Telling a Rainbow Bridge birthday story is a Waldorf tradition that can be really fun and special as your child grows. It's sort of like a birth story, but told in fantasy or myth-form.

The Rainbow Bridge is the passage to Earth from the ether, spirit world, heaven, or whatever your beliefs may call it, and acknowledges the pre-birth communication that we often receive from our little ones in utero.

These stories can be written to include any religious tradition, or none at all.

This is the story I wrote for Claire, my precious middle child, sometime before she turned five years old.

Once upon a time, in a land of time unchanging, there lived a spirit child. She lived with the moon and sun, amidst the stars, with many spirit-beings--and she was peaceful and happy. One day, she happened to notice a beautiful blue orb, far away--yet somehow, not so far.

The orb seemed to call to her, and so she asked the spirits about it.

“That orb is the world, our Mother Earth,” they replied.

“May I go there?” the child asked.

“In time,” the spirits replied. “The world is not yet ready for you.”

So the child waited.

Time passed, and the spirit child thought about the world. As she imagined what Earth would be like, she pictured trees and flowers, rivers and mountains, animals and people...as if from a distant memory.

And she longed to go there.

She asked the spirit-beings again, “May I go to Mother Earth yet?”

And they replied gently, patiently, “No, dear one. The stars are not yet aligned in favor of your journey.”

So the child waited.

Finally, a time came when the spirit child dreamed about earth so vividly that it was almost like she had been transported there. She walked amidst many, many people, and found a man whom she felt she had known before, and loved before, and so she asked him, “Will you be my Daddy?” And the man said, “Of course. I've been waiting for you.”

Then she found a woman with whom she felt safe and welcomed. “Will you be my Mama?" the spirit child asked. And the woman said, “Yes. I'm so glad you've come.”

Then, she met two Earth-children whom she just knew were special, somehow; and they whispered to her, “We love you! Will you be our sister?”

The spirit child awoke, excitedly, and told her spirit-guides about her beautiful dream. “Ah,” they said. “Now it is time for you to begin your journey to Mother Earth.”

“Do I have to go alone?” the child asked.

“Yes,” said her spirit-guides, “But we will always be near you...” And with that, the child began her journey toward Mother Earth.

While ten moons waxed and waned, she rocked gently in a little boat. As the journey went on, the child grew fearful, and did not want to leave this place-between-places.

But then, she felt surrounded by love, warmth, and light like never before, and finally peeked out of her boat to see the most glorious sight: A beautiful rainbow had stretched from the edge of her boat, all the way to Mother Earth.

And so the spirit child traveled across the rainbow bridge, through the veil--and on that day our precious baby Claire was born!

Everyone was so happy that she was finally here, and we loved her and cuddled her. And Claire began to laugh and crawl, talk and walk, and then she was ONE year old!

Then Claire discovered butterflies, learned to dance, got to know her grandparents, and read books with her siblings, and then she was TWO years old!

Then Claire’s hair got longer, and she learned to say ALL sorts of things, and to go down the big slide at the playground, and she met her brother Nik--and then she was THREE years old!

Then Claire got to go to the beach, and the mountains in New Mexico; she said goodbye as her Grandma passed through the veil, and became good friends with Lexe--and then she was FOUR years old!

Then Claire got to visit a big hotel, learned to ride a scooter, and met her baby brother, Oliver.

She grew and learned and changed even more--and NOW she is FIVE years old!

Happy birthday to our precious, wonderful daughter, Claire!

Our "baby" Claire is nearly a teenager now, and so this story is no longer mine to update, but her own. We are ever more proud of her, and grateful she chose us!

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MORE BIRTH STORIES:

Why we need birth advocacy: My 3rd birth story

A Dream Homebirth: Fourth Time's the Charm

The healing, unassisted freebirth of my fifth baby

Claire’s Rainbow Bridge Birthday Story

The Rainbow Bridge - A Birthday Story for my Boys

Claire’s rainbow bridge birthday story