are the wrist and index
finger. The mouse provides a “symbolic”
experience of movement on the computer
screen, and so draws the child prematurely
into a sedentary, “head-directed” approach to
learning. Steiner’s perceptions of the stages of
child development are accompanied by a
sensitive understanding of the methods and
51
content appropriate to each stage. Marie
Winn describes the environment that is
created when computers replace the toys of an
earlier generation:
The loud whizzes, crashes and whirrs of the
video-game machine “blow the mind” [we no
longer require mind to work in the will sphere!]
and create an excitement that is quite apart
from the excitement generated simply by trying
to win a game. A traditional childhood game
such as marbles, on the other hand, has little
built-in stimulation; the excitement of playing
is generated entirely by the players’ own
actions. And while the pace of a game of
marbles is close to the child’s natural
physiological rhythms, the frenzied activities of
video games serve to “rev up” the child in an
artificial way, almost in the way a stimulant or
an amphetamine might.16
It is no coincidence that there is an
interwoven connection between such
stimulants as methylphenidate (Ritalin) and
the conventional treatment of ADHD.
The “excitement” to which Marie Winn
points is intimately connected to the sensory-
motor functions of the child. We have already
discussed the accelerated nature of modern
life, and the burden of “sensory overload” that
it places on any human being living in a
westernized urban environment. A helpful
insight provided by Rudolf Steiner concerned
the “nourishment and education of the
senses,” not merely for their own sake, but as
a foundation for all of our later learning. Let
us consider three scenarios: a grade-school
child partaking in a little pageant, a child
watching a performance of the pageant, and a
child watching videotape of the performance.
The child who takes part in the pageant has
to be active in several sensory domains. She is
speaking her own part, she is aware of her
movements on the stage, she hears the lines
spoken by other actors and perceives their
movements, and she has to establish a
Steiner’s threefold picture of child
development is not unique in its general
outlines. Alan Kay, for example, who is
responsible for the development of the
“menu” and “window” on the Apple
computer, subsequently created a computer-
based program called “Vivarium,” the purpose
of which was to teach children to think. Kay
has acknowledged his debt to Jerome Bruner,
who divided child development into three
stages of learning mentalities.
The child of four and five thinks
kinesthetically by doing—actively. Everything
is done by direct actions, very tactile. Children
a few years older are dominated by the visual.
Their attention moves around the way your
eyes move around on a bulletin board. The
third stage is symbolic thinking, the
practicality of translating their creative ideas
into things or symbols. What seems to happen
in our society is that adults turn into basically
sequential processors and shut down the
creative things that children are able to do.
The Vivarium program attempts to rotate
people’s mentalities from the kinesthetic, to
the visual, to the symbolic.14
In spite of his insight into the changing
nature of the child’s relationship to the world,
Kay is not able to perceive that the computer,
itself a product of the “symbolic thinking”
stage of understanding, may not be an
appropriate learning tool for a youngster still
involved in the “kinesthetic” stage. Kay
perceives the computer “mouse” pointing
device as a method to “engage your body in
the knowledge of things”15 and doesn’t seem
to recognize that the only bodily parts that
the mouse engages are the wrist and index
finger. The mouse provides a “symbolic”
experience of movement on the computer
screen, and so draws the child prematurely
into a sedentary, “head-directed” approach to
learning. Steiner’s perceptions of the stages of
child development are accompanied by a
sensitive understanding of the methods and
51
content appropriate to each stage. Marie
Winn describes the environment that is
created when computers replace the toys of an
earlier generation:
The loud whizzes, crashes and whirrs of the
video-game machine “blow the mind” [we no
longer require mind to work in the will sphere!]
and create an excitement that is quite apart
from the excitement generated simply by trying
to win a game. A traditional childhood game
such as marbles, on the other hand, has little
built-in stimulation; the excitement of playing
is generated entirely by the players’ own
actions. And while the pace of a game of
marbles is close to the child’s natural
physiological rhythms, the frenzied activities of
video games serve to “rev up” the child in an
artificial way, almost in the way a stimulant or
an amphetamine might.16
It is no coincidence that there is an
interwoven connection between such
stimulants as methylphenidate (Ritalin) and
the conventional treatment of ADHD.
The “excitement” to which Marie Winn
points is intimately connected to the sensory-
motor functions of the child. We have already
discussed the accelerated nature of modern
life, and the burden of “sensory overload” that
it places on any human being living in a
westernized urban environment. A helpful
insight provided by Rudolf Steiner concerned
the “nourishment and education of the
senses,” not merely for their own sake, but as
a foundation for all of our later learning. Let
us consider three scenarios: a grade-school
child partaking in a little pageant, a child
watching a performance of the pageant, and a
child watching videotape of the performance.
The child who takes part in the pageant has
to be active in several sensory domains. She is
speaking her own part, she is aware of her
movements on the stage, she hears the lines
spoken by other actors and perceives their
movements, and she has to establish a
“touching,” tactile link with the audience. Of
course, she must maintain her balance, in
every sense of the word, as she performs.
While all of this is going on she is
strengthening her memory by reciting her part
and she is stimulating her imaginative powers
by being someone other than who she really is.
A child in the audience is certainly less
active than the child on stage, but an observer
of “live theater” has watched the eye
movements and bodily movements that reveal
how strongly the imitative qualities of the
young child are affected by drama. Although
the stage can alter perspectives and offer
dramatic shifts of light and darkness, the
young child’s eyes are basically witnessing
activities performed by human beings at “real”
proportions of size, distance and speed; there
is little stress on the child’s sensory-motor life.
A child watching a videotaped version of
the same performance will have a
qualitatively different experience. When we
sit in the audience and watch a play, we must
move our eyes and heads and sometimes our
whole body in order to “take in” all the
action going on around us. When the action
is reduced to the monocular vision of the
camcorder (even if several were used and
edited to provide clasps alternating with
panoramic views, etc.) the viewer’s eye is
“fixed” onto the rectangular dimensions of
the screen. The healthy sense of sight is
intimately allied what the sense of our own
body movement; fixation on any one object
of vision, especially when the object is in
motion, can be numbing or hypnotic (or, in
its extreme form, cause seizures). The willing
aspect of our sense of sight (and we tend to
forget how many muscles are involved in the
act of seeing) is weakened, and muscles lie
unused. Whatever information emanates
from the television in the way of color,
sound, or form, it is not truly collaborated by
the other senses.
52
When a child takes part in a play, a game,
or any other activity with others, she must
adhere to certain rules of conduct in order
for the whole to grow greater than the sum of
its parts. Choral singing provides a powerful
example of this. Whether she likes her fellow
actors or not, whether she is happy or
unhappy with her part, whether her mood is
high or low, she has agreed to take part for
the sake of the bigger picture. Although less
bound up with the performance, the
audience member has also agreed to a
“contract” with the players, and will tend to
quietly absorb the play’s action, laugh at its
humor and applaud its denouement, unless it
is egregiously awful. The child who watches
the video is by no means bound to such a
social contract. He is free to make
comments, loudly munch on snack foods,
make the players pause while he leaves the
room, command them to start up again when
he returns and cut them off completely if
they displease him! Not only are his bodily
senses virtually uninvolved with the
performance, but his social sense is alienated
as well. Should it surprise us that an
increasing number of children suffer from
ADHD, a syndrome distinguished by
profound difficulties in integrating sensory
impressions, a lack of control over motor
activities, and a lack of social skills?
A similar set of scenarios could be
created comparing a child who learns to play
(however simply) a musical instrument with
one whom is asked to sit and consciously
listen to a live musical performance. In both
situations the child’s attention is directed
and focused, and in both cases several
senses are integrated. Compare this to a
third composite child who is, alas, the one
we are most likely to encounter in real life.
She goes about her daily life with the
omnipresent sound of TV or radio in the
background at home, Muzak in the
supermarket or shopping mall, and, very
“touching,” tactile link with the audience. Of
course, she must maintain her balance, in
every sense of the word, as she performs.
While all of this is going on she is
strengthening her memory by reciting her part
and she is stimulating her imaginative powers
by being someone other than who she really is.
A child in the audience is certainly less
active than the child on stage, but an observer
of “live theater” has watched the eye
movements and bodily movements that reveal
how strongly the imitative qualities of the
young child are affected by drama. Although
the stage can alter perspectives and offer
dramatic shifts of light and darkness, the
young child’s eyes are basically witnessing
activities performed by human beings at “real”
proportions of size, distance and speed; there
is little stress on the child’s sensory-motor life.
A child watching a videotaped version of
the same performance will have a
qualitatively different experience. When we
sit in the audience and watch a play, we must
move our eyes and heads and sometimes our
whole body in order to “take in” all the
action going on around us. When the action
is reduced to the monocular vision of the
camcorder (even if several were used and
edited to provide clasps alternating with
panoramic views, etc.) the viewer’s eye is
“fixed” onto the rectangular dimensions of
the screen. The healthy sense of sight is
intimately allied what the sense of our own
body movement; fixation on any one object
of vision, especially when the object is in
motion, can be numbing or hypnotic (or, in
its extreme form, cause seizures). The willing
aspect of our sense of sight (and we tend to
forget how many muscles are involved in the
act of seeing) is weakened, and muscles lie
unused. Whatever information emanates
from the television in the way of color,
sound, or form, it is not truly collaborated by
the other senses.
52
When a child takes part in a play, a game,
or any other activity with others, she must
adhere to certain rules of conduct in order
for the whole to grow greater than the sum of
its parts. Choral singing provides a powerful
example of this. Whether she likes her fellow
actors or not, whether she is happy or
unhappy with her part, whether her mood is
high or low, she has agreed to take part for
the sake of the bigger picture. Although less
bound up with the performance, the
audience member has also agreed to a
“contract” with the players, and will tend to
quietly absorb the play’s action, laugh at its
humor and applaud its denouement, unless it
is egregiously awful. The child who watches
the video is by no means bound to such a
social contract. He is free to make
comments, loudly munch on snack foods,
make the players pause while he leaves the
room, command them to start up again when
he returns and cut them off completely if
they displease him! Not only are his bodily
senses virtually uninvolved with the
performance, but his social sense is alienated
as well. Should it surprise us that an
increasing number of children suffer from
ADHD, a syndrome distinguished by
profound difficulties in integrating sensory
impressions, a lack of control over motor
activities, and a lack of social skills?
A similar set of scenarios could be
created comparing a child who learns to play
(however simply) a musical instrument with
one whom is asked to sit and consciously
listen to a live musical performance. In both
situations the child’s attention is directed
and focused, and in both cases several
senses are integrated. Compare this to a
third composite child who is, alas, the one
we are most likely to encounter in real life.
She goes about her daily life with the
omnipresent sound of TV or radio in the
background at home, Muzak in the
supermarket or shopping mall, and, very
likely, a ceaseless flow of announcements
over the P.A. system at school.
The ear, which revels in the reception of
music and all the subtleties of pitch, timbre,
etc. connected with that art, is, in the last
scenario, ceaselessly barraged by sound or
noise, and no demands are made up on the
child’s ability to focus or even really listen. M.
Scott Peck perceives our inability to listen as a
critical social and psychological malaise:
By far the most common and important way in
which we can exercise our attention is by
listening. We spend an enormous amount of
time listening, most of which we waste,
because on the whole most of us listen very
poorly. An industrial psychologist once pointed
out to me that the amount of time we devote
to teaching certain subjects to our children in
school is inversely proportional to the
frequency with which the children will make
use of the subject when they grow up. Thus a
business executive will spend roughly an hour
of his day reading, two hours talking and eight
hours listening. Yet in school we spend a large
amount of time teaching children how to read,
a very small amount of time teaching them
how to speak, and usually no time at all
teaching them how to listen. I do not believe it
would be a good thing to make what we teach
in school exactly proportional to what we do
after school, but I do think we would be wise to
give our children some instruction in the
process of listening—not so that listening can
be made easy but rather so that they will
understand how difficult it is to listen well.
Listening well is an exercise of attention and,
by necessity, hard work . . .17
An ancient Athenian was considered
“educated” when he could perform gymnastic
exercises, play the lyre and recite Homer by
heart, i.e., integrate his capacities of willing,
feeling and thinking as well as the diverse
sensory experiences underlying them. Could
ADHD and the many as yet unlabeled
syndromes that burden today’s child be, in
part, the vengeance wrought by senses that
53
have not been stimulated and harmonized?
And could the school setting provide the
means for remediating this deficiency?
Howard Gardner and his associates at
Harvard’s Project Zero have wrestled with these
questions for the past two decades. The
publication of Howard Gardner’s Frames of
Mind in 1983 occurred during the period of
intense research on the part of the American
Psychiatric Society which resulted in the 1980
DSM-III term ADD and the 1987 term ADHD.
Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences
opened up new vistas which had the potential
of revolutionizing both academic parameters
which underlay educational testing as well as
the actual classroom practices which seemed
helpless before the onslaught of attention-
deficit children. More than any other university
educational researcher in the latter part of this
century, Gardner has had an immediate and
powerful impact on schools and their teachers.
Through the middle of our century, the most
common approach to understanding the nature
of the child and the development of intelligence
and intellectual faculties has had a psychological
bias. The basic assumption underlying most of
the child rearing and pedagogical methods of
the twentieth century has been that the child
has a well-developed and independent inner life,
and that whatever serves to allow this inner life
an outer expression is to the good. One of
Howard Gardner’s most striking achievements
has been to break free of this psychological bias
and to approach the child from a very different
perspective:
Consider, for example, the twelve-year-old
male Puluwat in the Caroline Islands, who has
been selected by his elders to learn how to
become a master sailor. Under the tutelage of
master navigators, he will learn to combine
knowledge of sailing, stars, and geography so as
to find his way around hundreds of islands.
Consider the fifteen-year-old Iranian youth
who has committed to heart the entire Koran
and mastered the Arabic language. Now he is
likely, a ceaseless flow of announcements
over the P.A. system at school.
The ear, which revels in the reception of
music and all the subtleties of pitch, timbre,
etc. connected with that art, is, in the last
scenario, ceaselessly barraged by sound or
noise, and no demands are made up on the
child’s ability to focus or even really listen. M.
Scott Peck perceives our inability to listen as a
critical social and psychological malaise:
By far the most common and important way in
which we can exercise our attention is by
listening. We spend an enormous amount of
time listening, most of which we waste,
because on the whole most of us listen very
poorly. An industrial psychologist once pointed
out to me that the amount of time we devote
to teaching certain subjects to our children in
school is inversely proportional to the
frequency with which the children will make
use of the subject when they grow up. Thus a
business executive will spend roughly an hour
of his day reading, two hours talking and eight
hours listening. Yet in school we spend a large
amount of time teaching children how to read,
a very small amount of time teaching them
how to speak, and usually no time at all
teaching them how to listen. I do not believe it
would be a good thing to make what we teach
in school exactly proportional to what we do
after school, but I do think we would be wise to
give our children some instruction in the
process of listening—not so that listening can
be made easy but rather so that they will
understand how difficult it is to listen well.
Listening well is an exercise of attention and,
by necessity, hard work . . .17
An ancient Athenian was considered
“educated” when he could perform gymnastic
exercises, play the lyre and recite Homer by
heart, i.e., integrate his capacities of willing,
feeling and thinking as well as the diverse
sensory experiences underlying them. Could
ADHD and the many as yet unlabeled
syndromes that burden today’s child be, in
part, the vengeance wrought by senses that
53
have not been stimulated and harmonized?
And could the school setting provide the
means for remediating this deficiency?
Howard Gardner and his associates at
Harvard’s Project Zero have wrestled with these
questions for the past two decades. The
publication of Howard Gardner’s Frames of
Mind in 1983 occurred during the period of
intense research on the part of the American
Psychiatric Society which resulted in the 1980
DSM-III term ADD and the 1987 term ADHD.
Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences
opened up new vistas which had the potential
of revolutionizing both academic parameters
which underlay educational testing as well as
the actual classroom practices which seemed
helpless before the onslaught of attention-
deficit children. More than any other university
educational researcher in the latter part of this
century, Gardner has had an immediate and
powerful impact on schools and their teachers.
Through the middle of our century, the most
common approach to understanding the nature
of the child and the development of intelligence
and intellectual faculties has had a psychological
bias. The basic assumption underlying most of
the child rearing and pedagogical methods of
the twentieth century has been that the child
has a well-developed and independent inner life,
and that whatever serves to allow this inner life
an outer expression is to the good. One of
Howard Gardner’s most striking achievements
has been to break free of this psychological bias
and to approach the child from a very different
perspective:
Consider, for example, the twelve-year-old
male Puluwat in the Caroline Islands, who has
been selected by his elders to learn how to
become a master sailor. Under the tutelage of
master navigators, he will learn to combine
knowledge of sailing, stars, and geography so as
to find his way around hundreds of islands.
Consider the fifteen-year-old Iranian youth
who has committed to heart the entire Koran
and mastered the Arabic language. Now he is
 being sent to a holy city, to work closely for the
next several years with an ayatollah, who will
prepare him to be a teacher and religious
leader. Or consider the fourteen-year-old
adolescent in Paris, who has learned how to
program a computer and is beginning to
compose works of music with the aid of a
synthesizer.18
By utilizing a methodology that borrowed
more from anthropology than from
psychology, Gardner effected a quiet
revolution in mainstream American
education, one whose impact has not
diminished in the fourteen years since his
book Frames of Mind first appeared.
In attempting to provide a theoretical
framework for his anthropological study of the
development of cognitive activity in
childhood, Gardner had to redefine
“intelligence.” Earlier theorists had gone so far
as to contend that intelligence comprises
multiple abilities. But Gardner went a step
further, arguing that there is no single
intelligence. In his view, intelligences are
multiple, including, at a minimum, linguistic,
logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-
kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal
intelligence. Subsequent research led him to
add the “naturalist” intelligence to this list.
Some of these intelligences are quite similar
to the abilities proposed by the psychometric
theorists, but others are not. For example, the
idea of a musical intelligence is relatively new,
as is the idea of a bodily-kinesthetic
intelligence, which encompasses the particular
faculties of athletes and dancers. Gardner
derived his listing of intelligences from a
variety of sources, including studies of
cognitive processing, of brain damage, of
exceptional individuals, and of cognition
across cultures. Gardner proposed that
whereas most concepts of intelligence had
been ethnocentric and culturally biased, his
was universal, based upon biologic and cross-
cultural data as well as upon data derived
54
from the cognitive performance of a wide
array of people.
When compared to the work of his peers
in academia, Gardner’s work is revolutionary.
Underlying most cognitive approaches to
intelligence is the assumption that
intelligence comprises a set of mental
representations (e.g., propositions, images) of
information and a set of processes that can
operate on the mental representations. A
more intelligent person is assumed to
represent information better and, in general,
to operate more quickly on these
representations than does a less intelligent
person. Hence intelligence is measured in
much the same way that Taylor’s “time and
motion studies” (so enthralling to the early
twentieth century captains of industry)
studied efficiency in the workplace.
Researchers have sought to measure the
speed of various types of thinking. Through
mathematical modeling, they divide the
overall time required to perform a task into
the constituent times needed to execute each
mental process. Usually, they assume that
these processes are executed serially, one after
another, and, hence, that the processing times
are additive. But some investigators allow for
partially or even completely parallel
processing, in which case more than one
process is assumed to be executed at the same
time. Regardless of the type of model used,
the fundamental unit of analysis is the same:
a mental process acting upon a mental
representation. We are still fettered to the
head first conceptual universe.
Gardner’s vision is far more inclusive;
indeed, although he shares Gardner’s
contextual-cognitive approach, Robert
Sternberg has criticized him for labeling
“mere talents” as “intelligences.” Gardner’s
own summary of the “core components of
multiple intelligences” lists the following:
Linguistic Appreciation of the sounds,
being sent to a holy city, to work closely for the
next several years with an ayatollah, who will
prepare him to be a teacher and religious
leader. Or consider the fourteen-year-old
adolescent in Paris, who has learned how to
program a computer and is beginning to
compose works of music with the aid of a
synthesizer.18
By utilizing a methodology that borrowed
more from anthropology than from
psychology, Gardner effected a quiet
revolution in mainstream American
education, one whose impact has not
diminished in the fourteen years since his
book Frames of Mind first appeared.
In attempting to provide a theoretical
framework for his anthropological study of the
development of cognitive activity in
childhood, Gardner had to redefine
“intelligence.” Earlier theorists had gone so far
as to contend that intelligence comprises
multiple abilities. But Gardner went a step
further, arguing that there is no single
intelligence. In his view, intelligences are
multiple, including, at a minimum, linguistic,
logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-
kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal
intelligence. Subsequent research led him to
add the “naturalist” intelligence to this list.
Some of these intelligences are quite similar
to the abilities proposed by the psychometric
theorists, but others are not. For example, the
idea of a musical intelligence is relatively new,
as is the idea of a bodily-kinesthetic
intelligence, which encompasses the particular
faculties of athletes and dancers. Gardner
derived his listing of intelligences from a
variety of sources, including studies of
cognitive processing, of brain damage, of
exceptional individuals, and of cognition
across cultures. Gardner proposed that
whereas most concepts of intelligence had
been ethnocentric and culturally biased, his
was universal, based upon biologic and cross-
cultural data as well as upon data derived
54
from the cognitive performance of a wide
array of people.
When compared to the work of his peers
in academia, Gardner’s work is revolutionary.
Underlying most cognitive approaches to
intelligence is the assumption that
intelligence comprises a set of mental
representations (e.g., propositions, images) of
information and a set of processes that can
operate on the mental representations. A
more intelligent person is assumed to
represent information better and, in general,
to operate more quickly on these
representations than does a less intelligent
person. Hence intelligence is measured in
much the same way that Taylor’s “time and
motion studies” (so enthralling to the early
twentieth century captains of industry)
studied efficiency in the workplace.
Researchers have sought to measure the
speed of various types of thinking. Through
mathematical modeling, they divide the
overall time required to perform a task into
the constituent times needed to execute each
mental process. Usually, they assume that
these processes are executed serially, one after
another, and, hence, that the processing times
are additive. But some investigators allow for
partially or even completely parallel
processing, in which case more than one
process is assumed to be executed at the same
time. Regardless of the type of model used,
the fundamental unit of analysis is the same:
a mental process acting upon a mental
representation. We are still fettered to the
head first conceptual universe.
Gardner’s vision is far more inclusive;
indeed, although he shares Gardner’s
contextual-cognitive approach, Robert
Sternberg has criticized him for labeling
“mere talents” as “intelligences.” Gardner’s
own summary of the “core components of
multiple intelligences” lists the following:
Linguistic Appreciation of the sounds,
 rhythm, and meanings of words, sensitive
to the different functions of the language,
and the capacity to use language for
different purposes.
Logical-Mathematical Recognition and
appreciation of patterns, orderliness, and
systematicity; the ability to handle long
chains of reasoning.
Musical Sensitivity to pitch, rhythm, and
timbre; an appreciation of the expressive
qualities of music and melodic, harmonic
and rhythmic structures.
Spatial Capacity to perceive the visual
world accurately, to manipulate one’s
initial perceptions, and to recreate aspects
of one’s initial perceptions.
Bodily-Kinesthetic Capacity to handle
objects skill fully and to control one’s body
motions for expressive or other purposes.
Naturalist Abilities to recognize flora and
fauna and to make consequential
distinctions in the natural world, and to
use these abilities productively.
Interpersonal Sensitivity to the thoughts,
feelings, and motivations of others, and the
ability to act upon this knowledge in
responding to others.
Intrapersonal Access to one’s own feelings,
the ability to discriminate among these
feelings and to describe or draw upon them
to guide behavior.
We might imagine that, having divided the
otherwise nebulous quality of “intelligence”
into eight clear components, Howard Gardner
