This book could have been titled, 'how to get your pre-teen to fire you as a manager and hire you back as a consultant'. Parents and carers of twelve to fifteen year olds often find their children pulling away and almost disappearing from view. Based on her decades of experience as a Waldorf high school teacher, Betty Staley offers clear explanations for pre-teen behaviour that parents can use to actively support young teenagers. Full of insightful ideas and illuminating examples, this book will guide parents to help their young person over the bridge of early puberty and on to a productive life as a young adult. Far from seeing them as problems to be solved, this book is a celebration of pre-teens and offers a wise understanding of these wonderful, powerful, strange and private souls who are looking for an identity apart from childhood.

This book is designed to help the reader find points of comprehension in the original lectures that Rudolf Steiner gave to the teachers in the first Waldorf school. The extraordinary and revolutionary pictures and ideas in the original lectures can feel overwhelmingly lofty at times; the helpful insights provided in this Study Guide can move a reader forward in understanding the height and depth of the ideals and ideas given by Rudolf Steiner to those wishing to become Waldorf teachers. Interesting insights, in-depth background materials to aid understanding, and incisive questions to stimulate clear thinking and effective dialogue are the hallmarks of this aid to study. The book includes a summary of each lecture, commentary and study questions.