This Spring, my daughter (aged 7 1/2) pulled out the Story of the Root Children from her kinder days. I think I tried to interest her in gnome and fairy stories, as I pondered the elemental beings from Steiner’s work, but I thought it didn’t really take, back when she was 3 or 4. Now, it’s like she identifies with these stories in a special way; they show that our family is a part of something — the Waldorf community! She remembers them from her days in school, a Waldorf preschool and kindergarten.
We’ve also been reading The Little Gnome Tenderroot, here as a free e-book download, a more detailed picture of the gnomes’ work with plants.
It it SO sweet to me, to see her loving and loving these stories and images. She pulled out the root babies and spring babies I had surprised her with in the past, to play with and tell her own stories, and we made some new flower children for springtime.
Our flower children are local to our region: Wild Plum Blossom, Blue-Eyed Grass, California Poppy, and California Buttercup, from left to right. And in green is Mother Earth, about to awaken the sleeping the root children. Happy Spring!