would be at pains to examine the means by
which educators and psychologists could help
us to make all of these intelligences function
harmoniously within and about us. In spite of
his liberation from the bounds of the
psychometricians, Gardner on the other hand
shows an uncritical acceptance of our
century’s bias towards specialization. In his
55
view, educators should recognize the particular
one or two intelligences with which a child is
gifted and work with those strengths, all the
while recognizing which intelligences are of
special value to the society in which the child
will grow and one day assume responsibility.
Although he finds many points of
agreement with the developmental picture of
Jean Piaget,19 Gardner tends to approach the
different stages of childhood with the eye of a
quantifier, not in relation to their qualities.
The field research methods favored by Gardner
and his associates most often has to do with
problem -solving: the problems posed remain
the same regardless of the age of the children
being tested. In his often perspicacious quest
to understand the nature of intelligence,
Gardner fails to notice the profoundly
qualitative nature of the dynamic entity
through whom intelligence flows—the child.
Rudolf Steiner begins with that entity and
asks: What is a child? What, indeed is
childhood? What is the difference between a
“child” and an “adult” (a difference which
Janov, for one, refused to acknowledge even
exists)? Why can an adult still discover “the
inner child?” In Steiner’s research, the key to
all of these questions is changing
consciousness. To give some idea of the
treasure trove of inspiration that may be mined
from the picture of the human being that
Steiner gives, I want to explore only one aspect
of this question of the nature of childhood, and
its impact on a problem as pervasive as ADHD.
In the 1960’s powerful changes in the way in
which parents related to their children were
effected by such psychologists as Ginott
(Between Parent and Child), Janov (The Feeling
Child), and Gordon (Parent Effectiveness
Training) and their research on the proper way
in which to speak to children. Let us examine
the effect that their thoughts continue to have
in the century’s end through the lattice of
Steiner’s ideas.
rhythm, and meanings of words, sensitive
to the different functions of the language,
and the capacity to use language for
different purposes.
Logical-Mathematical Recognition and
appreciation of patterns, orderliness, and
systematicity; the ability to handle long
chains of reasoning.
Musical Sensitivity to pitch, rhythm, and
timbre; an appreciation of the expressive
qualities of music and melodic, harmonic
and rhythmic structures.
Spatial Capacity to perceive the visual
world accurately, to manipulate one’s
initial perceptions, and to recreate aspects
of one’s initial perceptions.
Bodily-Kinesthetic Capacity to handle
objects skill fully and to control one’s body
motions for expressive or other purposes.
Naturalist Abilities to recognize flora and
fauna and to make consequential
distinctions in the natural world, and to
use these abilities productively.
Interpersonal Sensitivity to the thoughts,
feelings, and motivations of others, and the
ability to act upon this knowledge in
responding to others.
Intrapersonal Access to one’s own feelings,
the ability to discriminate among these
feelings and to describe or draw upon them
to guide behavior.
We might imagine that, having divided the
otherwise nebulous quality of “intelligence”
into eight clear components, Howard Gardner
would be at pains to examine the means by
which educators and psychologists could help
us to make all of these intelligences function
harmoniously within and about us. In spite of
his liberation from the bounds of the
psychometricians, Gardner on the other hand
shows an uncritical acceptance of our
century’s bias towards specialization. In his
55
view, educators should recognize the particular
one or two intelligences with which a child is
gifted and work with those strengths, all the
while recognizing which intelligences are of
special value to the society in which the child
will grow and one day assume responsibility.
Although he finds many points of
agreement with the developmental picture of
Jean Piaget,19 Gardner tends to approach the
different stages of childhood with the eye of a
quantifier, not in relation to their qualities.
The field research methods favored by Gardner
and his associates most often has to do with
problem -solving: the problems posed remain
the same regardless of the age of the children
being tested. In his often perspicacious quest
to understand the nature of intelligence,
Gardner fails to notice the profoundly
qualitative nature of the dynamic entity
through whom intelligence flows—the child.
Rudolf Steiner begins with that entity and
asks: What is a child? What, indeed is
childhood? What is the difference between a
“child” and an “adult” (a difference which
Janov, for one, refused to acknowledge even
exists)? Why can an adult still discover “the
inner child?” In Steiner’s research, the key to
all of these questions is changing
consciousness. To give some idea of the
treasure trove of inspiration that may be mined
from the picture of the human being that
Steiner gives, I want to explore only one aspect
of this question of the nature of childhood, and
its impact on a problem as pervasive as ADHD.
In the 1960’s powerful changes in the way in
which parents related to their children were
effected by such psychologists as Ginott
(Between Parent and Child), Janov (The Feeling
Child), and Gordon (Parent Effectiveness
Training) and their research on the proper way
in which to speak to children. Let us examine
the effect that their thoughts continue to have
in the century’s end through the lattice of
Steiner’s ideas.
 A basic tenet in Steiner’s developmental
picture is the understanding that whatever
in our childhood acts upon us from
“outside” will in adulthood be transformed
into forces that work from within. A child
who lacks the living example of a self-assured
and guiding adult will have to struggle, in
later life, to attain inner assurance and inner
guidance. A youngster who is not exposed to
the kind but clear percepts of outer
discipline will find it difficult to attain true
inner discipline as an adult. If we cannot
steel ourselves so that we meet the children
with certainty in our will and clarity in our
intentions, we are depriving them of one of
childhood’s most valuable experiences.
In the United States, which, after all, is a
nation founded on the divine right of freedom
of choice, it is a mighty task indeed to
overcome this dogged tendency to ask
children questions! Our whole culture
summons forth the interrogative voice:
Are you ready to wake up? Do you want to stay
in bed awhile? Should we decide what to wear
today? Would you like the Chanel sweater or
the Polo sweatshirt? The Tommy Hilfinger
pullover? Do you want to wear your Guess
shorts or your Calvin Klein jeans? How about
the DKNY pair? Gap? The relaxed fit? The
button fly or the zipper fly? Ready for
breakfast? What would you like—Cheerios,
Corn Flakes, Wheaties, Granola? Granola with
almond chunks? Granola with raisin bits? How
about strawberries? No? Blueberries? Bananas?
Do you want to sweeten it with honey? Maple
syrup? Sugar? White or brown? Do you want
milk? One percent? Two percent? Skim?
Organic? Eden Soy with minerals or Rice
Dream with calcium?
And these are just the first two minutes of
the day—a day that moves from question to
question, with nary a word of declarative
guidance on the part of parents or other
adults. When a question is asked of a child,
she assumes that you expect an answer, and I
56
have heard many children answer questions
like the above with witty or even downright
rude answers!
Such domestic scenes are part of the
dilemma of raising children in a country that
rightfully calls itself “The Land of the Free,”
but has lost the capacity to distinguish
between the potentially independent, “free”
adult and the highly dependent and “un-free”
child. It may be asked, of course, how can we
train our children to be free later in life if we
don’t give them choices in childhood? Yet,
even for adults, real freedom is a capacity that
unfolds only on occasion, for life is filled with
necessities that impinge upon our freedom.
When we ask a child to make a choice, several
things occur. First of all, we ask the child to
draw upon capacities for judgement that he
does not yet have. On what basis will a seven-
year-old make a choice? Invariably, on the
basis of sympathy and antipathy. And whence
does he get this sympathy and antipathy?
From his astral body, that is, from a member
of his being that should not be “activated”
until adolescence. An analogy might prove
helpful here:
We can think of the child’s astral body as
“soul principal” which is being held in a
“cosmic trust fund” until such time as the
youngster’s lower members are developed
enough to receive it, i.e., ages 13-15. As is the
case with a monetary trust fund in an earthly
bank, it is the trustee’s responsibility to see
that the principal is not disturbed for the
apportioned period, knowing that the interest
that it generates provides sufficient funds for
the beneficiary’s needs. If, however, the
trustee proves to be irresponsible, and the
youngster for whom the principal is intended
gets hold of it long before he is mature
enough to make wise financial decisions, the
principal will be drawn upon prematurely. In
the worst case, the entire trust will be
depleted, leaving neither interest nor principal
A basic tenet in Steiner’s developmental
picture is the understanding that whatever
in our childhood acts upon us from
“outside” will in adulthood be transformed
into forces that work from within. A child
who lacks the living example of a self-assured
and guiding adult will have to struggle, in
later life, to attain inner assurance and inner
guidance. A youngster who is not exposed to
the kind but clear percepts of outer
discipline will find it difficult to attain true
inner discipline as an adult. If we cannot
steel ourselves so that we meet the children
with certainty in our will and clarity in our
intentions, we are depriving them of one of
childhood’s most valuable experiences.
In the United States, which, after all, is a
nation founded on the divine right of freedom
of choice, it is a mighty task indeed to
overcome this dogged tendency to ask
children questions! Our whole culture
summons forth the interrogative voice:
Are you ready to wake up? Do you want to stay
in bed awhile? Should we decide what to wear
today? Would you like the Chanel sweater or
the Polo sweatshirt? The Tommy Hilfinger
pullover? Do you want to wear your Guess
shorts or your Calvin Klein jeans? How about
the DKNY pair? Gap? The relaxed fit? The
button fly or the zipper fly? Ready for
breakfast? What would you like—Cheerios,
Corn Flakes, Wheaties, Granola? Granola with
almond chunks? Granola with raisin bits? How
about strawberries? No? Blueberries? Bananas?
Do you want to sweeten it with honey? Maple
syrup? Sugar? White or brown? Do you want
milk? One percent? Two percent? Skim?
Organic? Eden Soy with minerals or Rice
Dream with calcium?
And these are just the first two minutes of
the day—a day that moves from question to
question, with nary a word of declarative
guidance on the part of parents or other
adults. When a question is asked of a child,
she assumes that you expect an answer, and I
56
have heard many children answer questions
like the above with witty or even downright
rude answers!
Such domestic scenes are part of the
dilemma of raising children in a country that
rightfully calls itself “The Land of the Free,”
but has lost the capacity to distinguish
between the potentially independent, “free”
adult and the highly dependent and “un-free”
child. It may be asked, of course, how can we
train our children to be free later in life if we
don’t give them choices in childhood? Yet,
even for adults, real freedom is a capacity that
unfolds only on occasion, for life is filled with
necessities that impinge upon our freedom.
When we ask a child to make a choice, several
things occur. First of all, we ask the child to
draw upon capacities for judgement that he
does not yet have. On what basis will a seven-
year-old make a choice? Invariably, on the
basis of sympathy and antipathy. And whence
does he get this sympathy and antipathy?
From his astral body, that is, from a member
of his being that should not be “activated”
until adolescence. An analogy might prove
helpful here:
We can think of the child’s astral body as
“soul principal” which is being held in a
“cosmic trust fund” until such time as the
youngster’s lower members are developed
enough to receive it, i.e., ages 13-15. As is the
case with a monetary trust fund in an earthly
bank, it is the trustee’s responsibility to see
that the principal is not disturbed for the
apportioned period, knowing that the interest
that it generates provides sufficient funds for
the beneficiary’s needs. If, however, the
trustee proves to be irresponsible, and the
youngster for whom the principal is intended
gets hold of it long before he is mature
enough to make wise financial decisions, the
principal will be drawn upon prematurely. In
the worst case, the entire trust will be
depleted, leaving neither interest nor principal
at a time in the young person’s life that they
are most needed.
In the course of healthy development, the
young child has just enough astrality
apportioned to her to sustain those organic
processes requiring movement and catabolism,
and to support such soul phenomena as the
unfolding of interest in the world. And where
do ADHD children have their greatest
difficulties? In developing and sustaining any
interest in anything for very long! The
environments that we create for our youngest
children, the way we speak to our grade
schoolers, and our inability to differentiate
between what is appropriate for an adult and
not appropriate for a child—all of these
phenomena eat away at astral “interest” early
in life and devour astral “principal” long before
it has ripened. By the time many “normal”
young people are twelve or thirteen they seem
to have lost interest in learning, or even in life;
they have “been there, done that,” and take on
a jaded, middle-aged attitude toward their own
future. The ADHD child is only an extreme
reflection of soul attitudes that will be endemic
to many American children at the century’s end.
The entire thrust of the child rearing
methods developed by the most influential
thinkers of our century has led to the soul
bankruptcy of today’s children just as
inexorably as the financial and banking
policies of the first two-thirds of the century
have led to the collapse of scores and savings
and loan associations in the past decade.
ADHD is not merely a phenomenon that has
arisen alongside modern education and child
psychology; it is the logical end product of
those erroneous pictures of the human being
and the methods arising from them. Children
do not need choices; they need guidance.
When an adult asks a young child to make a
choice, the adult relinquishes the majesty and
power that should be hers by dint of experience
and acquired wisdom. In that moment, child
57
and adult become equal; over the course of
many such moments of choice, this equality
becomes habitual, and the sweetest children
gradually turn into little tyrants who wield the
power to determine the restaurants in which the
family will eat, the movies that they will see, the
malls in which they will shop. We don’t have to
watch situation comedies on TV to experience
the ubiquity of such children in modern life!
Most importantly, we should realize that a
child who is given too many choices will
become an adult who has difficulty making
decisions. While choice, according to
definition, “implies broadly the freedom of
choosing from a set of persons or things,”
decision is defined as “the act of reaching a
conclusion or making up one’s mind,” and also,
interestingly, as “firmness of character or action;
determination.” This is not merely a semantic
matter; there is a real difference between these
two acts. The power to decide, I would claim, is
built upon the ability to accept the decisions of
adults in one’s youth. (This assumes, of course,
that one encounters adults who are themselves
capable of making decisions.) Childish choosing
draws on the very forces of soul and spirit that
are meant to mature and become adult
decisiveness. In an article on children’s rights,
Federal Judge Mary Kohler emphasized “the
right to be a child during childhood” and
emphasized that one of the impediments to the
achievement of this “inalienable” right is the
“too early forcing of choices upon children.”20
The simplicity of life in earlier days was
accompanied by a lack of choices, which we
would today find boring, but this in turn led
to a consistency of life that we today might
find healing. This is not turning back from the
“freedom of choice” that we as adults expect,
but we must recognize that a pre-determined
and expectable course of events strengthens
the etheric body of the child. It is this that
provides a healthy foundation for behavioral
stability and predictability in childhood, as
at a time in the young person’s life that they
are most needed.
In the course of healthy development, the
young child has just enough astrality
apportioned to her to sustain those organic
processes requiring movement and catabolism,
and to support such soul phenomena as the
unfolding of interest in the world. And where
do ADHD children have their greatest
difficulties? In developing and sustaining any
interest in anything for very long! The
environments that we create for our youngest
children, the way we speak to our grade
schoolers, and our inability to differentiate
between what is appropriate for an adult and
not appropriate for a child—all of these
phenomena eat away at astral “interest” early
in life and devour astral “principal” long before
it has ripened. By the time many “normal”
young people are twelve or thirteen they seem
to have lost interest in learning, or even in life;
they have “been there, done that,” and take on
a jaded, middle-aged attitude toward their own
future. The ADHD child is only an extreme
reflection of soul attitudes that will be endemic
to many American children at the century’s end.
The entire thrust of the child rearing
methods developed by the most influential
thinkers of our century has led to the soul
bankruptcy of today’s children just as
inexorably as the financial and banking
policies of the first two-thirds of the century
have led to the collapse of scores and savings
and loan associations in the past decade.
ADHD is not merely a phenomenon that has
arisen alongside modern education and child
psychology; it is the logical end product of
those erroneous pictures of the human being
and the methods arising from them. Children
do not need choices; they need guidance.
When an adult asks a young child to make a
choice, the adult relinquishes the majesty and
power that should be hers by dint of experience
and acquired wisdom. In that moment, child
57
and adult become equal; over the course of
many such moments of choice, this equality
becomes habitual, and the sweetest children
gradually turn into little tyrants who wield the
power to determine the restaurants in which the
family will eat, the movies that they will see, the
malls in which they will shop. We don’t have to
watch situation comedies on TV to experience
the ubiquity of such children in modern life!
Most importantly, we should realize that a
child who is given too many choices will
become an adult who has difficulty making
decisions. While choice, according to
definition, “implies broadly the freedom of
choosing from a set of persons or things,”
decision is defined as “the act of reaching a
conclusion or making up one’s mind,” and also,
interestingly, as “firmness of character or action;
determination.” This is not merely a semantic
matter; there is a real difference between these
two acts. The power to decide, I would claim, is
built upon the ability to accept the decisions of
adults in one’s youth. (This assumes, of course,
that one encounters adults who are themselves
capable of making decisions.) Childish choosing
draws on the very forces of soul and spirit that
are meant to mature and become adult
decisiveness. In an article on children’s rights,
Federal Judge Mary Kohler emphasized “the
right to be a child during childhood” and
emphasized that one of the impediments to the
achievement of this “inalienable” right is the
“too early forcing of choices upon children.”20
The simplicity of life in earlier days was
accompanied by a lack of choices, which we
would today find boring, but this in turn led
to a consistency of life that we today might
find healing. This is not turning back from the
“freedom of choice” that we as adults expect,
but we must recognize that a pre-determined
and expectable course of events strengthens
the etheric body of the child. It is this that
provides a healthy foundation for behavioral
stability and predictability in childhood, as
well as for the capacity to make important
decisions in later life.
We can encompass the child with our own
certainty by creating a form into which the child
enters every day. For parents, this means
establishing a regular rhythm of bedtimes and
mealtimes, a secure and serene “time-
environment” in which the child’s etheric body
is free to do its work. A young child who
“decides for herself” when she is ready for
bedtime, or who refuses to go to sleep until her
parents have turned in, as well, begins to weaken
her etheric forces in early childhood. Toddlers
who are free to “eat when they’re hungry,” or to
help themselves at the refrigerator may be
nourishing their physical nature, but are not
providing the rhythmical and social nature that
their etheric body requires.
Parents may contend that they give their
children free reign in these two matters
because the child’s body knows best: “I can’t
crawl under her skin and know when she’s
hungry or tired—she has to tell me! And she
knows a lot better than I do which foods she
needs,” etc. In spite of the parents’
protestations that they are leaving their
children free in their interest of their
psychological and physical health, a sensitive
observer can usually judge by their “waif-like”
appearance which children have been allowed
to decide their own bedtimes and left to fend
for themselves in the kitchen. Invariably,
children who are “free” to make choices about
these fundamental matters look unhealthy,
have less physical stamina and a shorter
attention span than their peers and are not
much inclined to cooperate in any activity
that they find antipathetic or laborious. That
is to say, even at the nursery school level, we
find children who exhibit behavior that fits
the general description of ADHD. It is no
wonder that Ritalin is now being prescribed
for children at an ever-younger age.
If sleeping and eating are not guided by
58
the certainty and clarity of their parents, even
those children who come from well-to-do
households and have been “given everything”
nonetheless appear to be as neglected as a
child raised by a dysfunctional inner city
family. In my own work with New York City
public school children, I’ve met youngsters
who came from tragic backgrounds (a father
killed or unknown, a mother heavily addicted
or in jail) who despite all this sorrow appeared
healthy and lively. In every such situation, the
child was being raised by the grandmother,
who, untouched by the theories of
contemporary child psychology, insisted on a
consistent bedtime and prepared meals with
care and regularity. As the psychoanalyst Peter
Neubauer has observed of his young patients,
“Children who are pushed into adult
experience do not become precociously
mature. On the contrary, they cling to
childhood longer, perhaps all of their lives.”21
We might turn our thoughts for a moment
to Helen Keller, whose multiple disabilities
make her something of a paradigm of the
behavioral problems of our time. Helen’s
handicaps led her to evince behavior that ran
the full gamut from depression to hysteria,
from autism to ADHD. And then Annie
Sullivan entered Helen’s life, struggled to find
the right approach to this seemingly insoluble
problem, and succeeded. In a newspaper
interview with Annie Sullivan, her interlocutor
said, “You worked miracles with Helen
because you got her to love you,” to which
Annie Sullivan replied, “No, first Helen had to
learn to obey me. Obedience came first, then
came love.”
From a more contemporary perspective,
here are the words of a mother and two
schoolchildren who needed her attention
during an outbreak of lice:
I realize that I love my children more for having
gone through this with them. I know that
nobody else could really have taken care of
well as for the capacity to make important
decisions in later life.
We can encompass the child with our own
certainty by creating a form into which the child
enters every day. For parents, this means
establishing a regular rhythm of bedtimes and
mealtimes, a secure and serene “time-
environment” in which the child’s etheric body
is free to do its work. A young child who
“decides for herself” when she is ready for
bedtime, or who refuses to go to sleep until her
parents have turned in, as well, begins to weaken
her etheric forces in early childhood. Toddlers
who are free to “eat when they’re hungry,” or to
help themselves at the refrigerator may be
nourishing their physical nature, but are not
providing the rhythmical and social nature that
their etheric body requires.
Parents may contend that they give their
children free reign in these two matters
because the child’s body knows best: “I can’t
crawl under her skin and know when she’s
hungry or tired—she has to tell me! And she
knows a lot better than I do which foods she
needs,” etc. In spite of the parents’
protestations that they are leaving their
children free in their interest of their
psychological and physical health, a sensitive
observer can usually judge by their “waif-like”
appearance which children have been allowed
to decide their own bedtimes and left to fend
for themselves in the kitchen. Invariably,
children who are “free” to make choices about
these fundamental matters look unhealthy,
have less physical stamina and a shorter
attention span than their peers and are not
much inclined to cooperate in any activity
that they find antipathetic or laborious. That
is to say, even at the nursery school level, we
find children who exhibit behavior that fits
the general description of ADHD. It is no
wonder that Ritalin is now being prescribed
for children at an ever-younger age.
If sleeping and eating are not guided by
58
the certainty and clarity of their parents, even
those children who come from well-to-do
households and have been “given everything”
nonetheless appear to be as neglected as a
child raised by a dysfunctional inner city
family. In my own work with New York City
public school children, I’ve met youngsters
who came from tragic backgrounds (a father
killed or unknown, a mother heavily addicted
or in jail) who despite all this sorrow appeared
healthy and lively. In every such situation, the
child was being raised by the grandmother,
who, untouched by the theories of
contemporary child psychology, insisted on a
consistent bedtime and prepared meals with
care and regularity. As the psychoanalyst Peter
Neubauer has observed of his young patients,
“Children who are pushed into adult
experience do not become precociously
mature. On the contrary, they cling to
childhood longer, perhaps all of their lives.”21
We might turn our thoughts for a moment
to Helen Keller, whose multiple disabilities
make her something of a paradigm of the
behavioral problems of our time. Helen’s
handicaps led her to evince behavior that ran
the full gamut from depression to hysteria,
from autism to ADHD. And then Annie
Sullivan entered Helen’s life, struggled to find
the right approach to this seemingly insoluble
problem, and succeeded. In a newspaper
interview with Annie Sullivan, her interlocutor
said, “You worked miracles with Helen
because you got her to love you,” to which
Annie Sullivan replied, “No, first Helen had to
learn to obey me. Obedience came first, then
came love.”
From a more contemporary perspective,
here are the words of a mother and two
schoolchildren who needed her attention
during an outbreak of lice:
I realize that I love my children more for having
gone through this with them. I know that
nobody else could really have taken care of
 them with the same spirit that I did . . . And
there is one more thing. I learned that I could
do something with my children to which they
are totally opposed. No amount of distraction,
crying, screaming or complaining could take me
off my task; I was going to do what was
necessary to take care of them, and they were
going to comply. There was no flexibility. This
was a big hurdle for me, but I think that my
children now have a better sense of who’s in
charge and why they need that, and perhaps
they even love me a little more for being in
charge. All this, thanks to head lice.22
If what the child raising theorists cited in the
pervious chapter indicate is true, those children
who are being born in the 1990s, who will be
coming of age in the next millennium, challenge
us—and are themselves challenged—in the
sphere of the will. Writers on child raising
methods, such as John Rosemond and Mary
Sheedy Kurcinka, provide accurate descriptions
of the behavior of these “spirited” or “strong-
willed” children, and suggest helpful ways of
dealing with their behavior so as to make home
life harmonious (or at least bearable!). However,
their writings do not help us to understand why
it is particularly the will that is unfolding in
children at this point in our century. Nor are
they able to articulate just what the will is and,
most importantly, what the relationship of
human will is to what Kurcinka vaguely (and
somewhat arbitrarily) characterizes as spirit.
It is here that Waldorf education may have
its greatest contribution to make to the

