Country Day Little School has provided quality preschool to the Palo Alto community since 1984. We offer a homelike environment with a calm, rhythmic atmosphere for children and parents. One of the gifts we bring to our families in our Waldorf-inspired classroom is to encourage our school community to protect and nurture the unhurried play of the young child. We help make life predictable ... secure. We have found that providing this protection in one’s home life is a challenge for many. There is no question that being a parent is one of life’s most important tasks, but the struggle we live with is how to maintain this as our highest priority on a daily basis.

The faculty at Country Day Little School has worked with families in this struggle for over 20 years. How do we provide for and care for our families, while truly meeting the needs of the children? In this day and age, it is a difficult task – at a time when many children are so often the ones made to sacrifice for the needs of the family. But the real effort lies in the life decisions being made by the parent. There is no greater responsibility or joy than that of being a parent. Encouraging our parents in this joyful goal was so beneficial to our school community that in 1996 we expanded our services to include family management consulting – working with families with children from infancy through the teenage years. This aspect of our school life is very rewarding and truly needed in our busy community.

In consulting sessions, we work with parents in areas of scheduling, prioritizing the children’s needs while making time for oneself, enhancing the stay-at-home experience so children can have a richer upbringing before pre- school, finding time in “no time”, learning bedtime rhythms, family dinner, and family life with the adolescent.