Mommy Life

May 19, 2008 9:22 AM

Montessori Mondays - teaching kids to be careful

Most of us grew up with the idea that breakables should be kept away from kids. In my Montessori training I learned to think outside the box on this one; Maria Montessori believed the child should not be denied the privilege of caring for beautiful things -- otherwise, how could they develop an aesthetic sense? So, even if your dishes are breakable, let your child set the table and put them away.

Think about it. How can a child learn to treat things carefully if we give him only things made of plastic? By keeping breakables out of bounds, we send the message that we think he's bound to fail. On the other hand, when we teach a child how to handle beautiful but breakable things, we show that he is worthy of our trust.

Prepare your child by handling breakables with exaggerated care yourself. Draw his attention to the challenge. Always use confident, encouraging words to remind your child to be careful.

Under these circumstances, will our children sometimes accidentally break things? Yes, once in a while. Do we ever break things? Yes, once in a while.

But breaking something is immediate feedback that we've been careless. A child who's been taught to be careful will certainly get the message. Breaking something will be the strongest reminder possible to be more careful in the future.

Our challenge as mommies is to accept in advance the fact that things will break and to react with graciousness when they do. That gives our children a lesson in good manners. But I can promise that by using the principles above, you will be surprised at how seldom anything will get broken in your home.

And in case you're still wondering, here's a picture Kansas Milkmaid sent me when I was writing Mommy, Teach Me! to use in the book to show that children truly can learn to be careful:

This is an example of how you incorporate Montessori principles into your home. Montessori isn't just about the didactic materials that teach reading and math. To me, it is more about understanding the sensitive periods and preparing the home environment to help children release the God-given potentials within them.

It's all about building character from an early age: confidence built on being truly useful rather than self-esteem from a purple dinosaur. Establishing self-control, healthy independence (the ability to choose activities rather than being bored), and an ability to concentrate. Teachability. Respect for those who teach you.

While on Montessori Mondays, I will sometimes show a specific exercise, I also want to remind you of the basics. When you understand how great the child's potential is for learning, it makes it easier to turn any situation into a learning situation. Christine's children above are not just cleaning the eggs they've gathered from the chickens. They are using fine motor control skills, developing self-control and concentration.

These are portable skills - that is, they become part of the child's character and his approach to learning throughout his life.

How about you? How is Montessori working in your home? If you'd like to share, please link a picture and your thoughts on the Montessori aspect.

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

Love,

Posted in Homeschooling, Montessori, Montessori Mondays, Preschoolers, Toddlers | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://mommylife.net/fastcgi/mt/mt-tb.fcgi/2719

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Montessori Mondays - teaching kids to be careful:

Comments

I love this feature of Montessori Mondays! Thanks for hosting it.

Posted by: Jessica | May 19, 2008 11:32 AM

I love your Montessori Mondays too! We have homeschooled our five children (two left to go) and I believe in allowing children to handle breakables too. I have a tea cup collection that we continually used for tea parties. I insisted that the children pick their favorite cups/saucers to use (boys too). Why not? we had fun and I don't recall one broken tea cup.

Jody

Posted by: Jody | May 19, 2008 2:17 PM

Great thoughts, thanks for sharing and here's one of my links!!

Posted by: Meredith | May 20, 2008 4:47 PM

Post a comment