are truly new.
Notes
1. Larry Silver, M.D., Advice to Parents on ADHD (Washington, DC, 1993), 6.
2. Ibid., 154, 156
3. Ibid., 125.
4. David Black, “On the Nature of Psychology,” Towards magazine, Winter 1980-81, 32. Although they
were concerned with the psychology of adults, Mr. Black’s insights have proven to be of the greatest
help in building a bridge from mainstream psychology to Steiner’s perceptions about the human soul.
59
challenge of ADHD. By laying the foundation
for their educational methods on the principle
of the whole human being, Waldorf teachers do
not stop with the static concept of “multiple
intelligence.” Rather, they help an intelligent
multiplicity to thrive in every child in the
classroom, recognizing that every child needs to
cultivate her linguistic side, her bodily-
kinesthetic side, her spatial side, etc. Indeed,
we can see that part of the genesis of ADHD
lies in the stifling of too many facets of a
child’s nature so that a one-sided “intelligence”
can shine at the expense of all else. Waldorf
education can not “cure” ADHD, but its
theories and its practices can serve to mitigate
hyperactive tendencies in young children, and
can be an important part of the treatment of
older children faced with this challenge of our
times. Some measure of the importance of
understanding the challenge may be gleaned by
words spoken by Rudolf Steiner one year after
the first Waldorf school had been opened:
External earthly life, insofar as it is a product
of earlier times, will pass away—and it is an
entirely vain hope to believe that the old
habits of thought and will can continue.
What must arise is a new kind of knowledge,
a new kind of willing in all domains. We must
familiarize ourselves with the thought of the
vanishing of a civilization; but we must look
into the human heart, into the spirit dwelling
in man; we must have faith in the heart and
spirit of man in order that through all we are
able to do within the wreckage of the old
civilization, new forms may arise, forms that
them with the same spirit that I did . . . And
there is one more thing. I learned that I could
do something with my children to which they
are totally opposed. No amount of distraction,
crying, screaming or complaining could take me
off my task; I was going to do what was
necessary to take care of them, and they were
going to comply. There was no flexibility. This
was a big hurdle for me, but I think that my
children now have a better sense of who’s in
charge and why they need that, and perhaps
they even love me a little more for being in
charge. All this, thanks to head lice.22
If what the child raising theorists cited in the
pervious chapter indicate is true, those children
who are being born in the 1990s, who will be
coming of age in the next millennium, challenge
us—and are themselves challenged—in the
sphere of the will. Writers on child raising
methods, such as John Rosemond and Mary
Sheedy Kurcinka, provide accurate descriptions
of the behavior of these “spirited” or “strong-
willed” children, and suggest helpful ways of
dealing with their behavior so as to make home
life harmonious (or at least bearable!). However,
their writings do not help us to understand why
it is particularly the will that is unfolding in
children at this point in our century. Nor are
they able to articulate just what the will is and,
most importantly, what the relationship of
human will is to what Kurcinka vaguely (and
somewhat arbitrarily) characterizes as spirit.
It is here that Waldorf education may have
its greatest contribution to make to the

