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Our  Philosophy
The naturalist, Henry David Thoreau, once said, “In Wildness is the preservation of the world.” But do we really appreciate wildness? Many prefer wild salmon at the fish counter yet cringe at the image of a wild child. Can we trust the notion of untouched wilderness? And is there any place for cultivation in the wild? Somewhere between the extremes of control and chaos there is a river that flows. This we call, “A Wilder Harmony.”
A wilder harmony exists where attentiveness greets the innocence of youth. It arises in the group when all are successfully protected from threat, fully fed, and their immediate needs met. What’s left is to open our hearts and minds to the simplicity of play: the fertile ground of optimal development. Effortless attention prevails without striving. Calm envelopes engaged activity, and everything seems to sing. Perennial as daybreak, a wilder harmony arises and passes as surely as waves on the sea when all walk together creating the world we want to live in.
Why does such this description seem so bafflingly rare, perhaps even naive?
The tension between needs and threats is ever-present, continuously shifting within, around, and in between. To meet all needs is like reaching for the heavens. Nevertheless, we call forth heightened mindfulness rooted in connection. Emotional intelligence is the bedrock for our interactions as we monitor the impact of each moment, responding to individual needs in the context of community. We stay current with an evolving understanding of “trauma,” a word describing how emotion can be reactivated from the past, a crucial ingredient in understanding group dynamics. We greet human imperfection with patient flexibility, focusing unwaveringly on what we want to see in our arising world.
Peace is continuously woven, briefly deferred, and deliberately rewoven, alive to the present: the birthplace of the future. Tenderly tuning in, we move relentlessly toward what underlies this social species that sings and dances: A Wilder Harmony.
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​Further Reading
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Hold on to Your Kids by Gordon Nuffield and Gabor Mate
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Rest, Play, Grow: Making Sense of Preschoolers (Or Anyone Who Acts Like One) by Deborah MacNamara
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O’Brien, L., Murray, R. “Forest School and its impacts on young children: Case studies in Britain” 15 November 2007
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1618866707000301#
‘Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident and Capable Children’ by Angela J. Hanscom.
On the Wildness of Children, by Carol Black
http://carolblack.org/on-the-wildness-of-children
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