Waldorf & Sleep in Journal

I was really attracted to Waldorf more for the philosophical aspects, but holy hell has it turned out to be a Godsend in my life.
About 3? or 4 months ago I got more serious about putting in place some of the basic principles like, having a consistent rhythm for our day, week, season, year, sort of thing, and REALLY limiting screen time. I’m calling t.v. shows screen time. My kids never touch a tablet or phone or computer, ever. We do watch a movie here and there, mostly on bad weather days. Even on bad weather days, I still make a point to get outside, though. So I’ve focused all our extra budget money on very nice, quality (like hand-me-down) clothes that will keep us all comfortable outside in any kind of weather. I feel like it is paying off, now.
I felt like I was getting SO angry with my son. I would feel like… this rage. I don’t even know how to describe it. I’d have to leave the room or even the house. It really scared me. I felt so much guilt and shame afterwards. He’s 3. Like, there is no reason a 3 year old should have that much rage (or any rage) directed at him. So i committed to getting my shit together.
We go outside for a morning walk every single morning. No matter what. We flow through our day seamlessly, since installing our rhythm. It’s like.. magic. I don’t know what else to attribute the change to. My son is so calm, he listens, he runs up to HELP ME do ANYTHING, he is so so happy to have real work to do. And guys, all I do is sing and hum cute little rhymes about what we’re doing. I kid you not. That is ALL.
Additionally, my daughter is sleeping on her own, now. She is nearly 11 months and I could not kick it with the sleep training for her. She is so distraught all night if I’m not holding her, nursing her, or otherwise in constant contact. It was ruining my life. I can’t not sleep. Not just night but naps, too. She is napping independently of me nursing her to sleep and contact napping. Which is simply amazing. I don’t think that happened for my son until he was weaned.

I’m over the moon with the effects of the philosophy. So much so that I looked up preschools based on the Waldorf pedagogy. But they are expensive. And far away. Not that I want to send my kids to one, but I was really really hoping to find people. It gets really old being the only.. fill in the blank. I am a LOT of onlys. The only peaceful parent. The only anti-vaxxer. The only clothe diapered. The only homeschooler. The only philosophical mother. The only disowned daughter. And on and on and on. And you know Id like to be not the only one.
Actually I shouldn’t say that. I met for the first time ever a mom was MORE HARDCORE THAN ME. It was strange! But she doesn’t get out much. Go figure lol
Anyways none are around so I decided to start my own. Lol. I started a forest preschool. I was a lot more emotional work than anything else. Like the preparation isn’t bad. But if I didn’t believe my son would benefit from it, there’s no way I’d do anything remotely like this.
Steiner said the only qualifications for a good teacher were to love the children, to love the process of teaching, and to be committed to lifelong inner work.