are truly new.
Notes
1. Larry Silver, M.D., Advice to Parents on ADHD (Washington, DC, 1993), 6.
2. Ibid., 154, 156
3. Ibid., 125.
4. David Black, “On the Nature of Psychology,” Towards magazine, Winter 1980-81, 32. Although they
were concerned with the psychology of adults, Mr. Black’s insights have proven to be of the greatest
help in building a bridge from mainstream psychology to Steiner’s perceptions about the human soul.
59
challenge of ADHD. By laying the foundation
for their educational methods on the principle
of the whole human being, Waldorf teachers do
not stop with the static concept of “multiple
intelligence.” Rather, they help an intelligent
multiplicity to thrive in every child in the
classroom, recognizing that every child needs to
cultivate her linguistic side, her bodily-
kinesthetic side, her spatial side, etc. Indeed,
we can see that part of the genesis of ADHD
lies in the stifling of too many facets of a
child’s nature so that a one-sided “intelligence”
can shine at the expense of all else. Waldorf
education can not “cure” ADHD, but its
theories and its practices can serve to mitigate
hyperactive tendencies in young children, and
can be an important part of the treatment of
older children faced with this challenge of our
times. Some measure of the importance of
understanding the challenge may be gleaned by
words spoken by Rudolf Steiner one year after
the first Waldorf school had been opened:
External earthly life, insofar as it is a product
of earlier times, will pass away—and it is an
entirely vain hope to believe that the old
habits of thought and will can continue.
What must arise is a new kind of knowledge,
a new kind of willing in all domains. We must
familiarize ourselves with the thought of the
vanishing of a civilization; but we must look
into the human heart, into the spirit dwelling
in man; we must have faith in the heart and
spirit of man in order that through all we are
able to do within the wreckage of the old
civilization, new forms may arise, forms that
 5. Barbara Ingersoll, Your Hyperactive Child (New York, 1988), xxii.
6. John F. Taylor, The Hyperactive Child and the Family (New York, 1980), 47, 54. Dr. Taylor provides a
list of over 70 “Environmental Irritants that Can Trigger an Increase in the Hyperactivity of an
Exposed Child.”
7. Ingersoll, op. cit., 97
8. Ibid., 91.
9. Silver, op. cit., 134.
10. To the author’s best knowledge, the first university-level course given in the United States on “The
History of Consciousness” appeared almost two generations after Rudolf Steiner’s writings on the
subject. It was given to the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1968, and was thought to be the
quintessential manifestation of Generation Two.
11. Rudolf Steiner, Foundations of Human Experience (Anthroposphic Press, Hudson, NY).
12. James Dobson, The Strong-Willed Child (Wheaton, IL, 1987), 76-78.
13. Rudolf Steiner, The Philosophy of Freedom (Anthroposophic Press, Hudson, NY, 1995).
14. Saul Wurman, Information Anxiety (New York, 1989), 157.
15. Ibid, 158.
16. Marie Winn, Children Without Childhood (New York, 1983), 79.
17. M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled (New York, 1980), 121.
18. Howard Gardner, Frames of Mind (New York, 1983), 196
19. Howard Gardner, Art, Mind and Grain (New York, 1982).
20. Winn, op. cit., 196.
21. Ibid., 199.
22. “What Could Be Good About Head Lice?” The Garden Gate (Bulletin of The Waldorf School of
Atlanta), December, 1995.
Eugene Schwartz is a class teacher at Green Meadow Waldorf School, and lectures extensively
throughout the Waldorf movement. This article is reprinted from the Research Bulletin of the
Waldorf Education Research Institute, Vol. IV, No. 1, January 1999. It is an excerpt from Millennial
Child, Anthroposophic Press, 2000.
60
5. Barbara Ingersoll, Your Hyperactive Child (New York, 1988), xxii.
6. John F. Taylor, The Hyperactive Child and the Family (New York, 1980), 47, 54. Dr. Taylor provides a
list of over 70 “Environmental Irritants that Can Trigger an Increase in the Hyperactivity of an
Exposed Child.”
7. Ingersoll, op. cit., 97
8. Ibid., 91.
9. Silver, op. cit., 134.
10. To the author’s best knowledge, the first university-level course given in the United States on “The
History of Consciousness” appeared almost two generations after Rudolf Steiner’s writings on the
subject. It was given to the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1968, and was thought to be the
quintessential manifestation of Generation Two.
11. Rudolf Steiner, Foundations of Human Experience (Anthroposphic Press, Hudson, NY).
12. James Dobson, The Strong-Willed Child (Wheaton, IL, 1987), 76-78.
13. Rudolf Steiner, The Philosophy of Freedom (Anthroposophic Press, Hudson, NY, 1995).
14. Saul Wurman, Information Anxiety (New York, 1989), 157.
15. Ibid, 158.
16. Marie Winn, Children Without Childhood (New York, 1983), 79.
17. M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled (New York, 1980), 121.
18. Howard Gardner, Frames of Mind (New York, 1983), 196
19. Howard Gardner, Art, Mind and Grain (New York, 1982).
20. Winn, op. cit., 196.
21. Ibid., 199.
22. “What Could Be Good About Head Lice?” The Garden Gate (Bulletin of The Waldorf School of
Atlanta), December, 1995.
Eugene Schwartz is a class teacher at Green Meadow Waldorf School, and lectures extensively
throughout the Waldorf movement. This article is reprinted from the Research Bulletin of the
Waldorf Education Research Institute, Vol. IV, No. 1, January 1999. It is an excerpt from Millennial
Child, Anthroposophic Press, 2000.
60
Concerning Restless Children Concerning Restless Children
Bertram von Zabern, M.D. Bertram von Zabern, M.D.

To be a teacher nowadays means to be able
to deal with restless children. There is often at
least one child in a class whose irritability and
chaotic motion take up enormous energies
from everyone. Studies of recent years remind
us that attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) has become America’s number one
childhood psychiatric disorder. Books like
Talking Back to Ritalin and The Indigo
Children question the value of using psycho-
stimulants, the routine treatment of millions
or restless children.
Such popularity, which has brought
Ritalin into Waldorf schools as well, is
astounding in view of the many adverse side-
effects, which include growth retardation,
motor tics or Tourette’s syndrome, and drug
dependence. The manufacturer states in the
Physician’s Desk Reference 2003: “Sufficient
data on safety and efficacy of long-term use
of Ritalin in children are not yet available.”
The logic is that the research of a giant
manufacturer has proven over 40 years that
there is no long-term efficacy besides
detrimental side effects. The paradox of
Ritalin stands as an example of how the
profound ills of Western civilization affect
the growing child. Where should we start
when trying to prevent and heal severe
restlessness in children?
The understanding of a child, as described
by Rudolf Steiner, leads in a different
direction. The school-age child is the result of
three streams:
1. The spiritual entelechy of the child.
2. The bodily heritage from the parents,
which needs to be individualized.
3. The influences from the growing
child’s environment.
From birth on, the environment starts to
shape the helpless, trusting baby. When
Rudolf Steiner outlined, as early as 1907, the
anthroposophical principles of education, he
left no doubt about the responsibility that we,
as parents and educators, carry in providing
the child’s surroundings.
“Whatever happens in the physical
environment (during the first seven years), the
child will imitate, and by imitation its physical
organs are being poured into their permanent
shapes.” (Rudolf Steiner, Education of the
Young Child, Anthroposophic Press, 1996) By
environment Steiner means all physical,
aesthetic, and ethical impressions a child will
perceive, most powerfully the impressions of
joy and love. He continues, “Such love, which,
as it were, permeates warmly the physical
environment, hatches in the true sense of the
word the forms of the physical organs.”
To be a teacher nowadays means to be able
to deal with restless children. There is often at
least one child in a class whose irritability and
chaotic motion take up enormous energies
from everyone. Studies of recent years remind
us that attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) has become America’s number one
childhood psychiatric disorder. Books like
Talking Back to Ritalin and The Indigo
Children question the value of using psycho-
stimulants, the routine treatment of millions
or restless children.
Such popularity, which has brought
Ritalin into Waldorf schools as well, is
astounding in view of the many adverse side-
effects, which include growth retardation,
motor tics or Tourette’s syndrome, and drug
dependence. The manufacturer states in the
Physician’s Desk Reference 2003: “Sufficient
data on safety and efficacy of long-term use
of Ritalin in children are not yet available.”
The logic is that the research of a giant
manufacturer has proven over 40 years that
there is no long-term efficacy besides
detrimental side effects. The paradox of
Ritalin stands as an example of how the
profound ills of Western civilization affect
the growing child. Where should we start
when trying to prevent and heal severe
restlessness in children?
The understanding of a child, as described
by Rudolf Steiner, leads in a different
direction. The school-age child is the result of
three streams:
1. The spiritual entelechy of the child.
2. The bodily heritage from the parents,
which needs to be individualized.
3. The influences from the growing
child’s environment.
From birth on, the environment starts to
shape the helpless, trusting baby. When
Rudolf Steiner outlined, as early as 1907, the
anthroposophical principles of education, he
left no doubt about the responsibility that we,
as parents and educators, carry in providing
the child’s surroundings.
“Whatever happens in the physical
environment (during the first seven years), the
child will imitate, and by imitation its physical
organs are being poured into their permanent
shapes.” (Rudolf Steiner, Education of the
Young Child, Anthroposophic Press, 1996) By
environment Steiner means all physical,
aesthetic, and ethical impressions a child will
perceive, most powerfully the impressions of
joy and love. He continues, “Such love, which,
as it were, permeates warmly the physical
environment, hatches in the true sense of the
word the forms of the physical organs.”

