Listen to Stories episode artwork

EPISODE · Dec 7, 2025 · 49 MIN

Listen to Stories

from The Secret Kindergarten | For Young Children · host Gino Volante

Here is a fantastic tip about reading stories to young children to influence change. It was spoken by Rudolf Steiner at a faculty meeting on the 14th of June, 1920. Dr. Steiner: "It is unavoidable that the anthroposophical children hear things at home. That is not dangerous as long as the parents are reasonable. The healthy attitude of the parents will keep the children from becoming too wild, even though those things may go in deeply. The things we have often had to struggle against, such as those you mentioned about O.R. may arise because the parents talk about silly things. You will have noticed that the instruction is bearing fruit. I would mention that particularly in critical cases, you have had good success with stories that have a particular moral. If you are certain a child has a specific kind of misbehavior, then you can think of a story in which that type of misbehavior becomes absurd. Even with very young children, you can rid them of their greed for sweets and such if the mother tells a story that makes that behavior absurd. If you think of something along the lines of the dog who goes over the bridge with meat in his mouth, that strongly affects the child and has a lasting effect. That is particularly true if you allow some time to go by between the misbehavior and telling the story. Generally, you can achieve more when the child has slept, and you return to the subject the next day. To take up the behavior immediately after it occurred is the worst thing. That sounds very theosophical, but it is also quite true.LinksSteiner Q+A at a Faculty Meeting in Stuttgart, 14th of June, 1920.https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA300a/English/AP1998/19200614d01.html AudiobooksUnknown. Cats and Dogs. Read by EJWiley for LibriVox.Org. https://librivox.org/childrens-short-works-vol-033-by-various/MusicNancy Stewart of https://nancymusic.com/Bed Tracks and Other Audio“Children Theme” by Denys KyshchukFrom freemusicarchive.orgAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)Music by Denys Kyshchuk: https://www.audiocoffee.net/https://soundcloud.com/deniskino“Cheer Up” by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoonAttribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/The Secret Kindergarten is live every Saturday 2.00pm-3.00pm Eastern Time on Revolution Radio (Studio A): https://www.revolution.radio/.https://thesecretkindergarten.com/For any questions or comments: [email protected] my work: https://thesecretkindergarten.com/about-and-contact/#donations-link.

Here is a fantastic tip about reading stories to young children to influence change. It was spoken by Rudolf Steiner at a faculty meeting on the 14th of June, 1920. Dr. Steiner: "It is unavoidable that the anthroposophical children hear things at home. That is not dangerous as long as the parents are reasonable. The healthy attitude of the parents will keep the children from becoming too wild, even though those things may go in deeply. The things we have often had to struggle against, such as those you mentioned about O.R. may arise because the parents talk about silly things. You will have noticed that the instruction is bearing fruit. I would mention that particularly in critical cases, you have had good success with stories that have a particular moral. If you are certain a child has a specific kind of misbehavior, then you can think of a story in which that type of misbehavior becomes absurd. Even with very young children, you can rid them of their greed for sweets and such if the mother tells a story that makes that behavior absurd. If you think of something along the lines of the dog who goes over the bridge with meat in his mouth, that strongly affects the child and has a lasting effect. That is particularly true if you allow some time to go by between the misbehavior and telling the story. Generally, you can achieve more when the child has slept, and you return to the subject the next day. To take up the behavior immediately after it occurred is the worst thing. That sounds very theosophical, but it is also quite true.LinksSteiner Q+A at a Faculty Meeting in Stuttgart, 14th of June, 1920.https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA300a/English/AP1998/19200614d01.html AudiobooksUnknown. Cats and Dogs. Read by EJWiley for LibriVox.Org. https://librivox.org/childrens-short-works-vol-033-by-various/MusicNancy Stewart of https://nancymusic.com/Bed Tracks and Other Audio“Children Theme” by Denys KyshchukFrom freemusicarchive.orgAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)Music by Denys Kyshchuk: https://www.audiocoffee.net/https://soundcloud.com/deniskino“Cheer Up” by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoonAttribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/The Secret Kindergarten is live every Saturday 2.00pm-3.00pm Eastern Time on Revolution Radio (Studio A): https://www.revolution.radio/.https://thesecretkindergarten.com/For any questions or comments: [email protected] my work: https://thesecretkindergarten.com/about-and-contact/#donations-link.

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Listen to Stories

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This episode was published on December 7, 2025.

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Here is a fantastic tip about reading stories to young children to influence change. It was spoken by Rudolf Steiner at a faculty meeting on the 14th of June, 1920. Dr. Steiner: "It is unavoidable that the anthroposophical children hear things at...

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