This week on our Montessori podcast...
Maria Montessori calls on parents to trust their children with their own development. But, in practice, that is really hard to do, especially with how much we love our children. In this week's episode, Nicole and Amy unpack a Montessori quote about love, fault-finding, trust, and redirection. We talk about some of our success with trust and some of the areas where we are challenged to truly follow our children.
Show Notes...
- Honoring the Secret of the Child
- Quote: Maria Montessori Speaks to Parents p. 13- 14:
"We can love our children so dearly that it makes us blind to what is best for them. We can desire so eagerly that they shall grow into fine men and women that we correct and frustrate them at every turn without once realizing that they have within themselves the power of their development.
We cannot see that a child who is interested and actively carrying out little plans and movements of his own is building up will power and self-control. When a child is tirelessly trying to make patterns with his blocks simply because he is interested, there is no need for outside discipline, the child is disciplining himself.
Please don't mistake me when I say that love leads so many of us to unnecessary fault finding. I do not mean that you should never correct your children, but i do say that 'don'ts' are far less effective - indeed they are often definitely harmful when they fill a young child with fear or resentment - than providing him with some alternative activity at which he may work joyfully, forgetting all about the previous activity or behavior which you were anxious for him to stop." - Amy's IG post "That's Not a Toy" | Post Follow Up
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