61 61
 The first seven years are the formative
period in a child’s development, where a lack
of loving warmth will cause the most lasting
damage. Unfortunately, traumas like the
parent’s divorce and daily exposure to
television and other electronic media have
become common, and they are only the
beginning of a list of childhood adversities. As
a consequence, children develop serious
restlessness, to which boys, especially the first-
born, are more prone than girls. Although this
condition can be obvious already by the age of
three, it is mostly diagnosed in the first years
of school, at which point a comprehensive
therapeutic approach becomes necessary.
By the time the child’s disruptiveness has
become a concern in school, the class teacher
is often desperate. Therefore, the needs of the
child are best taken up by a care group that
includes the child’s parents, other teachers
involved with the child, one or more
therapeutically experienced faculty members,
and, if possible, the school physician. The
parents will give a thorough history and
description of the child. The care group
members will then share impressions from all
angles of observation. The physician or a
therapist can offer insights about constitution,
development, and psychological issues. To
achieve a heightened image of the child’s
being within a group is a strength that already
brings the beginning of an improvement.
If “nest warmth” is missing in the family,
the parents will appreciate the guidance
toward the right atmosphere of daily rhythms,
appropriate literature, individual time with
the child, creative ideas for play, and other
child activities, in addition to the structuring
or elimination of TV viewing. The quality of
clothing often reveals a lack of warmth in the
child’s life. This would lead to conversations
with parents about the benefit of natural
fibers and of wearing at least two layers of
clothing, similar to adult practice.
62
In nutrition, the use of concentrated
sweets and junk food creates problems for a
restless child. Soft drinks containing
phosphoric acid, artificial sweeteners, and
other chemicals are detrimental. Numerous
nutritional systems, such as those based on
Feingold’s studies, macrobiotics, vitamin and
other supplementation, have benefits as well
as dangers. It is helpful to offer parents
insights about wholesome nutrition derived
from reliable biodynamic or organic sources
and prepared from scratch. Meat and eggs
should be kept to a minimum.
Constitutional remedial treatment for
restlessness aims mainly at restoring the
harmony of function of the kidneys and the
digestive tract. Even without symptoms of
illness, the soul-life of restless children is not
well integrated into these functions when, for
instance, emotional tension and lack of
impulse control are combined with bed-wetting
or chaotic eating habits. These are but a few
aspects of how a restless child has made an
uncomfortable connection with his or her lower
body. For such children I like to recommend
Chamomila Cupro culta 2x (Weleda), 10-15
drops two times daily in a teaspoonful of water,
for three months or longer.
This internal medication is supplemented
by rubbing Cuprum praep. 0.4 percent
ointment in a circle (five to ten times) over
each kidney with the downward motion always
close to the spine. The rubbing is done with a
pea-sized amount of ointment, slowly, and
using the palm rather that the fingers. Instead
of two circles, the rubbing can be given in a
lemniscate (figure eight). On days in between,
one parent (often the mother) can do a whole
back rub with Blackthorn body oil (available
from Wala). Besides its remedial effects, these
back rubs allow the parent to restore physical
closeness and warmth in his or her
relationship with the child. Unless
experienced, the parent should be instructed
The first seven years are the formative
period in a child’s development, where a lack
of loving warmth will cause the most lasting
damage. Unfortunately, traumas like the
parent’s divorce and daily exposure to
television and other electronic media have
become common, and they are only the
beginning of a list of childhood adversities. As
a consequence, children develop serious
restlessness, to which boys, especially the first-
born, are more prone than girls. Although this
condition can be obvious already by the age of
three, it is mostly diagnosed in the first years
of school, at which point a comprehensive
therapeutic approach becomes necessary.
By the time the child’s disruptiveness has
become a concern in school, the class teacher
is often desperate. Therefore, the needs of the
child are best taken up by a care group that
includes the child’s parents, other teachers
involved with the child, one or more
therapeutically experienced faculty members,
and, if possible, the school physician. The
parents will give a thorough history and
description of the child. The care group
members will then share impressions from all
angles of observation. The physician or a
therapist can offer insights about constitution,
development, and psychological issues. To
achieve a heightened image of the child’s
being within a group is a strength that already
brings the beginning of an improvement.
If “nest warmth” is missing in the family,
the parents will appreciate the guidance
toward the right atmosphere of daily rhythms,
appropriate literature, individual time with
the child, creative ideas for play, and other
child activities, in addition to the structuring
or elimination of TV viewing. The quality of
clothing often reveals a lack of warmth in the
child’s life. This would lead to conversations
with parents about the benefit of natural
fibers and of wearing at least two layers of
clothing, similar to adult practice.
62
In nutrition, the use of concentrated
sweets and junk food creates problems for a
restless child. Soft drinks containing
phosphoric acid, artificial sweeteners, and
other chemicals are detrimental. Numerous
nutritional systems, such as those based on
Feingold’s studies, macrobiotics, vitamin and
other supplementation, have benefits as well
as dangers. It is helpful to offer parents
insights about wholesome nutrition derived
from reliable biodynamic or organic sources
and prepared from scratch. Meat and eggs
should be kept to a minimum.
Constitutional remedial treatment for
restlessness aims mainly at restoring the
harmony of function of the kidneys and the
digestive tract. Even without symptoms of
illness, the soul-life of restless children is not
well integrated into these functions when, for
instance, emotional tension and lack of
impulse control are combined with bed-wetting
or chaotic eating habits. These are but a few
aspects of how a restless child has made an
uncomfortable connection with his or her lower
body. For such children I like to recommend
Chamomila Cupro culta 2x (Weleda), 10-15
drops two times daily in a teaspoonful of water,
for three months or longer.
This internal medication is supplemented
by rubbing Cuprum praep. 0.4 percent
ointment in a circle (five to ten times) over
each kidney with the downward motion always
close to the spine. The rubbing is done with a
pea-sized amount of ointment, slowly, and
using the palm rather that the fingers. Instead
of two circles, the rubbing can be given in a
lemniscate (figure eight). On days in between,
one parent (often the mother) can do a whole
back rub with Blackthorn body oil (available
from Wala). Besides its remedial effects, these
back rubs allow the parent to restore physical
closeness and warmth in his or her
relationship with the child. Unless
experienced, the parent should be instructed
by a therapist on how to perform the rubs.
This is one possibility of a constitutional
therapy, and it could be expanded individually.
As the organic causes for restlessness can be
quite different, the therapies would have to
vary as well.
In school it is up to the care group to work
out assistance in the main lesson, or to
arrange for a temporary extra lesson with a
remedial teacher. Therapy for the restless
child can come from the realms of color, form
drawing, drawing, music, speech, eurythmy,
drama, and other forms of artistic expression.
Remediation begins where the child is—in
movement, excitement, and activity—and it
will lead toward the contemplative side.
It is important to capture the child’s
imagination in joyful ways and bring content
to the empty energy. Eurythmy is excellent
because it works directly on breathing and
blood circulation. Even without the remedial
eurythmy training, a eurythmist can help with
exercises like AEA, IAO, hexameter with
vowels, and verses and rhythms at the level of
the child’s age and fantasy.
Rudolf Steiner gives unique insights into
color therapy. He describes how the
perception of red has a calming effect by
bringing forth the complementary green as a
response to the child’s organization. Based on
Steiner’s suggestions, extensive groundwork
has been laid in this field and also in other
fields of anthroposophically-oriented art
therapy. (Steiner, Education of the Child)
As in teaching, we pursue long-range goals
in remedial work. The question is, what kind
of person will we have by the age of twenty?
The priority is to help the child rebuild a
shattered constitution, to balance the inner
rhythm, and to restore a sense of heartfelt
warmth and trust. In order to make such
progress, we will have to listen intuitively to
the child’s body language, which often
expresses the torment of being driven
through life by haste. Children have a poor
tolerance for the restlessness of our
civilization. They become our teachers when
they demand us to change ourselves and to
accompany them on every step along the road
to inner peace.
by a therapist on how to perform the rubs.
This is one possibility of a constitutional
therapy, and it could be expanded individually.
As the organic causes for restlessness can be
quite different, the therapies would have to
vary as well.
In school it is up to the care group to work
out assistance in the main lesson, or to
arrange for a temporary extra lesson with a
remedial teacher. Therapy for the restless
child can come from the realms of color, form
drawing, drawing, music, speech, eurythmy,
drama, and other forms of artistic expression.
Remediation begins where the child is—in
movement, excitement, and activity—and it
will lead toward the contemplative side.
It is important to capture the child’s
imagination in joyful ways and bring content
to the empty energy. Eurythmy is excellent
because it works directly on breathing and
blood circulation. Even without the remedial
eurythmy training, a eurythmist can help with
exercises like AEA, IAO, hexameter with
vowels, and verses and rhythms at the level of
the child’s age and fantasy.
Rudolf Steiner gives unique insights into
color therapy. He describes how the
perception of red has a calming effect by
bringing forth the complementary green as a
response to the child’s organization. Based on
Steiner’s suggestions, extensive groundwork
has been laid in this field and also in other
fields of anthroposophically-oriented art
therapy. (Steiner, Education of the Child)
As in teaching, we pursue long-range goals
in remedial work. The question is, what kind
of person will we have by the age of twenty?
The priority is to help the child rebuild a
shattered constitution, to balance the inner
rhythm, and to restore a sense of heartfelt
warmth and trust. In order to make such
progress, we will have to listen intuitively to
the child’s body language, which often
expresses the torment of being driven
through life by haste. Children have a poor
tolerance for the restlessness of our
civilization. They become our teachers when
they demand us to change ourselves and to
accompany them on every step along the road
to inner peace.

Bibliography: Bibliography:
Breggin, Peter, Talking Back to Ritalin. Common Courage Press, 1998. Breggin, Peter, Talking Back to Ritalin. Common Courage Press, 1998.
Carroll, Lee and Jan Tober, The Indigo Children. Hay House, Inc., 1999. Carroll, Lee and Jan Tober, The Indigo Children. Hay House, Inc., 1999.
Physician’s Desk Reference, Medical Economics, 2003. Physician’s Desk Reference, Medical Economics, 2003.
Steiner, Rudolf, The Education of the Child (1907), Anthroposophic Press. Steiner, Rudolf, The Education of the Child (1907), Anthroposophic Press.

Dr. von Zabern has been active in curative education and social therapy throughout his
professional life. He moved from Germany with his family in 1969 and has been a consultant to
Waldorf schools with a special interest in children who are experiencing learning difficulties. Dr. von
Zabern practices as an anthroposophically-oriented physician and psychiatrist in Temple, New
Hampshire.
Dr. von Zabern has been active in curative education and social therapy throughout his
professional life. He moved from Germany with his family in 1969 and has been a consultant to
Waldorf schools with a special interest in children who are experiencing learning difficulties. Dr. von
Zabern practices as an anthroposophically-oriented physician and psychiatrist in Temple, New
Hampshire.

