Well, September 1 has come and gone. It was the date I had hoped to get the new and improved Bella Luna Toys website live. I didn’t make my original goal, but I am determined to open its doors to you before the month is over.

Plugging away around-the-clock, as I am—editing product descriptions, uploading photos, and adding scores of new natural Waldorf toys—has left me with very little time to do much writing. (Even though I have dozens of ideas percolating!)

In the meantime, I thought I’d leave you with some interesting reading for the long weekend. Here are a few of my favorite blog posts from the past week on the themes of childhood and parenting.

Did you know that spanking is illegal in Sweden?

Photo by Linda Aslund

Today on her blog Not Just Cute, Amanda Morgan writes about Sweden’s anti-spanking laws, and offers gentle suggestions for positive discipline (that won’t require calling in law enforcement officials!).

No Spanking in Sweden

Watch What You Say! Young Children Affected by “Racy Talk.”

One of my favorite sites focused on children and media (and my favorite guide for learning what movies may not be appropriate for children and teens) is Common Sense Media. This week, Caroline Knorr addresses a recent report from the American Academy of Pediatrics that determined that “racy talk” and suggestive innuendo doesn’t go over young children’s heads. (Another pet peeve of mine when it comes to Disney movies.)

Racy Talk: Kids Are Listening (and Learning)

Are Our Fears Making Us Crazy?

Another of my favorite bloggers, Lenore Skenazy at Free Range Kids writes about the insane ways in which we behave, propelled by our fears of the all the possible dangers that are waiting to befall our children. On a lighter note, she addresses the absurd comment of a produce distributor that watermelon seeds could pose a choking hazard.

Kids! Watch Out! It’s — God Help Us — a Watermelon Seed!

And more seriously, she recounts a young man’s experience of being harshly and unfairly disciplined in high school for carrying a pocket knife. In his native Switzerland, it was customary for children to carry pocket knives to school. What, I wonder, would public school officials think about the many Waldorf early childhood teachers I know who give a pocket knife to each of their students on his or her sixth birthday? Call the spanking police, no doubt!

The Most Insane Zero Tolerance Story Yet

There you have it. Now I need to batten down the hatches in preparation for Tropical Storm Earl, which is scheduled to hit the coast of Maine this evening. I hope the weather is better where you are, and that your Labor Day weekend is full of play!

What blog posts have intrigued or inspired you this week? Please share your links!

Win a $100.00 shopping spree from Bella Luna Toys! Today, we are offering a $100 gift certificate to one lucky reader over at SouleMama.

To enter, simply stop by SouleMama and leave a comment to be entered to win. But hurry! Comments will be closed Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. EDT.

Good luck!

An all new and improved Bella Luna Toys website is scheduled to go live in the coming month. Right now I am expanding my inventory and ordering lots of new items for the holiday season. What are your favorite Waldorf toys? Are there new items you’d like to see added? I’d love to hear your ideas!

©Sarah Baldwin

For most of their early childhood and elementary school years, my two boys attended a Waldorf school. But for two-and-a-half of those years, we were Waldorf homeschoolers.

Even though I spent years in teacher training, received a master’s degree in education, and read a plethora of books on child development and educational theory, I learned more about how children learn in those two years than from all the books and training combined.

I also found happiness in learning to be a “good enough” mother and teacher, and learned to let go of perfect.

Today, my first post as a guest contributor appears over at Simple Homeschool, documenting our experience as a Waldorf homeschoolers.

Hope you’ll drop by, and let me know what you think!

Waldorf Homeschooling: Learning to Let Go

Are you a Waldorf homeschooler? An Unschooler? What homeschool resources have you found helpful? I’d love to hear what’s working for you!

Last month, my younger son William and I saw Toy Story 3 in New York City in 3D. I loved it! Yes, you read that right. Miss Sarah, the anti-media-for-young-children Waldorf teacher, absolutely loved Toy Story 3.

Those of you who’ve seen it know that the ending is a tearjerker, but I nearly melted in a puddle of my own tears, thoroughly embarrassing my 15-year-old son. The movie was especially heart-rending for me because my older son Harper is the same age as Andy, the boy to whom the toys belong.

Harper was about four years old when the original Toy Story was released. At the time, we lived in Hollywood, my husband was working in the entertainment industry, and we were invited to the premiere. As perks, we were given full-size Woody and Buzz Lightyear toys, which Harper played with for years.

In Toy Story 3, things have progressed in real time. Andy has grown up and is getting ready to head off to college. And guess what? Harper is 18 now and leaving for college in a few short weeks. Like Andy, he is in the process of saying goodbye to his toys, his childhood, and his parents, so the poignant ending of Toy Story 3 left me crumpled in a sea of wet tissues.

Not only did Toy Story 3 have personal relevance for me, but I also appreciated its compelling story, great dialogue, engaging characters, and its technological sophistication. It’s the first movie I’ve ever seen in 3-D, and it really was a marvel, perhaps one of the best animated movies ever made.

But in spite of my enthusiasm for the movie, I would not recommend it for children under nine. Bracing myself for the backlash, I can already hear the cries of protest: “But it’s rated G!” “We took our four-year-old to see it and he LOVED it!” “Come on, it’s Disney. It’s wholesome family fun.”

Let me explain my thoughts . . .

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s August and I’ve decided that Moon Child needs to take a little vacation. As you may know, I’ve been hard at work on upgrading Bella Luna Toys‘ website, which is turning out to be a much bigger job than I had ever imagined. My goal is to have the new site up and running by September, but I realized that in order to meet that goal, I need to devote every free moment I have during the month of August to that end. I’m excited to share the results with you, and hope you will find that it was worth the wait! There will be many new products and I think you will find the new system to be much more user-friendly with lots of cool new features.

Once that transition has taken place, I look forward to resuming regular blog posts in the fall with the new energy and vigor that the change of season brings. I will, however, be making my first post over at Simple Homeschool this month as a guest contributor, so keep an eye out for that!

Things are humming along as usual at Bella Luna Toys. I’ve been so grateful to my son Harper who has been packing and shipping all your orders this summer, as well as helping me edit photos for the new site. He’ll be holding down the fort as I head off this week to a LifeWays board retreat in California. (What will I ever do when he leaves for college in a few weeks?)

I’m looking forward to spending a week with my fellow LifeWays board members, a group of amazing, powerhouse women who have dedicated themselves to the needs of young children and their families. I’m also looking forward to gazing at the Pacific Ocean for a few days instead of my computer screen! It will be a most welcome change of scenery.

In the meantime, be sure to “friend” Bella Luna Toys on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter. I’ll keep in touch with quick updates and notices of promotions there. Most importantly, please leave comments here if there are new products and features you’d like to see added to the new site! Your suggestions are invaluable to me.

Blessings on you and your children, and hoping your August is full of play!