I Am This Woman

Idle hands are the Devil’s playthings.

The Waldorf/Steiner philosophy holds handwork in high regard for the development of the mind through motor control (ha ha, I almost wrote ‘development of the motor through mind control’ — Waldorf joke!). The theory is that handwork can guide the developing young mind as well as express some inner traits not seen in traditional learning methods. Teach a child to knit and you give them a peaceful way to contemplate abstract and spatial reasoning as well as mathematics and even sociology.

Handwork, such as knitting, sculpting, sewing, even gardening, washing dishes, kneading bread or chopping vegetables, gives the mind an immediate task to work on, while other areas of the brain are engaged. If the task can be accomplished by rote, the brain can also wander blithely off to mini-fantasy camp. (more…)