63 63
Violence and Electronic Media:
Their Impact on Children
Joan Almon
For years people have spoken about the
relationship between violence on television
and aggressive behavior in children. There was
a strong assumption that there was a
relationship, even if it was not officially
recognized, and many parents explained that
they did let their children watch television, but
“never anything violent.” Indeed, it has been
quite an effort to help parents see that it is not
only violent television that has a negative
impact on children, but all media viewing.
Watching Sesame Street with its 40 or 50
short takes is as much an attack on the senses
of the young child as watching a cartoon with
its average of 25 acts of violence per hour.
Popular wisdom about violence on TV was
threatened a few years ago when headlines
everywhere featured a study that declared
there was no relationship between violence on
television and violent behavior. Many of us
were stunned by the publicity given to this
one study, compared to the little notice paid
to hundreds of studies that had shown a
relationship between violence and TV. One
could almost hear a collective sigh of relief
filling the land as people thought that
children could watch violent programming
without effect.
It seems that that study and its headlines
marked a low point of a trough from which we
65
are now emerging. In complete contrast to the
news of a few years ago, headlines in June 1993
spoke of Senate hearings in Washington and
Los Angeles that revealed strong and appalling
links between violence on the screen and
violence in real life. Then an excellent article,
“Screen Violence is Killing Us,” appeared in
Harvard Magazine, (Nov./Dec. 1993).
The article begins by reminding us of the
halcyon days of the 1950s, which appeared so
peaceful that the release of films like
Blackboard Jungle and Rebel without a Cause
shocked the nation. The question arose
whether there could really be such violence in
the United States, which was considered such
a safe nation. Forty-five years later, the United
States is considered very unsafe. The national
homicide rate, when corrected for population
growth, has increased 100 percent during
these 40 years, and in some cities it is much
higher. In Detroit, the homicide rate in 1953
was 130, and in 1992 it was 726. In Los
Angeles County, the number of homicides
grew from 82 in 1953 to 2,512 in 1992, yet the
population only doubled in size. Clearly we
are in a very different era than the 1950s, and
homicides are only part of the picture.
Throughout America there is a general level of
fear regarding violence, and that fear leads to
a great many social difficulties as lines tend to
Violence and Electronic Media:
Their Impact on Children
Joan Almon
For years people have spoken about the
relationship between violence on television
and aggressive behavior in children. There was
a strong assumption that there was a
relationship, even if it was not officially
recognized, and many parents explained that
they did let their children watch television, but
“never anything violent.” Indeed, it has been
quite an effort to help parents see that it is not
only violent television that has a negative
impact on children, but all media viewing.
Watching Sesame Street with its 40 or 50
short takes is as much an attack on the senses
of the young child as watching a cartoon with
its average of 25 acts of violence per hour.
Popular wisdom about violence on TV was
threatened a few years ago when headlines
everywhere featured a study that declared
there was no relationship between violence on
television and violent behavior. Many of us
were stunned by the publicity given to this
one study, compared to the little notice paid
to hundreds of studies that had shown a
relationship between violence and TV. One
could almost hear a collective sigh of relief
filling the land as people thought that
children could watch violent programming
without effect.
It seems that that study and its headlines
marked a low point of a trough from which we
65
are now emerging. In complete contrast to the
news of a few years ago, headlines in June 1993
spoke of Senate hearings in Washington and
Los Angeles that revealed strong and appalling
links between violence on the screen and
violence in real life. Then an excellent article,
“Screen Violence is Killing Us,” appeared in
Harvard Magazine, (Nov./Dec. 1993).
The article begins by reminding us of the
halcyon days of the 1950s, which appeared so
peaceful that the release of films like
Blackboard Jungle and Rebel without a Cause
shocked the nation. The question arose
whether there could really be such violence in
the United States, which was considered such
a safe nation. Forty-five years later, the United
States is considered very unsafe. The national
homicide rate, when corrected for population
growth, has increased 100 percent during
these 40 years, and in some cities it is much
higher. In Detroit, the homicide rate in 1953
was 130, and in 1992 it was 726. In Los
Angeles County, the number of homicides
grew from 82 in 1953 to 2,512 in 1992, yet the
population only doubled in size. Clearly we
are in a very different era than the 1950s, and
homicides are only part of the picture.
Throughout America there is a general level of
fear regarding violence, and that fear leads to
a great many social difficulties as lines tend to
become more clearly drawn between races and
among economic groups.
One could write books on all the factors
that contribute to such a growth of violence,
for there is never a single cause of such a
tremendous social change. There can be no
doubt that the vast changes in home life and
the greater prevalence of drug use alone are
significant factors, and there are many other
factors, such as the decline of educational
quality, the lack of values presented in schools
and elsewhere, and much more. But we must
not forget that in the 1950s the world of
television was just beginning. My memory of
programming at that time was that it was
fairly tranquil. Cartoons were silly but not
particularly violent. Superman appeared but
was a fairly tame character compared to the
superheroes who followed in his wake. There
has been a steady escalation of violence in
programming and a steady growth in violence
in the streets, and the experts are now saying
that this is not an accidental connection.
There is a relationship that cannot be ignored.
Among the many studies cited in the
Harvard article, a particularly extensive one
was done by Dr. Brandon Centrewell of the
University of Washington’s Department of
Epidemiology and Psychiatry. He viewed the
increase in violence as a modern epidemic
and approached it like any other epidemic,
trying to isolate causes. He did a comparative
study of the United States, Canada, and
South Africa. In the first two countries
television entered in 1945; in South Africa it
was not permitted until the mid-1970s. The
study paid attention to similarities and
differences in the three countries and took
these into account. With respect to South
Africa an effort was made to eliminate the
effect of racial tensions by looking at
homicide rates only in the white population.
Taking all these factors into account, the
results were quite startling.
66
Homicide rates in Canada and the United
States increased almost 100 percent between
1945 and 1970. In both countries TV-set
ownership increased in almost the same
proportion as the homicide rate. In South
Africa . . . the (white) homicide rate had been
in gradual decline between 1945 and 1970.
When the government allowed TV in 1975,
the homicide rate (again, white only)
exploded, increasing 130 percent by 1983 after
decades of decline. The statistical implication
is that TV is a cause of violence. (page 42)
Especially interesting here is the
conclusion that TV itself is a cause of
violence, not only the violence on TV. The
experience of Waldorf educators is that this is
a justified conclusion, because TV-watching—
whether Sesame Street or Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles—has an effect that could best
be described as stripping children of their
natural protection and leaving them very
vulnerable. In this state of vulnerability
children feel themselves under attack, and the
more aggressive ones will lash out, often for
no apparent reason. I had such a fellow in my
kindergarten who was very sensitive to
television watching. In his play he always
identified enemies, be they sharks, monsters
or other children, and fortified himself and
attacked them. Gradually, as TV was
minimized in his life, (unfortunately it was
never eliminated), his play became more
social and less aggressive. However, several
times during the year he visited his
grandparents for a week at a time, where the
TV was on most of the time. He came back in
full attack mode. At such times he would
push children down on the playground, and
he would say to me, “They were going to hurt
me,” yet I could see no signs of the other
children having any such intent. The TV
watching itself left him with a strong sense of
insecurity and excessive vulnerability. He
reacted with aggression, and it is easy to
imagine this projected into adolescence as real
become more clearly drawn between races and
among economic groups.
One could write books on all the factors
that contribute to such a growth of violence,
for there is never a single cause of such a
tremendous social change. There can be no
doubt that the vast changes in home life and
the greater prevalence of drug use alone are
significant factors, and there are many other
factors, such as the decline of educational
quality, the lack of values presented in schools
and elsewhere, and much more. But we must
not forget that in the 1950s the world of
television was just beginning. My memory of
programming at that time was that it was
fairly tranquil. Cartoons were silly but not
particularly violent. Superman appeared but
was a fairly tame character compared to the
superheroes who followed in his wake. There
has been a steady escalation of violence in
programming and a steady growth in violence
in the streets, and the experts are now saying
that this is not an accidental connection.
There is a relationship that cannot be ignored.
Among the many studies cited in the
Harvard article, a particularly extensive one
was done by Dr. Brandon Centrewell of the
University of Washington’s Department of
Epidemiology and Psychiatry. He viewed the
increase in violence as a modern epidemic
and approached it like any other epidemic,
trying to isolate causes. He did a comparative
study of the United States, Canada, and
South Africa. In the first two countries
television entered in 1945; in South Africa it
was not permitted until the mid-1970s. The
study paid attention to similarities and
differences in the three countries and took
these into account. With respect to South
Africa an effort was made to eliminate the
effect of racial tensions by looking at
homicide rates only in the white population.
Taking all these factors into account, the
results were quite startling.
66
Homicide rates in Canada and the United
States increased almost 100 percent between
1945 and 1970. In both countries TV-set
ownership increased in almost the same
proportion as the homicide rate. In South
Africa . . . the (white) homicide rate had been
in gradual decline between 1945 and 1970.
When the government allowed TV in 1975,
the homicide rate (again, white only)
exploded, increasing 130 percent by 1983 after
decades of decline. The statistical implication
is that TV is a cause of violence. (page 42)
Especially interesting here is the
conclusion that TV itself is a cause of
violence, not only the violence on TV. The
experience of Waldorf educators is that this is
a justified conclusion, because TV-watching—
whether Sesame Street or Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles—has an effect that could best
be described as stripping children of their
natural protection and leaving them very
vulnerable. In this state of vulnerability
children feel themselves under attack, and the
more aggressive ones will lash out, often for
no apparent reason. I had such a fellow in my
kindergarten who was very sensitive to
television watching. In his play he always
identified enemies, be they sharks, monsters
or other children, and fortified himself and
attacked them. Gradually, as TV was
minimized in his life, (unfortunately it was
never eliminated), his play became more
social and less aggressive. However, several
times during the year he visited his
grandparents for a week at a time, where the
TV was on most of the time. He came back in
full attack mode. At such times he would
push children down on the playground, and
he would say to me, “They were going to hurt
me,” yet I could see no signs of the other
children having any such intent. The TV
watching itself left him with a strong sense of
insecurity and excessive vulnerability. He
reacted with aggression, and it is easy to
imagine this projected into adolescence as real
violence. The problem is compounded for
youngsters already under stress because of
difficult life situations. They can be pushed
right over the edge by the continual
bombardment of television images, especially
violent ones.
Viewing television violence is not the only
factor contributing to violence in society, but
it is one that could be corrected more easily
than widespread other social problems, such
as poverty, joblessness, and drug use. From the
point of view of the media, this is very unfair
thinking, and studio heads are growing very
concerned about their First Amendment
rights. We do not live in a country in which
one can simply ban violence from the screen,
but the public can become much more
cognizant of its effects and find ways to shield
children from it. For example, there is now
talk about rating shows with violence so
parents are forewarned about them in a
manner similar to the ratings of movies. It will
soon be possible to program televisions so that
no shows with certain ratings can be viewed.
In this way parents regain some of the control
over their children’s television viewing that
they generally relinquished in recent decades.
It is only a partial solution, but perhaps this
first step will give some parents the courage to
take further steps in curtailing viewing for
their children.
What is the actual situation with media
violence and how does it affect children? To
begin with, the incidence of violent
programming varies, and some positive changes
have been made by the leading networks. In a
survey of programming, an activist
organization, the Center for Media and Public
Affairs, found that there was less violence than
expected in prime time adult shows among the
major networks. Indeed, their rate was not
much higher than public television, which has
always had a reputation for non-violent
programming. This meant an average of two or
67
three acts of violence per hour, which is
considered good—although for people who are
not regular viewers, even this seems like an
unnecessary and possibly dangerous level of
violence. It is a sad reflection on a society that
it considers programming to be positive and
healthy if it shows only two or three acts of
violence each hour.
There were two areas of great concern in
the survey mentioned above. One is that the
bulk of violence on the networks is found in
children’s programs. Cartoons and toy
commercials register an astonishing 25 violent
acts per hour. This is reminiscent of a remark
made by Joseph Chilton Pearce in his recent
book, Evolution’s End:
A major television filmmaker asked me to
consult on a series for children that was
supposedly designed to stimulate development
of imagination. The film company had already
signed with sponsoring toy companies, who
stipulated the “usual sixteen acts of violence
per hour” (otherwise, the rationale goes,
children lose interest). The filmmaker’s
concern was how to incorporate that much
violence into the programming without having
it affect the child. I quietly bowed out.
[Evolution’s End, (Harper, San Francisco),
1992, 240.]
The other area of concern is that on non-
network programs the rate of violence is
much higher. A number of cable stations,
including MTV and HBO, range from 13 to
19 acts of violence per hour in adult viewing.
The adult appetite for violence on the screen
is enormous, as evidenced by the body count
in recent popular films. Robocop II had a
body count of 81, Rambo III had 106 and
Die Hard had 2,264. One reads statistics
such as these and sees modern adults as
having a huge hunger for sensation, which is
satisfied only with more and more gore and
violence. The gentler sensations of life cease
to appeal or satisfy, and this pattern begins
violence. The problem is compounded for
youngsters already under stress because of
difficult life situations. They can be pushed
right over the edge by the continual
bombardment of television images, especially
violent ones.
Viewing television violence is not the only
factor contributing to violence in society, but
it is one that could be corrected more easily
than widespread other social problems, such
as poverty, joblessness, and drug use. From the
point of view of the media, this is very unfair
thinking, and studio heads are growing very
concerned about their First Amendment
rights. We do not live in a country in which
one can simply ban violence from the screen,
but the public can become much more
cognizant of its effects and find ways to shield
children from it. For example, there is now
talk about rating shows with violence so
parents are forewarned about them in a
manner similar to the ratings of movies. It will
soon be possible to program televisions so that
no shows with certain ratings can be viewed.
In this way parents regain some of the control
over their children’s television viewing that
they generally relinquished in recent decades.
It is only a partial solution, but perhaps this
first step will give some parents the courage to
take further steps in curtailing viewing for
their children.
What is the actual situation with media
violence and how does it affect children? To
begin with, the incidence of violent
programming varies, and some positive changes
have been made by the leading networks. In a
survey of programming, an activist
organization, the Center for Media and Public
Affairs, found that there was less violence than
expected in prime time adult shows among the
major networks. Indeed, their rate was not
much higher than public television, which has
always had a reputation for non-violent
programming. This meant an average of two or
67
three acts of violence per hour, which is
considered good—although for people who are
not regular viewers, even this seems like an
unnecessary and possibly dangerous level of
violence. It is a sad reflection on a society that
it considers programming to be positive and
healthy if it shows only two or three acts of
violence each hour.
There were two areas of great concern in
the survey mentioned above. One is that the
bulk of violence on the networks is found in
children’s programs. Cartoons and toy
commercials register an astonishing 25 violent
acts per hour. This is reminiscent of a remark
made by Joseph Chilton Pearce in his recent
book, Evolution’s End:
A major television filmmaker asked me to
consult on a series for children that was
supposedly designed to stimulate development
of imagination. The film company had already
signed with sponsoring toy companies, who
stipulated the “usual sixteen acts of violence
per hour” (otherwise, the rationale goes,
children lose interest). The filmmaker’s
concern was how to incorporate that much
violence into the programming without having
it affect the child. I quietly bowed out.
[Evolution’s End, (Harper, San Francisco),
1992, 240.]
The other area of concern is that on non-
network programs the rate of violence is
much higher. A number of cable stations,
including MTV and HBO, range from 13 to
19 acts of violence per hour in adult viewing.
The adult appetite for violence on the screen
is enormous, as evidenced by the body count
in recent popular films. Robocop II had a
body count of 81, Rambo III had 106 and
Die Hard had 2,264. One reads statistics
such as these and sees modern adults as
having a huge hunger for sensation, which is
satisfied only with more and more gore and
violence. The gentler sensations of life cease
to appeal or satisfy, and this pattern begins
in childhood.
One parent quoted in the Harvard article
was Alan Marcil, a TV and movie producer. He
was shocked when his three-year-old watched a
Ninja Turtle film and proceeded to punch his
sister, something he had never done before. He
also began kicking and attacked the piano with
a hammer. Now he makes weapons out of all
sorts of toys. For this father the worst aspect of
the situation is the change in his son’s TV-
watching appetite. “He used to like Mister
Rogers and Sesame Street, but he’s not
interested in these shows anymore. I turn them
on and he wants something futuristic, with lots
of violent action.”
Following the Congressional hearings little
more was heard about violence and media in
the general press. However, at the beginning
of 1996, this situation changed again when,
during his State of the Union address,
President Clinton pointed to a relationship
between violence in the United States and
violence in the media. Within two weeks
articles began to appear and public radio
interviews indicated that serious work was
taking place in the offices of President
Clinton and Vice President Gore.
At the same time a report was issued about
a massive study of the effect of media
violence on children and adults. The headline
in the Washington Post of February 6, 1996
announced, “Study Finds Real Harm in TV
Violence.” The $1.5 million study was funded
by the cable television industry and carried
out by four universities. It concluded that
“psychologically harmful violence is pervasive
on broadcast and cable TV programs.” Of
special concern to the researchers was the fact
that in 73 percent of the acts of violence, the
perpetrators went unpunished. This gives a
strong message that violence is acceptable and
successful. Rarely were the long-term
consequences of violence depicted. Financial
and emotional consequences were shown only
68
16 percent of the time, whereas 47 percent of
the violence was portrayed with no harm to
victims and 58 percent depicted no pain. The
overall message that violence causes little pain
or harm and rarely calls for punishment seems
to be permeating the country. This is not just
a problem for children, of course. Violence is
carried out by adults, who seem powerfully
influenced by the media, a fact well known to
every advertiser. Whereas the media could be
used as a means of encouraging nonviolent
alternatives in solving problems, only four per
cent of programs focused on this.
Meanwhile, within Waldorf kindergartens,
we have seen many children affected by the
media and by violent programming. What
reaches them and helps to heal them? There is
no single answer, but many teachers have
found that real work activity is a key to the
healing process. One example is a child who
was described by his teacher as completely
addicted to super-hero play. Nothing that he
or his parents could do broke the hold of the
super hero on this child. One day, however, his
carpenter father had to take his son with him
to a job site, where he and others were
building a house. For safety’s sake, the child
had to sit on the roof of their van so that he
wouldn’t play near the power tools, and the
father expected him to be quickly bored.
Instead, the child sat in rapt concentration for
hours, watching the workers build the house.
After this the hold of the super heroes was
broken, and he began to engage in new,
healthier play.
All young children have a hunger for
meaningful will activity, as well as
opportunities for healthy artistic expression.
When we offer real work in the
kindergarten—threshing and grinding the
grain for bread, churning the butter we need,
carving toys or sewing them, scrubbing a room
from top to bottom for spring house cleaning,
or dozens of other real work activities—we fill
in childhood.
One parent quoted in the Harvard article
was Alan Marcil, a TV and movie producer. He
was shocked when his three-year-old watched a
Ninja Turtle film and proceeded to punch his
sister, something he had never done before. He
also began kicking and attacked the piano with
a hammer. Now he makes weapons out of all
sorts of toys. For this father the worst aspect of
the situation is the change in his son’s TV-
watching appetite. “He used to like Mister
Rogers and Sesame Street, but he’s not
interested in these shows anymore. I turn them
on and he wants something futuristic, with lots
of violent action.”
Following the Congressional hearings little
more was heard about violence and media in
the general press. However, at the beginning
of 1996, this situation changed again when,
during his State of the Union address,
President Clinton pointed to a relationship
between violence in the United States and
violence in the media. Within two weeks
articles began to appear and public radio
interviews indicated that serious work was
taking place in the offices of President
Clinton and Vice President Gore.
At the same time a report was issued about
a massive study of the effect of media
violence on children and adults. The headline
in the Washington Post of February 6, 1996
announced, “Study Finds Real Harm in TV
Violence.” The $1.5 million study was funded
by the cable television industry and carried
out by four universities. It concluded that
“psychologically harmful violence is pervasive
on broadcast and cable TV programs.” Of
special concern to the researchers was the fact
that in 73 percent of the acts of violence, the
perpetrators went unpunished. This gives a
strong message that violence is acceptable and
successful. Rarely were the long-term
consequences of violence depicted. Financial
and emotional consequences were shown only
68
16 percent of the time, whereas 47 percent of
the violence was portrayed with no harm to
victims and 58 percent depicted no pain. The
overall message that violence causes little pain
or harm and rarely calls for punishment seems
to be permeating the country. This is not just
a problem for children, of course. Violence is
carried out by adults, who seem powerfully
influenced by the media, a fact well known to
every advertiser. Whereas the media could be
used as a means of encouraging nonviolent
alternatives in solving problems, only four per
cent of programs focused on this.
Meanwhile, within Waldorf kindergartens,
we have seen many children affected by the
media and by violent programming. What
reaches them and helps to heal them? There is
no single answer, but many teachers have
found that real work activity is a key to the
healing process. One example is a child who
was described by his teacher as completely
addicted to super-hero play. Nothing that he
or his parents could do broke the hold of the
super hero on this child. One day, however, his
carpenter father had to take his son with him
to a job site, where he and others were
building a house. For safety’s sake, the child
had to sit on the roof of their van so that he
wouldn’t play near the power tools, and the
father expected him to be quickly bored.
Instead, the child sat in rapt concentration for
hours, watching the workers build the house.
After this the hold of the super heroes was
broken, and he began to engage in new,
healthier play.
All young children have a hunger for
meaningful will activity, as well as
opportunities for healthy artistic expression.
When we offer real work in the
kindergarten—threshing and grinding the
grain for bread, churning the butter we need,
carving toys or sewing them, scrubbing a room
from top to bottom for spring house cleaning,
or dozens of other real work activities—we fill
a space in the child that is often left empty in
our modern, technological homes and
communities. Where the healthy will is not
developing, the unhealthy will comes into
being, and violence can be seen as a
manifestation of the unhealthy will.
In addition, children need beautiful sense
experiences. These experiences are a form of
nourishment. Again, where there is a vacuum
children will seek coarser sensory stimulation,
such as they find on the screen. An artistic
table puppet play or marionette play is one
way to feed the hungry senses. Water color
painting and beeswax modeling are two
others. To meet this need, some kindergarten
teachers have been experimenting with
painting several times a week for a few
months (rather than the usual once a week) in
order to bring a stronger experience to
children in need of healing. Others work
regularly with marionettes, recalling Rudolf
Steiner’s indications that the marionette
theater was a “remedy against civilization’s
ills.” (“Marionette Theater: Posing a Task for
Socially Oriented Education,” Dr. Helmut von
Kügelgen, in: An Overview of the Waldorf
Kindergarten, Waldorf Early Childhood
Association of North America, p. 43)
Such life activities have always been part
of the home. It is a major problem for young
children that, on the one hand, they spend
very little time in the warmth of their own
home and, on the other, the modern home is
not a very warm place to be. The image of
families sitting around the table in
conversation is rapidly disappearing,
although such moments are as important for
today’s children as they were for past
generations. Furthermore, work in the home
is done with so many machines and so much
machine noise that it is no longer a pleasure
to work together on household chores.
Human interaction is receding while
electronic media and machines predominate.
69
An example often given by working mothers
is that they come home and need to cook
dinner quickly, because the children are
hungry and will start fighting if not fed soon.
Thus, there is no time to let children help
with the cooking, and they are often
banished to the television room so that the
mother can work undisturbed. It would be
far better to give a small, healthy snack to
stave off hunger, take time to change clothes,
and cook the meal in a relaxed family
atmosphere. Then the children gather near,
the older ones helping or working on
homework, the little ones helping or playing
at the mother’s feet, and the atmosphere of
hearth and home fills the family. In such an
atmosphere the media have little to offer and
the child’s addiction to them is easily
overcome. In addition, when the will of the
child flows towards the work of the home, it
is much easier to transform patterns of
aggressive and violent behavior.
Today’s problems of electronic media and
violence could be overcome with sufficient
understanding of the nature of the child and
the nature of such media. The two are
basically incompatible. Having such media in
the home is like having a liquor cabinet.
Most adults have liquor in the home and
most know how to use it moderately—but
they do not allow their children free access to
it. The media are the same. They are part of
our modern life, and most adults will want to
use them, but one hopes they will do so with
moderation, and not indulge in viewing that
over-stimulates their lower nature. For
children, however, exposure to media can be
likened to exposure to alcohol, tobacco, or
drugs. Their developing body is simply not
ready for it, and media have a negative long-
term effect on the child at many levels—in
the nervous system and the senses, in the
acquisition of language and reading skills, in
developing social skills, and much more. At
a space in the child that is often left empty in
our modern, technological homes and
communities. Where the healthy will is not
developing, the unhealthy will comes into
being, and violence can be seen as a
manifestation of the unhealthy will.
In addition, children need beautiful sense
experiences. These experiences are a form of
nourishment. Again, where there is a vacuum
children will seek coarser sensory stimulation,
such as they find on the screen. An artistic
table puppet play or marionette play is one
way to feed the hungry senses. Water color
painting and beeswax modeling are two
others. To meet this need, some kindergarten
teachers have been experimenting with
painting several times a week for a few
months (rather than the usual once a week) in
order to bring a stronger experience to
children in need of healing. Others work
regularly with marionettes, recalling Rudolf
Steiner’s indications that the marionette
theater was a “remedy against civilization’s
ills.” (“Marionette Theater: Posing a Task for
Socially Oriented Education,” Dr. Helmut von
Kügelgen, in: An Overview of the Waldorf
Kindergarten, Waldorf Early Childhood
Association of North America, p. 43)
Such life activities have always been part
of the home. It is a major problem for young
children that, on the one hand, they spend
very little time in the warmth of their own
home and, on the other, the modern home is
not a very warm place to be. The image of
families sitting around the table in
conversation is rapidly disappearing,
although such moments are as important for
today’s children as they were for past
generations. Furthermore, work in the home
is done with so many machines and so much
machine noise that it is no longer a pleasure
to work together on household chores.
Human interaction is receding while
electronic media and machines predominate.
69
An example often given by working mothers
is that they come home and need to cook
dinner quickly, because the children are
hungry and will start fighting if not fed soon.
Thus, there is no time to let children help
with the cooking, and they are often
banished to the television room so that the
mother can work undisturbed. It would be
far better to give a small, healthy snack to
stave off hunger, take time to change clothes,
and cook the meal in a relaxed family
atmosphere. Then the children gather near,
the older ones helping or working on
homework, the little ones helping or playing
at the mother’s feet, and the atmosphere of
hearth and home fills the family. In such an
atmosphere the media have little to offer and
the child’s addiction to them is easily
overcome. In addition, when the will of the
child flows towards the work of the home, it
is much easier to transform patterns of
aggressive and violent behavior.
Today’s problems of electronic media and
violence could be overcome with sufficient
understanding of the nature of the child and
the nature of such media. The two are
basically incompatible. Having such media in
the home is like having a liquor cabinet.
Most adults have liquor in the home and
most know how to use it moderately—but
they do not allow their children free access to
it. The media are the same. They are part of
our modern life, and most adults will want to
use them, but one hopes they will do so with
moderation, and not indulge in viewing that
over-stimulates their lower nature. For
children, however, exposure to media can be
likened to exposure to alcohol, tobacco, or
drugs. Their developing body is simply not
ready for it, and media have a negative long-
term effect on the child at many levels—in
the nervous system and the senses, in the
acquisition of language and reading skills, in
developing social skills, and much more. At
the moment, it is wonderful that the United
States is focusing on the problem of violence
in the electronic media. A next step is to
understand the effect of all media on the
development of children, and to encourage
families and schools to curtail their usage
radically. A final step is to bring healing to
those children who have been damaged by
them so that they have a chance to grow up
and become healthy, active human beings.
the moment, it is wonderful that the United
States is focusing on the problem of violence
in the electronic media. A next step is to
understand the effect of all media on the
development of children, and to encourage
families and schools to curtail their usage
radically. A final step is to bring healing to
those children who have been damaged by
them so that they have a chance to grow up
and become healthy, active human beings.

Joan Almon serves on the Board of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, is Joan Almon serves on the Board of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, is
the General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in American, and is U.S. Coordinator of the the General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in American, and is U.S. Coordinator of the
Alliance for Childhood. Alliance for Childhood.

