A LETTER FROM MAMA Z
Aloha friend! Welcome :)
I’m Z (short of Zahira). I'm a mama, artist, chef, entrepreneur, video-creator and a Waldorf
educarer' taking care of my family the best way I can.
Isn’t it that what we all mamas do?
Meet my husband F (short of Fernando), our 4.5 year-old girl E (short of Elise), our 3 year-old boy L (short of Leo, Leonardo) and our 1 year-old boy Z (short of Zeus).
Long story short; I was born in Spain and had a pretty happy life, then moved to NYC, met my husband at a movie set, fell in love, co-founded a video production, had 3 babies and moved to Hawaii where we currently live a pretty happy life.
We do simple, natural and intuitive educaring with one goal in mind: guide our children find independence and freedom through the integration and balance of their minds, bodies and souls.
Understanding ourselves as threefold beings that are connected with nature and with it all around us is the one thing we make sure is present in our family's life experience so we keep remembering and reminding this to ourselves and to each other.
We're aware of the big impact that our roles as parents create on our children.
Young children learn through imitation so it's our responsibility to provide the best role models we can for them: teachers, educators, friends, siblings, parents, family members, everyone counts!
It's true that while we can't control absolutely everything that happens in our children lives (even less if you have multiple children as it is in our case), we can though do our best and try and provide the healthiest of the environment that we can. And this, of course, is what we try doing.
How do we do this? Through choosing very well what stimulus we give to our children and which ones we don't as well as through healthy and safe creative play, mundane activities, stories telling, social life and through rhythm and repetition.
Always having in mind simple, natural and intuitive when it comes to the toys and the activities we choose, the people we spend time with, the rhythms we follow, the foods we eat or the stories we tell are key elements in our parenting approach that help us create a holistic lifestyle.
It is my hope that what I share here with you brings inspiration and opens up your imagination for a journey full of freedom, connection and love with your children and families.
always grateful,
mama Z
EDUCARING' FOR OUR CHILDREN
Rudolf Steiner and the Waldorf education.
Understanding Rudolf Steiner principles helped us to clear our path as parents.
For us as parents to see human beings as threefold beings of soul, mind and body and understanding that changes in any part will be reflected in the whole was key to the understanding of our children as well as our own selves.
Recognizing and identifying the developmental phases of our children was also a fundamental part in our parenting personal growth.
The use of rhythm and repetition, the arts, the idea of educating rather than instructing or using the archetype of health and teaching from experience to concept are all principles from the Waldorf education that truly resonates with the way we want to raise our children.
On top of all these, we carry deep respect for the spirit world and both dedicate time and energy to our own spiritual growth always helping each other to find the time and the space we need to keep our spiritual practice alive through daily breathing exercises and meditation.
The RIE parenting approach.
Other two major references in our parenting journey and that we'd like to mention here are Emmi Pikler and Magda Gerber.
Pikler's approach was based on a kind and respectful relationship between adult and infant. Then, Gerber followed her as an early childhood educator, she was known for teaching parents and caregivers how to understand babies and interact with them respectfully from birth.
The "RIE" parenting approach was born from these two revolutionary women and it's approach also has resonated with us since we knew of it.
We've apply it and it has helped and served us in numerous ways helping our children become independent self-confident and self-efficient kids.