The Development of LifeWays North America
Several years ago when Rena Osmer and Cynthia Aldinger were researching child care programs for the Waldorf Early Childhood Association, the name "LifeWays" arose from the realization that what young children need most is the routine activities of a healthy home life, bathed in the warmth of secure relationships - whether they are at home or in childcare. They contacted and received the blessing to use the name from Gudrun Davy, Bons Voors, Patti Smith and Signe Schaefer (editors of the Lifeways books) and Lee Sturgeon-Day, who uses the name in her biography and counseling work. With their blessing in place, the first LifeWays Center was opened in Wisconsin in September 1998 as a pilot childcare project for children three months to six years old and host to the first LifeWays training.
Since that time, LifeWays has become a multi-service organization providing consulting and training for family childcare providers, childcare centers and parents caring for children ages Birth to 6 years. LifeWays suggests that too often the missing ingredients are consistency, warmth, and long lasting relationships revolving around the care of young children in a community of mutual support for the adults who care for them. LifeWays contributes a powerful voice to the early care arena by focusing on nurturing infants, young children and families in mixed-age, family style childcare settings. The heart of LifeWays childcare is the "Family Suite" in which children and caregivers develop long term relationships in an environment that protects childhood and enhances optimal physical, socio-emotional and cognitive growth and health.
LifeWays practices are based upon healthy sense development; continuity of care; development of mind and body; an enlivened experience of the domestic, nurturing, and creative arts; and the development of healthy social interactions. These guiding principles can be applied in childcare centers as well as childcare homes and offer practical applications for parents and parenting groups. These practices are inspired by the work of Rudolf Steiner and the 80-year experience of Waldorf Education and are supported by contemporary early childhood research, as well as the common sense wisdom of many generations of parents.
The LifeWays approach is being implemented in in-home programs, childcare centers and parent-child programs throughout the country and is attracting interest abroad. We invite you to read the principles and suggested child care practices and join us if they resonate with what you are doing or want to see happening with young children. By uniting our efforts, we can become a potent force for healthy change in the lives of young children, their families and caregivers.
The current working group, LifeWays North America, has been meeting since 2001 to expand the work of LifeWays. We are pleased that the Caldwell Early Life Center at Rudolf Steiner College will provide a home for LifeWays North America and in the future will open a teaching center embodying these impulses. The work is now ready to expand to include members such as you working both locally and on a regional and national level. Particularly in the world of childcare and parent education, a recognizable name or approach often helps parents feel more secure in their decision to place their children in the care of another. We hope, through an association with LifeWays, that the families you work with will come to appreciate the ideals and principles represented by that name.
Coordinating Team
Cynthia Kruis Aldinger
Executive Director, LifeWays North America
Early Childhood Educator and Consultant
International Lecturer on Child Development
Board Member of Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America
Rosario Villasana-Ruiz
LifeWays Training Consultant/Child Development Specialist
Bilingual (English/Spanish)
Instructor at City College of San Francisco
Children's Council of San Francisco Family Childcare
Consultation for Home-Based Childcare
Individual Child Consultation
Rahima Baldwin Dancy
LifeWays Consultant
Midwife, Early Childhood and Parenting Educator &
Author of You are Your Child's First Teacher
Founder/Director of Informed Family Life and Conference Organizer