70 70
TV and ADD
Foster W. Kline, M.D.
A six-year-old boy dumps Tinkertoys on
the floor and stares at them. He doesn’t have
the slightest idea what to do with them. For
Christmas, a seven-year-old girl is given
Lincoln Logs. She is mildly curious at first.
She briefly tries putting them together and
then quits. “It’s too hard.” In an unfocused
way, she wanders into the bedroom, turns on
the TV or watches a video.
Out on the front line, our schools literally
reel as across America, hundreds of
thousands, if not millions, of kids are
diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder
(ADD). It is a diagnosis that has reached
epidemic proportions. All across the land,
parents seek answers to help them understand
their ADD children.
Why is there an ADD epidemic? How is it
defined? An ADD child’s thinking easily
fragments. It is hard for them to focus and
carry through on a task. Their attention
wanders. Often the children are impulsive
and have behavior problems. It does not seem
to be a problem born of poor parenting, for
high-achieving, loving and responsive parents
have children who are part of the epidemic.
There is a good indication that aspects of
ADD are genetic. The father or mother may
have had similar problems when they were
younger. But genetic disorders are never
epidemic in nature.
71
First, it is important to see how the
definition of ADD has changed with time.
Twenty-five years ago, ADD was seen as a
true disorder of attention. That is, it was
noted that children’s attention fragmented
easily and they could not pay attention to
television shows. This is no longer true. ADD
children can pay attention to TV and are able
to play video games. As a matter of fact, far
from not being able to watch television, the
playing of video games or watching TV is
often used in the primary grades as a
reinforcer or reward for behaviorally
disturbed and learning disturbed children.
Videotapes are used as a teaching tool across
the primary and elementary grade spectrum
with increasing frequency.
ADD could more correctly be labeled an
intention disorder. That is, the children
fragment when they should be intending to
do something—accomplish a goal, start or
complete a project. In my experience as a
child psychiatrist, it appears the majority of
children labeled ADD have no problem at all
if they are being entertained, playing a video
game, or watching TV. The entire problem
seems to revolve around getting the job done,
whether the job is putting Tinkertoys
together, building with Lincoln Logs,
focusing on a Monopoly game, or completing
a school assignment.
TV and ADD
Foster W. Kline, M.D.
A six-year-old boy dumps Tinkertoys on
the floor and stares at them. He doesn’t have
the slightest idea what to do with them. For
Christmas, a seven-year-old girl is given
Lincoln Logs. She is mildly curious at first.
She briefly tries putting them together and
then quits. “It’s too hard.” In an unfocused
way, she wanders into the bedroom, turns on
the TV or watches a video.
Out on the front line, our schools literally
reel as across America, hundreds of
thousands, if not millions, of kids are
diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder
(ADD). It is a diagnosis that has reached
epidemic proportions. All across the land,
parents seek answers to help them understand
their ADD children.
Why is there an ADD epidemic? How is it
defined? An ADD child’s thinking easily
fragments. It is hard for them to focus and
carry through on a task. Their attention
wanders. Often the children are impulsive
and have behavior problems. It does not seem
to be a problem born of poor parenting, for
high-achieving, loving and responsive parents
have children who are part of the epidemic.
There is a good indication that aspects of
ADD are genetic. The father or mother may
have had similar problems when they were
younger. But genetic disorders are never
epidemic in nature.
71
First, it is important to see how the
definition of ADD has changed with time.
Twenty-five years ago, ADD was seen as a
true disorder of attention. That is, it was
noted that children’s attention fragmented
easily and they could not pay attention to
television shows. This is no longer true. ADD
children can pay attention to TV and are able
to play video games. As a matter of fact, far
from not being able to watch television, the
playing of video games or watching TV is
often used in the primary grades as a
reinforcer or reward for behaviorally
disturbed and learning disturbed children.
Videotapes are used as a teaching tool across
the primary and elementary grade spectrum
with increasing frequency.
ADD could more correctly be labeled an
intention disorder. That is, the children
fragment when they should be intending to
do something—accomplish a goal, start or
complete a project. In my experience as a
child psychiatrist, it appears the majority of
children labeled ADD have no problem at all
if they are being entertained, playing a video
game, or watching TV. The entire problem
seems to revolve around getting the job done,
whether the job is putting Tinkertoys
together, building with Lincoln Logs,
focusing on a Monopoly game, or completing
a school assignment.
Critical Periods
It is essential to explore briefly
developmental theorist Erik Erikson’s “critical
period” theory. His theory of development
holds that there is an optimal time for
particular types of learning. If the
environment does not give the essential
stimulation at the critical period, the optimal
time for learning that concept or method of
thinking is irreversibly lost. The theory holds,
for instance, that language development
should best take place in the second and third
years of life. It is not that some people cannot
learn a completely foreign language at a later
time, but that it is much more difficult at a
later time. The longer the environment
“deprives” the individual of the critical input,
the more difficult it will be to learn the
concept or skill later.
To understand the critical period theory in
relation to the ADD epidemic, the neurologic
development of the third and fourth years
must be examined. Erickson noted the task of
the three- to five-year-old was initiative and
industry. (Does this sound like a description of
today’s preschooler, kindergartner, or even first
grade child? It does not!) It is very rare to find
small children today that stick with any task
or are invested in mastery of doing something.
Rarely today will one see a three- to five-year-
old working at mastering a task for more than
a few minutes. Gone are the days of cutting
figures from the Sears and Roebuck catalog
and dressing them with tabbed clothes. In the
past children might set up a “market” in the
corner of the play room with cans opened
from the bottom so the child could sell food
to his or her parents. A toddler would be given
a roll of masking tape and be encouraged to
completely cover a kitchen chair. An older
child might be given some cloth and dozens
of buttons to sew on the in the pattern of her
choice. Gone are many of the building sets—
Tinkertoys, erector sets, and Lincoln Logs.
72
Also, children of today do not have the
household and farm chores of yesteryear—
gathering eggs, milking, carrying for the
livestock and quilting. Children do not learn
to memorize, at an early age, psalms, stories,
and songs.
At a time of essential brain development,
today’s three- and four-year-olds, who are ready
to begin mastering tasks, are instead watching
television and enjoying videotapes. And therein
lies the basic problem. In fact, most of the items
for young children in large children’s toy stores
reflect an emphasis on sensory input and
rudimentary motor skills, but rarely encourage
creativity, task focus, job completion, or mastery.
Even if they are still offered for sale, Tinkertoys,
Lincoln Logs, and alphabet blocks are not the
big sellers. What sells are movies and video
games: Game Boy, Nintendo, The Little
Mermaid, and Aladdin. Those are the items that
make millions. And of course children are
exposed to more children’s movies than ever
before. When parents do something with small
children now, it rarely involves really doing
anything. The parents watch TV with the
children, enjoy the televised game together, go to
the movies or may, more rarely, go to the zoo.
Pediatrician John Rosemond, M.D. notes what a
child is not doing when watching TV: scanning,
practicing motor skills, practicing eye-hand
coordination, using more than two senses, asking
questions, exploring, exercising initiative or
motivation, being challenged, solving problems,
thinking analytically, exercising imagination,
practicing communication skills, being either
creative or constructive.
But it is more than that! Today’s parents,
who themselves grew up in front of the TV, do
not know how to do things with their children.
Even if they know of the importance of helping
small children with focus and task completion,
they themselves do not know how to make a
kite or tin-can telephone. They do not know
how to cover chairs with masking tape nor do
Critical Periods
It is essential to explore briefly
developmental theorist Erik Erikson’s “critical
period” theory. His theory of development
holds that there is an optimal time for
particular types of learning. If the
environment does not give the essential
stimulation at the critical period, the optimal
time for learning that concept or method of
thinking is irreversibly lost. The theory holds,
for instance, that language development
should best take place in the second and third
years of life. It is not that some people cannot
learn a completely foreign language at a later
time, but that it is much more difficult at a
later time. The longer the environment
“deprives” the individual of the critical input,
the more difficult it will be to learn the
concept or skill later.
To understand the critical period theory in
relation to the ADD epidemic, the neurologic
development of the third and fourth years
must be examined. Erickson noted the task of
the three- to five-year-old was initiative and
industry. (Does this sound like a description of
today’s preschooler, kindergartner, or even first
grade child? It does not!) It is very rare to find
small children today that stick with any task
or are invested in mastery of doing something.
Rarely today will one see a three- to five-year-
old working at mastering a task for more than
a few minutes. Gone are the days of cutting
figures from the Sears and Roebuck catalog
and dressing them with tabbed clothes. In the
past children might set up a “market” in the
corner of the play room with cans opened
from the bottom so the child could sell food
to his or her parents. A toddler would be given
a roll of masking tape and be encouraged to
completely cover a kitchen chair. An older
child might be given some cloth and dozens
of buttons to sew on the in the pattern of her
choice. Gone are many of the building sets—
Tinkertoys, erector sets, and Lincoln Logs.
72
Also, children of today do not have the
household and farm chores of yesteryear—
gathering eggs, milking, carrying for the
livestock and quilting. Children do not learn
to memorize, at an early age, psalms, stories,
and songs.
At a time of essential brain development,
today’s three- and four-year-olds, who are ready
to begin mastering tasks, are instead watching
television and enjoying videotapes. And therein
lies the basic problem. In fact, most of the items
for young children in large children’s toy stores
reflect an emphasis on sensory input and
rudimentary motor skills, but rarely encourage
creativity, task focus, job completion, or mastery.
Even if they are still offered for sale, Tinkertoys,
Lincoln Logs, and alphabet blocks are not the
big sellers. What sells are movies and video
games: Game Boy, Nintendo, The Little
Mermaid, and Aladdin. Those are the items that
make millions. And of course children are
exposed to more children’s movies than ever
before. When parents do something with small
children now, it rarely involves really doing
anything. The parents watch TV with the
children, enjoy the televised game together, go to
the movies or may, more rarely, go to the zoo.
Pediatrician John Rosemond, M.D. notes what a
child is not doing when watching TV: scanning,
practicing motor skills, practicing eye-hand
coordination, using more than two senses, asking
questions, exploring, exercising initiative or
motivation, being challenged, solving problems,
thinking analytically, exercising imagination,
practicing communication skills, being either
creative or constructive.
But it is more than that! Today’s parents,
who themselves grew up in front of the TV, do
not know how to do things with their children.
Even if they know of the importance of helping
small children with focus and task completion,
they themselves do not know how to make a
kite or tin-can telephone. They do not know
how to cover chairs with masking tape nor do
they know about the corner grocery where the
child sells cans of food. They have never sewn
on buttons with their child or made paper
dolls. But most importantly, they know nothing
of the developmental necessity of doing
something with their preschool child. They
themselves grew up with Big Bird and Sesame
Street. And now they go to movies and watch
TV as a family. And when their three- and four-
year-old child gets bored, they, as good parents,
have a library of “good” videos—often Disney
movies—for the child to watch. Indeed, most
involved parents today, encouraged by popular
parenting advice, are concerned with what their
child watches. Parents worry about sex and
violence on TV. Most are more concerned with
quality of viewing rather than on quantity.
A grandfather recently spoke to me after
a lecture:
What you say about TV and a lack of internal
focus is absolutely true. I have two wonderful
granddaughters, one six and one four. They are
active, bright kids. But you know, I noticed,
even before hearing you, that after they have
watched a morning of videos, they come out of
the room sort of floating, spacey really. They
wander aimlessly for a while. They have a lost
air about them, and then they come up to me,
and they say, “What can I do?” I told their
mother that it takes them about one hour to
recover from two videotapes. And generally
these aren’t spacey kids! They don’t watch that
much TV. But think of the poor little kids that
watch it day after day!
Real education is dialogue! It involves a
feeling of mastery, an ability to respond
thoughtfully to situations and to articulate
ideas. Whether we talk about leadership,
creativity, responsibility, or motivation, we are
describing action. Television encourages
passive responses. Certainly it encourages
absorption, and perhaps a degree of
understanding, but it does not, and cannot
by its very nature, encourage doing, mastery,
task completion, creativity, independent
thinking—all those things associated with
being a functioning and productively busy
human being. Schools must, by their nature,
focus on doing and task completion.
Recently a businessman and his wife, fed
up with the amount of time their elementary-
age children spent in front of the TV, bet
each of the children $200 that they could not
go one year without watching television at
home. The children took the parents up on
the bet and they won. To the parents’
amazement, the children asked them not to
return the TV to the home. The children had
found, over the year, that it was just too
much fun to be doing things with their
parents and in a self-motivated way. They
realized after a year that they had been
missing out on something important.
Taking Erikson’s theory into account, we
cannot say that all children who do not learn
to focus, concentrate, and master a task
during the third and fourth years are doomed
never to learn it. However, I believe strongly
that such children grow up under a definite
handicap, and it is much more difficult to
learn to focus, create, and achieve a sense of
mastery later.
they know about the corner grocery where the
child sells cans of food. They have never sewn
on buttons with their child or made paper
dolls. But most importantly, they know nothing
of the developmental necessity of doing
something with their preschool child. They
themselves grew up with Big Bird and Sesame
Street. And now they go to movies and watch
TV as a family. And when their three- and four-
year-old child gets bored, they, as good parents,
have a library of “good” videos—often Disney
movies—for the child to watch. Indeed, most
involved parents today, encouraged by popular
parenting advice, are concerned with what their
child watches. Parents worry about sex and
violence on TV. Most are more concerned with
quality of viewing rather than on quantity.
A grandfather recently spoke to me after
a lecture:
What you say about TV and a lack of internal
focus is absolutely true. I have two wonderful
granddaughters, one six and one four. They are
active, bright kids. But you know, I noticed,
even before hearing you, that after they have
watched a morning of videos, they come out of
the room sort of floating, spacey really. They
wander aimlessly for a while. They have a lost
air about them, and then they come up to me,
and they say, “What can I do?” I told their
mother that it takes them about one hour to
recover from two videotapes. And generally
these aren’t spacey kids! They don’t watch that
much TV. But think of the poor little kids that
watch it day after day!
Real education is dialogue! It involves a
feeling of mastery, an ability to respond
thoughtfully to situations and to articulate
ideas. Whether we talk about leadership,
creativity, responsibility, or motivation, we are
describing action. Television encourages
passive responses. Certainly it encourages
absorption, and perhaps a degree of
understanding, but it does not, and cannot
by its very nature, encourage doing, mastery,
task completion, creativity, independent
thinking—all those things associated with
being a functioning and productively busy
human being. Schools must, by their nature,
focus on doing and task completion.
Recently a businessman and his wife, fed
up with the amount of time their elementary-
age children spent in front of the TV, bet
each of the children $200 that they could not
go one year without watching television at
home. The children took the parents up on
the bet and they won. To the parents’
amazement, the children asked them not to
return the TV to the home. The children had
found, over the year, that it was just too
much fun to be doing things with their
parents and in a self-motivated way. They
realized after a year that they had been
missing out on something important.
Taking Erikson’s theory into account, we
cannot say that all children who do not learn
to focus, concentrate, and master a task
during the third and fourth years are doomed
never to learn it. However, I believe strongly
that such children grow up under a definite
handicap, and it is much more difficult to
learn to focus, create, and achieve a sense of
mastery later.

Reprinted with permission from Pact Press. Reprinted with permission from Pact Press.

73 73
Virtual Reality, Media,
and the Child’s Growing Mind
Nancy and Colin Poer
The enormous addictive grip the media
can have on our children’s lives is sadly
illustrated in a comment by a nine-year-old
boy. When his mother, realizing the impact
Nintendo and TV were having on her son,
suggested cutting his hours with the media,
he plaintively replied, “But what would I have
to live for?”
Dr. Jane Healy, in her book Endangered
Minds, echoes the observations of veteran
teachers everywhere: Today’s children,
compared with a generation past, lack
concentration, thinking and imaginative skills,
and exhibit more aggressive behavior. The
many hours of addictive, benumbing sensory
bombardment have taken their toll.
The child’s brain develops qualitatively over
time. Environmental experiences affect children
far more powerfully than they do adults. The
healthy development of a child rests on a safe
and loving home, on movement (especially in
the early years), on the development of
language and communication, and on creative
expression. Most important is the child’s lively,
self-initiated, creative play and self-paced
sensory learning. Such activities form the basis
for the developing self-confidence and for the
later development of higher thinking capacities,
which mature in adolescence.
75
Subjected to the American average of
nearly four hours a day of media exposure,
children’s brains can actually undergo adverse
development. Neural pathways can become
rooted in lower brain channels, which may not
allow normal maturation to higher thinking
later. Such children may have less capacity for
controlling their behavior, thought processes,
and creative imagination. No matter how
clever the media presentation, it is still the
adult producer’s images dominating the
initiative of the child.
Ours has been a unique century of
amazing technology. Radio has electronically
captured our sense of hearing, and then
movies and television have enthralled the
sense of sight. Progressively, computers and
video games involve sight, sound, and touch.
The impact on the senses, and through them
on the whole development of the child and
the child’s sense of self, is escalating. As each
new level of technology is accepted into
society, the way is prepared for the next level
of sensory assault. Our attitudes have been
primed and the stage has now been set for
virtual reality (VR) to enter modern life on a
large scale.
Virtual reality is a form of technology that
involves all the senses, including the sense of
movement. In its total form, one is immersed
Virtual Reality, Media,
and the Child’s Growing Mind
Nancy and Colin Poer
The enormous addictive grip the media
can have on our children’s lives is sadly
illustrated in a comment by a nine-year-old
boy. When his mother, realizing the impact
Nintendo and TV were having on her son,
suggested cutting his hours with the media,
he plaintively replied, “But what would I have
to live for?”
Dr. Jane Healy, in her book Endangered
Minds, echoes the observations of veteran
teachers everywhere: Today’s children,
compared with a generation past, lack
concentration, thinking and imaginative skills,
and exhibit more aggressive behavior. The
many hours of addictive, benumbing sensory
bombardment have taken their toll.
The child’s brain develops qualitatively over
time. Environmental experiences affect children
far more powerfully than they do adults. The
healthy development of a child rests on a safe
and loving home, on movement (especially in
the early years), on the development of
language and communication, and on creative
expression. Most important is the child’s lively,
self-initiated, creative play and self-paced
sensory learning. Such activities form the basis
for the developing self-confidence and for the
later development of higher thinking capacities,
which mature in adolescence.
75
Subjected to the American average of
nearly four hours a day of media exposure,
children’s brains can actually undergo adverse
development. Neural pathways can become
rooted in lower brain channels, which may not
allow normal maturation to higher thinking
later. Such children may have less capacity for
controlling their behavior, thought processes,
and creative imagination. No matter how
clever the media presentation, it is still the
adult producer’s images dominating the
initiative of the child.
Ours has been a unique century of
amazing technology. Radio has electronically
captured our sense of hearing, and then
movies and television have enthralled the
sense of sight. Progressively, computers and
video games involve sight, sound, and touch.
The impact on the senses, and through them
on the whole development of the child and
the child’s sense of self, is escalating. As each
new level of technology is accepted into
society, the way is prepared for the next level
of sensory assault. Our attitudes have been
primed and the stage has now been set for
virtual reality (VR) to enter modern life on a
large scale.
Virtual reality is a form of technology that
involves all the senses, including the sense of
movement. In its total form, one is immersed
in another world by putting on a visualization
headset with screens projected directly onto
the eyes. A glove or full body suit is worn
which is lined with movement sensors. They
project the user’s movements on the screens.
You are immersed in a world that appears real
to the senses but consists only of electronic
images. The mask and glove or suit connect
to a computer, which orchestrates the
program possibilities.
Like many other forms of technology
before it, VR began with high intentions and
has found many practical uses in the training
of airline pilots, doctors, architects, and
others, where live training can be very costly
and even life threatening. One can
understand why VR is used to supplement
some of the live training experiences. But
modern scientific and technological
discoveries are frequently greeted with
enthusiasm and a naive awe at first. For
instance, the inventors of dynamite, the
Nobels (of Peace Prize fame) were horrified
when their creation was used for war. The
Wright brothers did not envision flying
machines as a tool for battle. The atomic
bomb story is well known. Television was
originally touted by many as “a world uniting
communicator” without realizing it would
come to be a much-abused primal drug.
What will be the future of virtual reality?
While it is finding more and more
professional uses, it is also beginning to
appear worldwide in seductive
technocenters of “mechanical meditation.”
Here a person can hook up the pleasure
centers of the brain while lying in a dimly lit
room. One can think of such centers as the
opium dens of the future—but they are
quite legal.
As VR increasingly invades video arcades
and homes, games are being marketed by such
burgeoning mega-companies as Sega,
Nintendo, IBM and others. The public’s love
76
affair with VR is just beginning, but virtually
no research exists on the tremendous effect
this revolutionary technology will produce.
Only recently, after 50 years of widespread use,
have scientists and others begun to
acknowledge that television has a major
impact on human behavior, making it more
violent. It may be a long time before modern
science can acknowledge the destructive
effects of VR. A few insightful psychologists
predict psychotic “snapping” in unbalanced
personalities as the barriers of discrimination
between real and virtual worlds erode. We are
unleashing a power in the world without
realizing the pact we have made and the price
to be paid.
Time magazine, in an April 1994 issue,
describes a group of people known as
“liquants,” or simply “quants,” computer
geniuses who control the rarefied edges of the
financial world of Wall Street in their work
with “derivatives.” In imaginary number
games they have awesome power over the
financial welfare of the nation. Steve Barnett
of Global Business Network describes new
aspects of financial transactions controlled by
these individuals:
In pre-quant days Wall Street was patriarchal,
intuitive, much more related to the world as it
was. But hardcore quants are almost idiot
savants with numbers . . .There is an almost
prayerful communion with the computer.
They’re intense and operate to a rhythm. If you
ask them a question, they turn and their eyes
are glazed, coming out of whatever cyber-space
they are in. In this trance they’re not really in a
world of other people. They think they’re in a
world of pure technical manipulation, like a
chemist creating a molecule. It’s as though
there are no social consequences.
The only way we can individually and
collectively hold such powers in check is
through conscious moral discrimination. The
unholy media invasion of our children’s minds
in another world by putting on a visualization
headset with screens projected directly onto
the eyes. A glove or full body suit is worn
which is lined with movement sensors. They
project the user’s movements on the screens.
You are immersed in a world that appears real
to the senses but consists only of electronic
images. The mask and glove or suit connect
to a computer, which orchestrates the
program possibilities.
Like many other forms of technology
before it, VR began with high intentions and
has found many practical uses in the training
of airline pilots, doctors, architects, and
others, where live training can be very costly
and even life threatening. One can
understand why VR is used to supplement
some of the live training experiences. But
modern scientific and technological
discoveries are frequently greeted with
enthusiasm and a naive awe at first. For
instance, the inventors of dynamite, the
Nobels (of Peace Prize fame) were horrified
when their creation was used for war. The
Wright brothers did not envision flying
machines as a tool for battle. The atomic
bomb story is well known. Television was
originally touted by many as “a world uniting
communicator” without realizing it would
come to be a much-abused primal drug.
What will be the future of virtual reality?
While it is finding more and more
professional uses, it is also beginning to
appear worldwide in seductive
technocenters of “mechanical meditation.”
Here a person can hook up the pleasure
centers of the brain while lying in a dimly lit
room. One can think of such centers as the
opium dens of the future—but they are
quite legal.
As VR increasingly invades video arcades
and homes, games are being marketed by such
burgeoning mega-companies as Sega,
Nintendo, IBM and others. The public’s love
76
affair with VR is just beginning, but virtually
no research exists on the tremendous effect
this revolutionary technology will produce.
Only recently, after 50 years of widespread use,
have scientists and others begun to
acknowledge that television has a major
impact on human behavior, making it more
violent. It may be a long time before modern
science can acknowledge the destructive
effects of VR. A few insightful psychologists
predict psychotic “snapping” in unbalanced
personalities as the barriers of discrimination
between real and virtual worlds erode. We are
unleashing a power in the world without
realizing the pact we have made and the price
to be paid.
Time magazine, in an April 1994 issue,
describes a group of people known as
“liquants,” or simply “quants,” computer
geniuses who control the rarefied edges of the
financial world of Wall Street in their work
with “derivatives.” In imaginary number
games they have awesome power over the
financial welfare of the nation. Steve Barnett
of Global Business Network describes new
aspects of financial transactions controlled by
these individuals:
In pre-quant days Wall Street was patriarchal,
intuitive, much more related to the world as it
was. But hardcore quants are almost idiot
savants with numbers . . .There is an almost
prayerful communion with the computer.
They’re intense and operate to a rhythm. If you
ask them a question, they turn and their eyes
are glazed, coming out of whatever cyber-space
they are in. In this trance they’re not really in a
world of other people. They think they’re in a
world of pure technical manipulation, like a
chemist creating a molecule. It’s as though
there are no social consequences.
The only way we can individually and
collectively hold such powers in check is
through conscious moral discrimination. The
unholy media invasion of our children’s minds
with adult sex, power, addicting violence, and
consumer greed must be met by strong,
caring, insightful adults who have the courage
to raise their children another way. The depths
of technology must be countered with the
heights of spiritual striving.
If healthy sense experience is the child’s
path to knowledge, what does it mean to
immerse the growing child in a false world,
such as virtual reality? If we cut the natural
children off from their birthright, the
experience of the real world of nature, we
create desensitized, unnatural adults.
Our children need the living world, our
mother earth, the great, irreplaceable
teacher. They need to come to love her
abundant gift of life, rejoicing in sun and
wind on their faces, the splash of sparkling
water, damp earth to shape and sculpt, and
stars in a velvet sky to widen their souls with
awe and security in eternal possibility. Their
sense of selfhood and individuality needs a
basis in healthy, harmonious movement and
mastery of their physical bodies.
Immobilized for hours, pushing buttons in
an illusory world of images and power can
only work to their detriment as whole
human beings.
We are responsible for our young
children’s lives. They need adults who
willingly tread the difficult, striving path of
real life with quiet courage toward true
human freedom. In Waldorf schools and
other places where individuals realize the
importance of what is now happening, steps
need to be taken for greater consciousness of
the problems we face culturally. Global
networks sharing support need to arise. It is
imperative for the future. Our very humanity
is at stake. We must be able to create a basis
for healthy human development in the midst
of the current situation.
There are some wonderful, vital, will-filled
and socially aware children coming into the
world now. They need to find parents, schools,
and adults that will honor the gifts they bring
for the future and not rob them of their
birthright. Into a spiritually starved culture,
they bring important moral and spiritual
impulses for true caring, real life and, real love.
with adult sex, power, addicting violence, and
consumer greed must be met by strong,
caring, insightful adults who have the courage
to raise their children another way. The depths
of technology must be countered with the
heights of spiritual striving.
If healthy sense experience is the child’s
path to knowledge, what does it mean to
immerse the growing child in a false world,
such as virtual reality? If we cut the natural
children off from their birthright, the
experience of the real world of nature, we
create desensitized, unnatural adults.
Our children need the living world, our
mother earth, the great, irreplaceable
teacher. They need to come to love her
abundant gift of life, rejoicing in sun and
wind on their faces, the splash of sparkling
water, damp earth to shape and sculpt, and
stars in a velvet sky to widen their souls with
awe and security in eternal possibility. Their
sense of selfhood and individuality needs a
basis in healthy, harmonious movement and
mastery of their physical bodies.
Immobilized for hours, pushing buttons in
an illusory world of images and power can
only work to their detriment as whole
human beings.
We are responsible for our young
children’s lives. They need adults who
willingly tread the difficult, striving path of
real life with quiet courage toward true
human freedom. In Waldorf schools and
other places where individuals realize the
importance of what is now happening, steps
need to be taken for greater consciousness of
the problems we face culturally. Global
networks sharing support need to arise. It is
imperative for the future. Our very humanity
is at stake. We must be able to create a basis
for healthy human development in the midst
of the current situation.
There are some wonderful, vital, will-filled
and socially aware children coming into the
world now. They need to find parents, schools,
and adults that will honor the gifts they bring
for the future and not rob them of their
birthright. Into a spiritually starved culture,
they bring important moral and spiritual
impulses for true caring, real life and, real love.

