Stunned

Heidi attends a Children's Garden class connected to a K-12 Waldorf School. There are about 300 children in the school, so it's a small and very close community. In the last two weeks, a student was killed in a car accident, and the father of another student is in a coma following a heart attack. Today we received news that one of Heidi's teachers passed in her sleep last night. These events have been devastating for this small community, and we were at a loss as to what to tell the children (who knew nothing of events prior to the last one), let alone what to think ourselves.

Heidi's other teacher called us with the news today, and I will be forever greatful to her for giving us the words to explain death to a 4 year old. In Waldorf circles, there is a story told to very young children about their birth. The gist is that the child was once in heaven with a guardian angel*. One day, the child had a dream or glimpsed a view of the earth, and a mother and father (siblings, dog, etc.) who seemed very loving. The child longed to be with these people, and one day the angel helped it get there via a bridge over the rainbow.

Heidi's teacher recommended we remind Heidi of the birth story (Heidi calls the angel her angel fairy) and then tell her that her teacher was called back to heaven by her angel, and that is where she is now. Heidi took this in, then wondered when she would see her teacher again. We explained that she wouldn't be coming back, so only one question remained: "How did she get to heaven?"

We are a bit numb, trying to take this all in. So we spend more time with our children, hug them tighter, and remember that our time together really is very short.

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* this story may make some folks feel a little uncomfortable. But if you buy into the idea that young children live in a world not ruled by intellect, giving them a loving story about their origin that conjures beautiful images, is actually very healthy. Whenever I've seen children hear this story, they all seem so completely settled and sated. This story tells children that the world is a good place, and there is love here for them. I can't see anything wrong with that, and it fills the children right up emotionally.