As Winter is upon us I wanted to share a few thoughts on the importance of warmth. I've been doing a lot of reading recently about Waldorf education and the importance that Steiner placed on warmth. I find the whole thing fascinating and it really makes sense to me. Steiner believed that the amount of physical warmth a child received before age seven would positively impact not only their physical health, but also their capacity for emotional warmth as adults! Because children have a high metabolic rate, they rarely 'feel' cold, even though they are. When a child is sufficiently warm, their energy can be used to support the developing brain, heart, and other organs. Things like warm socks, wearing hats outside, drinking warm tea, eating warm soup, candle light, warm hugs etc. are all things that can positively affect a childs well-being. Keeping our children warm during these colder months is essential to their physical, emotional, and cognitive development.
"Warmth holds a very special place in the life of the developing
child, because it works throughout the entire spectrum of human
experience. There is physical warmth, emotional warmth -- the warmth of
love, of generosity, of true morality-- and all of these "warmths" pour
over and merge with each other. Perhaps most importantly warmth is the
essential ingredient in transformative work. Without warmth we cannot
change, and the life of the small child is consumed with processes of
growth and adaptation. Warmth helps us be healthy human beings on many
different levels."
~Adam Blanning M.D