Nancy Poer teaches early childhood courses at the Rudolf Steiner College. Her son, Colin Poer, Nancy Poer teaches early childhood courses at the Rudolf Steiner College. Her son, Colin Poer,
was a Waldorf graduate and student at the Goethean Studies Program at the Steiner College in Fair was a Waldorf graduate and student at the Goethean Studies Program at the Steiner College in Fair
Oaks, California. They shared with us the following article, which they originally wrote for an Oaks, California. They shared with us the following article, which they originally wrote for an
Amish publication in Spring 1994. With their permission it has been edited for this publication. Amish publication in Spring 1994. With their permission it has been edited for this publication.

77 77
The Instrument Itself:
Children’s Development and Television
Joseph Chilton Pearce
Evolution and the Infant
A major cause of our multifaceted, social-
ecological breakdown is a common practice
followed by virtually everyone, worldwide,
without a second thought: television viewing.
I have lectured and written on the subject of
television for nearly thirty years and have
gathered a considerable amount of
information on the subject, arguing from the
beginning that the issue is not programming,
but the instrument itself. Our current
complacency, avoidance and denial of the
facts concerning television viewing is our
undoing. We are restless with other than
thirty-second sound bites. Deep, pervasive and
potentially disastrous as is this monumental
juggernaut of destruction-gone-global,
television itself produces a mind-set almost
incapable of critical evaluation of what the
device does to the mind.
Researcher Paul MacLean of the National
Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), who has
studied brain evolution and behavior for
nearly half a century, has shown why the
mammalian species could have evolved only
through a radically different form of
reproduction; why gestation of a large-brained
creature had to take place within the body of
the egg-bearer, followed by a prolonged post-
79
natal period of helplessness in the infant. No
more laying one’s eggs in the sand and
forgetting them, as in our reptilian forebears.
A major reason for this is, to use
contemporary metaphors, the difference
between hardware and software. The more
advanced an intelligence, the less its neural
system can be “hardwired.” New evolutionary
brains needed an imitative learning period
during which “software” programs of ever-
increasing complexity could be constructed; a
period for imprinting, following a model who
would represent the latest update or
adaptation, including adaptation to changes
wrought by previous adaptive strategies. The
greater the prospective intelligence and
eventual adaptive ability, the longer the
helpless period and the more critical the
nature of the programming. Humans are the
most versatile, adaptive of all of life’s
creatures, and our infants have not only the
longest adaptive-learning period but the most
profound helplessness known.
McLean spent decades tracing the
essential requirements for the programming of
such infinitely open software as ours, and
came up with a triad of needs resonant with
the three different neural systems that make
up our “triune brain.” This “family triad” of
survival needs is hardwired into the cingulate-
The Instrument Itself:
Children’s Development and Television
Joseph Chilton Pearce
Evolution and the Infant
A major cause of our multifaceted, social-
ecological breakdown is a common practice
followed by virtually everyone, worldwide,
without a second thought: television viewing.
I have lectured and written on the subject of
television for nearly thirty years and have
gathered a considerable amount of
information on the subject, arguing from the
beginning that the issue is not programming,
but the instrument itself. Our current
complacency, avoidance and denial of the
facts concerning television viewing is our
undoing. We are restless with other than
thirty-second sound bites. Deep, pervasive and
potentially disastrous as is this monumental
juggernaut of destruction-gone-global,
television itself produces a mind-set almost
incapable of critical evaluation of what the
device does to the mind.
Researcher Paul MacLean of the National
Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), who has
studied brain evolution and behavior for
nearly half a century, has shown why the
mammalian species could have evolved only
through a radically different form of
reproduction; why gestation of a large-brained
creature had to take place within the body of
the egg-bearer, followed by a prolonged post-
79
natal period of helplessness in the infant. No
more laying one’s eggs in the sand and
forgetting them, as in our reptilian forebears.
A major reason for this is, to use
contemporary metaphors, the difference
between hardware and software. The more
advanced an intelligence, the less its neural
system can be “hardwired.” New evolutionary
brains needed an imitative learning period
during which “software” programs of ever-
increasing complexity could be constructed; a
period for imprinting, following a model who
would represent the latest update or
adaptation, including adaptation to changes
wrought by previous adaptive strategies. The
greater the prospective intelligence and
eventual adaptive ability, the longer the
helpless period and the more critical the
nature of the programming. Humans are the
most versatile, adaptive of all of life’s
creatures, and our infants have not only the
longest adaptive-learning period but the most
profound helplessness known.
McLean spent decades tracing the
essential requirements for the programming of
such infinitely open software as ours, and
came up with a triad of needs resonant with
the three different neural systems that make
up our “triune brain.” This “family triad” of
survival needs is hardwired into the cingulate-
gyrus area added to the limbic structure of
brain shared with all mammals. Simple,
commonplace and absolutely irreplaceable,
this triad consists of nurturing,
communication and play. While the needs are
hardwired into our brains, response to these
three behaviors can be met through near-
infinitely variable means—essentially software.
Though all mammals are hard-wired to
provide this triad for their offspring, as
intelligence evolves the materials for
imprinting become more flexible and creative.
A prolonged infancy of helplessness
required that most memorable feature of
mammalian life, the mammary glands.
Mammalian nurturing rests primarily on
breast-feeding. In humans the breast-heart-
face-and-voice area is the indispensable matrix
for new life, the safe space in which the new
mind can open to embrace its world. It is the
primary source of not just physical nurturing
of body, but the foundation of communication
and play, the nurturing of mind.
In the past century, however, medical
interventions in the human birth process
seriously disrupted the species survival
instincts. MacLean notes that there are
hardwired drives that compel a mother to
provide this triad of nurturing,
communication and play, at all costs. While
this nurturing drive is powerful in humans, it
is still susceptible to disruption and
dysfunction, as are all higher intelligences.
Most serious of the broad range of disruptions
wrought by technological birth was the
elimination of breast-feeding in ninety seven
percent of the U.S. populace by mid-
twentieth century, with overwhelming,
globally catastrophic results.
A critical part of breast-feeding is the
corresponding “in-arms period,” the infant
carrying or baby-wearing found throughout
human history until recently. This in-arms
period assures and facilitates a cascade of
80
critical developmental needs in the first post-
natal year. Baby-wearing automatically
provides the emotional, verbal and pre-verbal
communications around which a new world-
self view is built in the infant. It provides the
needed stimuli for building the visual world
in the first year of life. The mother’s face is at
a distance of some 6 to 12 inches and her
richly changing environment surrounds it.
The in-arms matrix provides a prolonged and
immediate proximity to the mother’s mature
electromagnetic heart field, and, as new
studies show, the mother’s heart-field literally
lifts the infant’s formative heart-field out of
chaos into order. This stabilizes the infant’s
own heart function, which the new medical
branch of neurocardiology (literally, “the
brain-in-the-heart”) finds, is far more than
just pumping blood. Heart-brain interaction
is profoundly important to neural growth,
DNA, a stable immune system and a raft of
related growth issues. Following our
disruptive birth practices, both visual and
heart dysfunctions have expanded
exponentially in our populace, as well as
breast cancer in non-nursing mothers, as
Israeli doctors have pointed out. Meanwhile
our critical and unmet need for the breast
then makes us equally susceptible to the
constant use of breasts in advertising.
The disruptions in bonding at birth
seriously undermine physical nurturing and
the communication and play supposed to be
established during that crucial in-arms period.
Perhaps nature could have compensated for
this violation of our ancient and foundational
survival intelligences and the subsequent
development hinging on them, but
compensation itself began to break down
when, within a decade of eliminating breast-
feeding, television viewing arrived, and
literally possessed virtually one hundred per
cent of the U.S. populace. The average
American child accrues some six thousand
hours of television viewing before age five.
gyrus area added to the limbic structure of
brain shared with all mammals. Simple,
commonplace and absolutely irreplaceable,
this triad consists of nurturing,
communication and play. While the needs are
hardwired into our brains, response to these
three behaviors can be met through near-
infinitely variable means—essentially software.
Though all mammals are hard-wired to
provide this triad for their offspring, as
intelligence evolves the materials for
imprinting become more flexible and creative.
A prolonged infancy of helplessness
required that most memorable feature of
mammalian life, the mammary glands.
Mammalian nurturing rests primarily on
breast-feeding. In humans the breast-heart-
face-and-voice area is the indispensable matrix
for new life, the safe space in which the new
mind can open to embrace its world. It is the
primary source of not just physical nurturing
of body, but the foundation of communication
and play, the nurturing of mind.
In the past century, however, medical
interventions in the human birth process
seriously disrupted the species survival
instincts. MacLean notes that there are
hardwired drives that compel a mother to
provide this triad of nurturing,
communication and play, at all costs. While
this nurturing drive is powerful in humans, it
is still susceptible to disruption and
dysfunction, as are all higher intelligences.
Most serious of the broad range of disruptions
wrought by technological birth was the
elimination of breast-feeding in ninety seven
percent of the U.S. populace by mid-
twentieth century, with overwhelming,
globally catastrophic results.
A critical part of breast-feeding is the
corresponding “in-arms period,” the infant
carrying or baby-wearing found throughout
human history until recently. This in-arms
period assures and facilitates a cascade of
80
critical developmental needs in the first post-
natal year. Baby-wearing automatically
provides the emotional, verbal and pre-verbal
communications around which a new world-
self view is built in the infant. It provides the
needed stimuli for building the visual world
in the first year of life. The mother’s face is at
a distance of some 6 to 12 inches and her
richly changing environment surrounds it.
The in-arms matrix provides a prolonged and
immediate proximity to the mother’s mature
electromagnetic heart field, and, as new
studies show, the mother’s heart-field literally
lifts the infant’s formative heart-field out of
chaos into order. This stabilizes the infant’s
own heart function, which the new medical
branch of neurocardiology (literally, “the
brain-in-the-heart”) finds, is far more than
just pumping blood. Heart-brain interaction
is profoundly important to neural growth,
DNA, a stable immune system and a raft of
related growth issues. Following our
disruptive birth practices, both visual and
heart dysfunctions have expanded
exponentially in our populace, as well as
breast cancer in non-nursing mothers, as
Israeli doctors have pointed out. Meanwhile
our critical and unmet need for the breast
then makes us equally susceptible to the
constant use of breasts in advertising.
The disruptions in bonding at birth
seriously undermine physical nurturing and
the communication and play supposed to be
established during that crucial in-arms period.
Perhaps nature could have compensated for
this violation of our ancient and foundational
survival intelligences and the subsequent
development hinging on them, but
compensation itself began to break down
when, within a decade of eliminating breast-
feeding, television viewing arrived, and
literally possessed virtually one hundred per
cent of the U.S. populace. The average
American child accrues some six thousand
hours of television viewing before age five.
 Television has brought about critical
developmental change. First, TV disrupts or
replaces verbal and non-verbal emotional
forms of communication between parent and
child, already weakened by childbirth
interventions and the lost intimacies of
breast-feeding. Second, it replaces storytelling,
workplace accounts and all the chatter of the
dinner table or fireside. It replaces bedtime
tales and it turned radio from storyteller to
music box. Third, TV replaces play. The child
who is not played with does not learn to play,
and play is the overarching intelligence of
childhood and learning, life-long.
Play vs. Entertainment
The drive for play is hardwired. Play is the
primary way all learning takes place in the
first decade of life and intimately involves
storytelling, family talk, and the
corresponding development of internal
imaging that such word flow fosters. Of all
the damages wrought by TV, impairment of
internal imagery may be the most serious. All
higher forms of intelligence on which a
society depends, such as empathy,
compassion, love, as well as science,
philosophy and religion, are based on
capacities for abstract thought and the
metaphoric-symbolic mind structures
developed through internal image-making,
which begins formation in the first year of
life. The foundations of the inner-image
reside in the ancient mammalian (or
“emotional-cognitive” brain) and its
interactions with the highest cortical (or
“human” system), and should be well
entrenched by the end of the first three years.
Storytelling and family talk, the cornerstone
of this growth, disappeared in a majority of
our populace when television appeared.
TV entertains the mind but entertainment
is not the same as play. Entertainment cannot,
by the nature of the formation of neural fields
81
involved, educate. No “structures of
knowledge,” to use Piaget’s term, can form
through such shallow sensory stimuli.
Television impairs or circumvents the
development of precise neural structures and
mental abilities. Television has resulted in a
steady incremental breakdown in the ability to
learn in more than seventy percent of our
population. Yet counties all over the world
have imported TV and are fostering and
encouraging access to infants, toddlers, and
children. Countries who have welcomed
television have undergone the same sequence
of erosion of educational systems, cohesiveness
of family and society, rise of crime and
violence, child suicide and general depression.
Along with the primary failure of infant-
child nurturing, which follows in every
country importing our technological birth
practices, TV has compounded the
breakdown. Michael Mendiza’s Touch the
Future Foundation newsletter has reported
extensively on this. It has been reported in a
business magazine article that, with the
appropriate programming, a child’s buying
habits could be set for life by age six. This
allows management to set up long-range
marketing strategies and production plans,
making it well worth a multi-billion dollar
corporate investment in the needed
psychological research. The programming, of
course, is through television, and the result is
straight Pavolian conditioning. Nader, in his
recent book with Linda Coco, quotes a major
figure in the robustly lucrative MTV saying,
“We don’t influence the fourteen-year-olds,
we own them.” Ownership of the very early
child-mind logically becomes the issue.
Communication in the early
developmental years involves, but is far from
limited to, language or speech. Alexander
Luria’s studies show how language serves far
more fundamental biological needs of infant
growth than communication in our adult
Television has brought about critical
developmental change. First, TV disrupts or
replaces verbal and non-verbal emotional
forms of communication between parent and
child, already weakened by childbirth
interventions and the lost intimacies of
breast-feeding. Second, it replaces storytelling,
workplace accounts and all the chatter of the
dinner table or fireside. It replaces bedtime
tales and it turned radio from storyteller to
music box. Third, TV replaces play. The child
who is not played with does not learn to play,
and play is the overarching intelligence of
childhood and learning, life-long.
Play vs. Entertainment
The drive for play is hardwired. Play is the
primary way all learning takes place in the
first decade of life and intimately involves
storytelling, family talk, and the
corresponding development of internal
imaging that such word flow fosters. Of all
the damages wrought by TV, impairment of
internal imagery may be the most serious. All
higher forms of intelligence on which a
society depends, such as empathy,
compassion, love, as well as science,
philosophy and religion, are based on
capacities for abstract thought and the
metaphoric-symbolic mind structures
developed through internal image-making,
which begins formation in the first year of
life. The foundations of the inner-image
reside in the ancient mammalian (or
“emotional-cognitive” brain) and its
interactions with the highest cortical (or
“human” system), and should be well
entrenched by the end of the first three years.
Storytelling and family talk, the cornerstone
of this growth, disappeared in a majority of
our populace when television appeared.
TV entertains the mind but entertainment
is not the same as play. Entertainment cannot,
by the nature of the formation of neural fields
81
involved, educate. No “structures of
knowledge,” to use Piaget’s term, can form
through such shallow sensory stimuli.
Television impairs or circumvents the
development of precise neural structures and
mental abilities. Television has resulted in a
steady incremental breakdown in the ability to
learn in more than seventy percent of our
population. Yet counties all over the world
have imported TV and are fostering and
encouraging access to infants, toddlers, and
children. Countries who have welcomed
television have undergone the same sequence
of erosion of educational systems, cohesiveness
of family and society, rise of crime and
violence, child suicide and general depression.
Along with the primary failure of infant-
child nurturing, which follows in every
country importing our technological birth
practices, TV has compounded the
breakdown. Michael Mendiza’s Touch the
Future Foundation newsletter has reported
extensively on this. It has been reported in a
business magazine article that, with the
appropriate programming, a child’s buying
habits could be set for life by age six. This
allows management to set up long-range
marketing strategies and production plans,
making it well worth a multi-billion dollar
corporate investment in the needed
psychological research. The programming, of
course, is through television, and the result is
straight Pavolian conditioning. Nader, in his
recent book with Linda Coco, quotes a major
figure in the robustly lucrative MTV saying,
“We don’t influence the fourteen-year-olds,
we own them.” Ownership of the very early
child-mind logically becomes the issue.
Communication in the early
developmental years involves, but is far from
limited to, language or speech. Alexander
Luria’s studies show how language serves far
more fundamental biological needs of infant
growth than communication in our adult
sense. Coordinating the vast neural-spindle
system, which saturates the body’s muscular
network and its connections with the
cerebellum, is involved in language growth, as
the work of Lewis Sander and William
Condon of Boston University showed years
ago. Keith Buzzell, in Cyclop’s Child: The
Neurophysiology of Television Watching, points
out that the concentration of neural-spindles
in the face, hands and vocal apparatus is some
ten to fifteen times greater than that in the
rest of the body. It is not just coincidence that
these are the very close and intimate
associations provided by breast-feeding, and
amply concentrated on in close-up television.
TV is designed to feed, in effect, on missing
developmental stimuli, locking the viewer into
visual addiction early in life, as we
unconsciously search for the elusive
nurturings long denied.
Language-muscular interaction is an
intricate, delicate part of both play and
development, and all play in the first seven
years has linguistic dimensions. Children are
growing into and toward language. No
communication takes place through TV where
words and sounds are dramatically different
that the rich, subtle, personal and essentially
quiet communication environment given
through baby-wearing and breast-feeding.
Television also precludes imaginative-imitative
play that children are designed by nature to
live in before the milk teeth come out and the
ability for operational thought develops.
Language learning begins as a motor
response in the last trimester of pregnancy,
involving all the muscle-spindles to build
language into the entire body. It is well
underway long before speech begins, speech
being a different, more complex network.
When hearing a story or family talk, to which
any hearing infant responds intelligently
before speech begins, the brain forms an
internal picture of any verbal description for
82
which it has a neural pattern. This effect rests
on what is called the concrete language of the
first seven years, when the same “sensory
maps” concerning an object, and the name of
the object are a single set of neural fields.
Speak the name and that single sound-
stimulus activates the total sensory-map
integration associated with that sound,
engaging the entire brain in the creation of a
facsimile of the original perception. Speak the
word and the image appears in the mind’s
eye—that inner picture which is the
cornerstone of the human mind itself.
Creating an internal image in response to the
stimulus of word is a major challenge to and
involves virtually every facet of the brain, and is
the primary focus of development in the first
seven years. In modified form, this focus
continues on through age eleven or so.
Storytelling plays a preeminent role in this, as it
has throughout history, and no society has been
found that hasn’t a rich repertoire of stories for
the young child. The neurological effect is
simple: the magical word comes in as primary
stimulus, a frequency eliciting a whole-body
response since utero. In classical stimulus-
response fashion, the brain constructs its
response: an internal image of the characters
and actions the flow of words stimulates. New
neural connections in brain and body take place
with each new story told, as new sensory map
connections form and integrate. Myeliniation of
newly formed neural fields and the myriad
sensory-maps involved permanently establishes
the growth and learning. Myelination of this sort
requires repetition of the response generating
the neural fields, which explains the child’s love
of and demand for incessant repetition of the
same story. Within the second year of life a
child will begin to act out these repeated tales
through metaphoric play, in which a material
object stands for the internal image-object. This
is the foundation for recognizing that symbols
such as those of math or chemistry stand for
universal functions and processes.
sense. Coordinating the vast neural-spindle
system, which saturates the body’s muscular
network and its connections with the
cerebellum, is involved in language growth, as
the work of Lewis Sander and William
Condon of Boston University showed years
ago. Keith Buzzell, in Cyclop’s Child: The
Neurophysiology of Television Watching, points
out that the concentration of neural-spindles
in the face, hands and vocal apparatus is some
ten to fifteen times greater than that in the
rest of the body. It is not just coincidence that
these are the very close and intimate
associations provided by breast-feeding, and
amply concentrated on in close-up television.
TV is designed to feed, in effect, on missing
developmental stimuli, locking the viewer into
visual addiction early in life, as we
unconsciously search for the elusive
nurturings long denied.
Language-muscular interaction is an
intricate, delicate part of both play and
development, and all play in the first seven
years has linguistic dimensions. Children are
growing into and toward language. No
communication takes place through TV where
words and sounds are dramatically different
that the rich, subtle, personal and essentially
quiet communication environment given
through baby-wearing and breast-feeding.
Television also precludes imaginative-imitative
play that children are designed by nature to
live in before the milk teeth come out and the
ability for operational thought develops.
Language learning begins as a motor
response in the last trimester of pregnancy,
involving all the muscle-spindles to build
language into the entire body. It is well
underway long before speech begins, speech
being a different, more complex network.
When hearing a story or family talk, to which
any hearing infant responds intelligently
before speech begins, the brain forms an
internal picture of any verbal description for
82
which it has a neural pattern. This effect rests
on what is called the concrete language of the
first seven years, when the same “sensory
maps” concerning an object, and the name of
the object are a single set of neural fields.
Speak the name and that single sound-
stimulus activates the total sensory-map
integration associated with that sound,
engaging the entire brain in the creation of a
facsimile of the original perception. Speak the
word and the image appears in the mind’s
eye—that inner picture which is the
cornerstone of the human mind itself.
Creating an internal image in response to the
stimulus of word is a major challenge to and
involves virtually every facet of the brain, and is
the primary focus of development in the first
seven years. In modified form, this focus
continues on through age eleven or so.
Storytelling plays a preeminent role in this, as it
has throughout history, and no society has been
found that hasn’t a rich repertoire of stories for
the young child. The neurological effect is
simple: the magical word comes in as primary
stimulus, a frequency eliciting a whole-body
response since utero. In classical stimulus-
response fashion, the brain constructs its
response: an internal image of the characters
and actions the flow of words stimulates. New
neural connections in brain and body take place
with each new story told, as new sensory map
connections form and integrate. Myeliniation of
newly formed neural fields and the myriad
sensory-maps involved permanently establishes
the growth and learning. Myelination of this sort
requires repetition of the response generating
the neural fields, which explains the child’s love
of and demand for incessant repetition of the
same story. Within the second year of life a
child will begin to act out these repeated tales
through metaphoric play, in which a material
object stands for the internal image-object. This
is the foundation for recognizing that symbols
such as those of math or chemistry stand for
universal functions and processes.
 Television not only replaced storytelling
and family table conversation, but the pairing
of audio and visual signals as a single sensory
input, preempted the brain’s critical need for
the development of internal imagery as its
response to language stimuli. The image is
already there with the sound, the response
pre-made with the stimuli, leaving the higher
creative cortices with nothing to do. The vast
fields involved in internal image-making, basis
of all metaphoric-symbolic constructions and
abstract thinking, lie idle and eventually
atrophy. “Use it or lose it” is nature’s dictum,
and we are losing it.
This particular impairment was
demonstrated clearly when psychologists took
a group of videos designed for children in the
six- to seven-year-old bracket and switched the
sound tracks so that no sound matched the
visual action. These garbled programs were
played to a wide cross-section of children
about the country. With almost no exceptions,
the children, no matter how carefully
questioned, did not recognize the discrepancy.
Their brains had habituated to a non-
information source, and had found the most
economical neural routing for such
meaningless sensory input, input that met no
development needs and required no response.
The point is that the brain uses the same
routing each time exposed to this paired
audio-visual signal, whereas each new story
told automatically expands neural structure.
The programming on TV is, in this regard,
almost irrelevant. Of the five to six thousand
hours of TV viewing before age five, it may as
well have been all one program. And at age
five we force these young gods and goddesses
into school desks, preventing bodily
movement already denied by TV catatonia
and demand from them response to highly
abstract metaphoric-symbolic systems, i.e.,
numbers and letters. Forget in-depth
comprehension of symbol systems such as
83
alphabets and numbers from young people so
deprived, or later comprehension of such
awesome documents and ideals as the Bill of
Rights. They won’t have the neural structures
for handling such. Nor for generating
compassion, love, empathy, understanding,
care, those higher human virtues without
which a society destroys itself. These young
people will have, however, as corporate
advertisers have long known, a passion for
consumption of material stuff they hope will
alleviate the pieces of their life now missing.
As mentioned above, the brain habituates
to a non-meaningful signal, and relegates such
a signal to the most rudimentary sensory
processes. If nothing else is happening, the
bulk of the brain literally goes to sleep, it has
nothing to do. By the early 1960s it was found
that young children particularly go essentially
catanoic before the tube. Their eyes may be
open, but nothing much is registering
internally. TV producers found that by
introducing “startle effects,” such as sudden,
unexpected noises or shifts of light intensity,
they could counteract this catatonia. The
reason these startle techniques work is
because the reticular activating system, the
part of the brain concerned mainly with the
survival instinct, sends an alarm which wakes
up the higher cortical structures in the would-
be viewer, bringing attention to the source of
the startle. This wake-up call is brought about
by the sympathetic nervous system giving the
brain and body a brief shot of cortisol, one of
the adrenal steroids that activates the brain
and body in emergencies. Eventually,
habituation to the early, benign forms of
startle-effect took place, and the industry had
to “up the ante,” increasing the intensity,
extremity and number of startle effects.
Some twelve years ago Marcia Mikulac
published research that showed modern day
children’s sensory systems to be twenty to
twenty-five percent less aware of, or responsive
Television not only replaced storytelling
and family table conversation, but the pairing
of audio and visual signals as a single sensory
input, preempted the brain’s critical need for
the development of internal imagery as its
response to language stimuli. The image is
already there with the sound, the response
pre-made with the stimuli, leaving the higher
creative cortices with nothing to do. The vast
fields involved in internal image-making, basis
of all metaphoric-symbolic constructions and
abstract thinking, lie idle and eventually
atrophy. “Use it or lose it” is nature’s dictum,
and we are losing it.
This particular impairment was
demonstrated clearly when psychologists took
a group of videos designed for children in the
six- to seven-year-old bracket and switched the
sound tracks so that no sound matched the
visual action. These garbled programs were
played to a wide cross-section of children
about the country. With almost no exceptions,
the children, no matter how carefully
questioned, did not recognize the discrepancy.
Their brains had habituated to a non-
information source, and had found the most
economical neural routing for such
meaningless sensory input, input that met no
development needs and required no response.
The point is that the brain uses the same
routing each time exposed to this paired
audio-visual signal, whereas each new story
told automatically expands neural structure.
The programming on TV is, in this regard,
almost irrelevant. Of the five to six thousand
hours of TV viewing before age five, it may as
well have been all one program. And at age
five we force these young gods and goddesses
into school desks, preventing bodily
movement already denied by TV catatonia
and demand from them response to highly
abstract metaphoric-symbolic systems, i.e.,
numbers and letters. Forget in-depth
comprehension of symbol systems such as
83
alphabets and numbers from young people so
deprived, or later comprehension of such
awesome documents and ideals as the Bill of
Rights. They won’t have the neural structures
for handling such. Nor for generating
compassion, love, empathy, understanding,
care, those higher human virtues without
which a society destroys itself. These young
people will have, however, as corporate
advertisers have long known, a passion for
consumption of material stuff they hope will
alleviate the pieces of their life now missing.
As mentioned above, the brain habituates
to a non-meaningful signal, and relegates such
a signal to the most rudimentary sensory
processes. If nothing else is happening, the
bulk of the brain literally goes to sleep, it has
nothing to do. By the early 1960s it was found
that young children particularly go essentially
catanoic before the tube. Their eyes may be
open, but nothing much is registering
internally. TV producers found that by
introducing “startle effects,” such as sudden,
unexpected noises or shifts of light intensity,
they could counteract this catatonia. The
reason these startle techniques work is
because the reticular activating system, the
part of the brain concerned mainly with the
survival instinct, sends an alarm which wakes
up the higher cortical structures in the would-
be viewer, bringing attention to the source of
the startle. This wake-up call is brought about
by the sympathetic nervous system giving the
brain and body a brief shot of cortisol, one of
the adrenal steroids that activates the brain
and body in emergencies. Eventually,
habituation to the early, benign forms of
startle-effect took place, and the industry had
to “up the ante,” increasing the intensity,
extremity and number of startle effects.
Some twelve years ago Marcia Mikulac
published research that showed modern day
children’s sensory systems to be twenty to
twenty-five percent less aware of, or responsive
to, environmental stimuli than children of
preliterate or “primitive” societies. Recent
studies from the University of Tübingen and
the Gesellschaft für Rationelle Psychologie in
Munich, Germany, carried out in four
thousand young people over twenty years,
show that, as a result of constant sensory over-
stimulation, a decrease of one percent per year
in general sensitivity to stimuli, as well as a
breakdown of neural ability to “cross-index”
the various senses has occurred. This
breakdown in neural synthesis leaves each
sense isolated rather than part of the rich
kinesthetic mixture of living events. It is even
more alarming to learn that studies found
such desensitizing brings about a bypassing of
the emotional, affective modes of brain, the
relational structures of mind that give the
human sensitivities such as love, compassion
and appreciation. The most serious of all
indications, however, is that, increasingly, only
ever-stronger, single sense stimulation, titled
the “brutal thrill” phenomenon, registers on
young people at all. Thus the comment heard
so often in the U.S. that our young people are
bored and apathetic toward ordinary living
process, restless and in need of ever-increasing
external stimuli. Such a high-level input is
found not only in heavy rock music, movies,
TV and MTV, but also in the ubiquitous
Internet. Computer viewing is a direct parallel
of television viewing in every aspect.
Constant Alert
The desensitizing of the child’s nervous
system, brought about by the failure of skin
stimulus that all nurturing mothers provide
their infants, as Montague’s and Marshall
Klaus’s studies showed decades ago, has
increased dramatically because of television.
The American child’s need for more intense
and ever greater quantity of stimuli and a
corresponding insensitivity to most human
values is an issue recognized by more and
84
more people while few are cognizant of
the cause.
Television viewers grow accustomed to the
barrage of clashing image-sounds in the startle
effects now employed in both TV and movies.
However, the ancient parts of the brain which
are involved in activating the adrenals for the
hard-wired defense postures—through which
we survived for eons of mammalian life—have
no such discrimination. Our primitive survival
systems react and release their shots of
cortisol, as they are hardwired to do, even as
our higher cortical “sense of self” expresses
indifference. To the ancient, defensive parts of
our brains, “The image is always true,” as
Buzzell puts it. This lower brain responds with
its defense-alert even before we, as recipients,
are aware of the image itself. Between input of
signal and our awareness of it, Buzzell
estimates some forty million neural responses
are inaugurated by the ancient survival
systems of the brain.
As the rapidity and number of startle-
effects increases, the parasympathetic nervous
system has no time to bring balance back to
the system, shut off the cortisol, and to
reestablish the immune system. Thus the
body lives in a constant state of threat and the
brain suffers a serious over-saturation of
cortisol. Cortisol, so vital to survival in the
tiny emergency doses nature provides, is quite
toxic in any large quantity. The symptom of
cortisol overload is stress, proposed by the
University of London’s medical school as the
major cause of contemporary disease,
particularly cancer and heart disease.
The detrimental effects on the brain are as
serious as are these possible health effects—
namely, the overproduction of neural
connections from constant startle. At each
startle and subsequent shot of cortisol, the
neurons of the brain throw out new dendritic
connecting links with other neurons, a
redundancy that offers a wide scope of
to, environmental stimuli than children of
preliterate or “primitive” societies. Recent
studies from the University of Tübingen and
the Gesellschaft für Rationelle Psychologie in
Munich, Germany, carried out in four
thousand young people over twenty years,
show that, as a result of constant sensory over-
stimulation, a decrease of one percent per year
in general sensitivity to stimuli, as well as a
breakdown of neural ability to “cross-index”
the various senses has occurred. This
breakdown in neural synthesis leaves each
sense isolated rather than part of the rich
kinesthetic mixture of living events. It is even
more alarming to learn that studies found
such desensitizing brings about a bypassing of
the emotional, affective modes of brain, the
relational structures of mind that give the
human sensitivities such as love, compassion
and appreciation. The most serious of all
indications, however, is that, increasingly, only
ever-stronger, single sense stimulation, titled
the “brutal thrill” phenomenon, registers on
young people at all. Thus the comment heard
so often in the U.S. that our young people are
bored and apathetic toward ordinary living
process, restless and in need of ever-increasing
external stimuli. Such a high-level input is
found not only in heavy rock music, movies,
TV and MTV, but also in the ubiquitous
Internet. Computer viewing is a direct parallel
of television viewing in every aspect.
Constant Alert
The desensitizing of the child’s nervous
system, brought about by the failure of skin
stimulus that all nurturing mothers provide
their infants, as Montague’s and Marshall
Klaus’s studies showed decades ago, has
increased dramatically because of television.
The American child’s need for more intense
and ever greater quantity of stimuli and a
corresponding insensitivity to most human
values is an issue recognized by more and
84
more people while few are cognizant of
the cause.
Television viewers grow accustomed to the
barrage of clashing image-sounds in the startle
effects now employed in both TV and movies.
However, the ancient parts of the brain which
are involved in activating the adrenals for the
hard-wired defense postures—through which
we survived for eons of mammalian life—have
no such discrimination. Our primitive survival
systems react and release their shots of
cortisol, as they are hardwired to do, even as
our higher cortical “sense of self” expresses
indifference. To the ancient, defensive parts of
our brains, “The image is always true,” as
Buzzell puts it. This lower brain responds with
its defense-alert even before we, as recipients,
are aware of the image itself. Between input of
signal and our awareness of it, Buzzell
estimates some forty million neural responses
are inaugurated by the ancient survival
systems of the brain.
As the rapidity and number of startle-
effects increases, the parasympathetic nervous
system has no time to bring balance back to
the system, shut off the cortisol, and to
reestablish the immune system. Thus the
body lives in a constant state of threat and the
brain suffers a serious over-saturation of
cortisol. Cortisol, so vital to survival in the
tiny emergency doses nature provides, is quite
toxic in any large quantity. The symptom of
cortisol overload is stress, proposed by the
University of London’s medical school as the
major cause of contemporary disease,
particularly cancer and heart disease.
The detrimental effects on the brain are as
serious as are these possible health effects—
namely, the overproduction of neural
connections from constant startle. At each
startle and subsequent shot of cortisol, the
neurons of the brain throw out new dendritic
connecting links with other neurons, a
redundancy that offers a wide scope of
possibilities for fast, novel adaptation to
emergency, that takes place before we are even
aware of the event. When an emergency is
over, (environmental dangers are generally
quite brief in mammalian life) this redundant
neural mass is reduced to normal size by the
parasympathetic process, retaining only those
new connections of neural fields involved in
the survival learning, if any, arising from that
particular emergency. If such startle-caused
emergencies follow each other in rapid
fashion, however, as on TV, the brain has no
choice but to keep the body’s system under
constant hyper-alert, the redundant mass
becomes more massive. Neural pruning
doesn’t take place and neural tangles result.
The brain becomes less and less efficient, with
an ever-increasing mass of useless and unused
neural field material. Keith Buzzell’s theory is
that this useless material may underlie,
aggravate, or even define, the perplexing
increase of Alzheimer’s disease. Our current
elders, after all, have now been viewing TV for
nearly half a century.
An even more insidious impairment results
from this state of constant alert. All living
organisms threatened in their early
developmental period, even plants, tend to
reproduce very quickly, as though the signal
from their environment says, “Your time is
short, species survival is at stake. Reproduce
quickly.” Under constant threat or failure to
nurture and provide the safe-space, the
ancient mammalian-reptilian brains respond
by reproducing far earlier than their species’
norm. And reproduction is the job of the two
lower brains in us, not the higher “human
brain.” In addition to the constant cascade of
extreme startle effects, constant shift of
imagery, brightness and loudness, sixteen acts
of outright violence per hour are required by
sponsors of children’s programming on
television. While even our children grow blasé
about, and indifferent to, the macabre levels
of violence now on television screens, their
85
ancient survival brain has no such luxury and
dutifully sends its warning alerts throughout
the brain. Our children’s bodies live in a state
of threat and anxiety even as their minds are
“entertained,” put on hold, by the
combinations of silliness, violence and froth.
Thus we have the trend toward premature
genital sexuality which started in the late
1950s. As of 1997, menarche is at epidemic
increase in eight-year-old girls, more than
twenty-five percent of all second grade girls in
the U.S. are developing breasts by year’s end,
pregnancies in nine-year-olds have increased
by hundreds of percent (one case fifty years
ago would have been a medical anomaly), and
violent, hostile rape of females and younger
children by nine- and ten-year-old boys runs
into the thousands of cases per year. Fifty
years ago we males had no machinery for such
action until somewhere between age fourteen
and fifteen, historically and worldwide.
Our response to this premature sexuality is
to resort to moral-ethical invective, but the
issue is biological, a genetic anomaly. Surely
there are many factors involved, but medical
studies in upstate New York clearly show a
direct relationship between early menstruation
and threat, insecurity and anxiety, the general
signs of lack of nurturing an chronic over-
stimulation in the girls involved. Cellular
biologist, Bruce Lipton, has written
extensively on the effects of the internal
environment of our emotional system and
genetic mutation. He points out that the cell,
and the organisms it makes up, has two signals
by which is lives: Grow or defend. Defense
closes in, and we guard against a hostile
environment. Growth opens and we move to
embrace our world.
When we see a dramatic drop in the age
of puberty and onset of genital sexuality at
wide variance with our history as a species, we
are looking at induced mutation. This bodes
naught but ill, an ill equaled only by the
possibilities for fast, novel adaptation to
emergency, that takes place before we are even
aware of the event. When an emergency is
over, (environmental dangers are generally
quite brief in mammalian life) this redundant
neural mass is reduced to normal size by the
parasympathetic process, retaining only those
new connections of neural fields involved in
the survival learning, if any, arising from that
particular emergency. If such startle-caused
emergencies follow each other in rapid
fashion, however, as on TV, the brain has no
choice but to keep the body’s system under
constant hyper-alert, the redundant mass
becomes more massive. Neural pruning
doesn’t take place and neural tangles result.
The brain becomes less and less efficient, with
an ever-increasing mass of useless and unused
neural field material. Keith Buzzell’s theory is
that this useless material may underlie,
aggravate, or even define, the perplexing
increase of Alzheimer’s disease. Our current
elders, after all, have now been viewing TV for
nearly half a century.
An even more insidious impairment results
from this state of constant alert. All living
organisms threatened in their early
developmental period, even plants, tend to
reproduce very quickly, as though the signal
from their environment says, “Your time is
short, species survival is at stake. Reproduce
quickly.” Under constant threat or failure to
nurture and provide the safe-space, the
ancient mammalian-reptilian brains respond
by reproducing far earlier than their species’
norm. And reproduction is the job of the two
lower brains in us, not the higher “human
brain.” In addition to the constant cascade of
extreme startle effects, constant shift of
imagery, brightness and loudness, sixteen acts
of outright violence per hour are required by
sponsors of children’s programming on
television. While even our children grow blasé
about, and indifferent to, the macabre levels
of violence now on television screens, their
85
ancient survival brain has no such luxury and
dutifully sends its warning alerts throughout
the brain. Our children’s bodies live in a state
of threat and anxiety even as their minds are
“entertained,” put on hold, by the
combinations of silliness, violence and froth.
Thus we have the trend toward premature
genital sexuality which started in the late
1950s. As of 1997, menarche is at epidemic
increase in eight-year-old girls, more than
twenty-five percent of all second grade girls in
the U.S. are developing breasts by year’s end,
pregnancies in nine-year-olds have increased
by hundreds of percent (one case fifty years
ago would have been a medical anomaly), and
violent, hostile rape of females and younger
children by nine- and ten-year-old boys runs
into the thousands of cases per year. Fifty
years ago we males had no machinery for such
action until somewhere between age fourteen
and fifteen, historically and worldwide.
Our response to this premature sexuality is
to resort to moral-ethical invective, but the
issue is biological, a genetic anomaly. Surely
there are many factors involved, but medical
studies in upstate New York clearly show a
direct relationship between early menstruation
and threat, insecurity and anxiety, the general
signs of lack of nurturing an chronic over-
stimulation in the girls involved. Cellular
biologist, Bruce Lipton, has written
extensively on the effects of the internal
environment of our emotional system and
genetic mutation. He points out that the cell,
and the organisms it makes up, has two signals
by which is lives: Grow or defend. Defense
closes in, and we guard against a hostile
environment. Growth opens and we move to
embrace our world.
When we see a dramatic drop in the age
of puberty and onset of genital sexuality at
wide variance with our history as a species, we
are looking at induced mutation. This bodes
naught but ill, an ill equaled only by the
brain’s maladaptations that German studies
show. The disappearance of childhood we
have long lamented takes on vast
implications. One wonders if the
disappearance of the species itself can be far
behind. Cognizant, conscious parents should
be nothing less than filled with righteous
indignation and wrath, demand follow-
through research on the insidious effects of
television that Buzzell calls for in Cyclop’s
Child, and above all, find the moral courage
to throw their own diabolical TV devices out
the window. Now, today is the day and this is
the hour.
brain’s maladaptations that German studies
show. The disappearance of childhood we
have long lamented takes on vast
implications. One wonders if the
disappearance of the species itself can be far
behind. Cognizant, conscious parents should
be nothing less than filled with righteous
indignation and wrath, demand follow-
through research on the insidious effects of
television that Buzzell calls for in Cyclop’s
Child, and above all, find the moral courage
to throw their own diabolical TV devices out
the window. Now, today is the day and this is
the hour.

Joseph Chilton Pearce, is a renowned child psychologist and researcher focusing on the changes of Joseph Chilton Pearce, is a renowned child psychologist and researcher focusing on the changes of
consciousness and author of many books including The Magical Child and The Crack in the consciousness and author of many books including The Magical Child and The Crack in the
Cosmic Egg. This article also serves as the preface to the book, Cyclop’s Child: The Cosmic Egg. This article also serves as the preface to the book, Cyclop’s Child: The
Neurophysiology of Television Viewing, by Keith Buzzell, published by AWSNA publications. Neurophysiology of Television Viewing, by Keith Buzzell, published by AWSNA publications.

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