Precious Lights (for expectant parents)
“Sometimes, the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.” – Winnie the Pooh (A.A. Milne)
In our Precious Lights workshops, expectant parents make a beautiful handmade lamp for their newborn nursery. Surrounding the lamp making process, we weave layers of ceremony, wisdom-sharing and connections to bring deeper meaning and intention for the transition to parenthood. In subsequent months these lamps not only serve a functional purpose of providing light in the newborn nursery, but they also serve as an “anchoring beacon” that can help ground the parents and remind them of the loving intentions they bring to parenting.
About: Precious Lights
The idea of Precious Lights is to go beyond parenting classes which focus on the techniques, methods and skills used in raising a child and instead focus on parenthood - the state of being a parent -- with all of its attendant joys, challenges and opportunities for growth. Lamp making is the creative portal for embarking on this conversation.
As expectant parents reflect on the parental journey ahead of them, and as they share their dreams, hopes and concerns, intentions are formed. And working together, each parental unit can make a beautiful, gently glowing lamp for the newborn nursery that can serve as a luminous reminder of the intentions they’re bringing to parenthood.
Why?
This initiative - combining art, light, wisdom sharing and exploration of the journey of parenthood - is absolutely unique, and can positively impact parents-to-be. For example, Jane Svennson, an Australian prenatal educator has done extensive research on the needs of expectant parents and has documented how women and men seek far more than the traditional approach of a birth and parenting program attended in the final weeks of pregnancy. She identified several desired, but often unmet needs such as 'Learning and Discussing,’ 'Sharing and Supporting Each Other’, 'Time to CatchUp and Focus,' and ‘Discovering.'
What can be more impactful than providing the opportunity for expectant parents to gather together and share conversations as they explore the intentions they hope to bring to parenthood…and then, to bring home a lamp for the newborn nursery that embodies those intentions?
Testimonials
“This beautiful lamp shines throughout the night in our son's room. We call it the Little Beacon. As it bathes the room in soft light, I remember how much hope and intention we brought to planning for the birth of our son and it reminds us to bring that same intention and hope to each moment of caring for him.”
“Our four parents also contributed some decorations and quotes for the lamp. They will not be around forever, so the lamp building process and the lamp itself felt like a loving bridge between generations…connecting us to both our child and our parents. I love the idea that in the lamp’s simplicity lies this invisible ribbon connecting past to future. And who knows…maybe our daughter will pass it down to her own child, and the faded paper will be a visual testimony of ongoing hope and love!”
