flynn088

“Oh, I know you!” Those were the very first words I said to my newborn son, just moments after giving birth to him almost 22 years ago. I held him in my arms, looked him in the eye, and realized that I really did already know this beautiful tiny baby. Throughout our two days in the hospital, I found myself talking to him: asking if he was hungry, singing a nonsense made-up on the spot song when I changed his diaper, telling him how his little clothes were presents from his grandpa and grandma, and reassuring him that I was there with him when he was crying. Talking to him just came naturally. He had heard the sound of my voice for nine months, so I knew that he knew me, too. When and How to Talk to Babies Some people wonder when and how to talk to babies. The answer is simply to talk to babies as you would talk to anyone else. Even if the conversation is one sided, your baby is listening and absorbing your words, your actions, and your tone of voice. There are everyday tasks such as fe...

It was the children themselves who showed that they preferred one another’s company to dolls, and the small ‘real life’ utensils to toys. —Maria Montessori The Absorbent Mind, p. 169. Observing Sensitive Periods in Young Children Recently, a friend of mine and her two-year-old daughter came over for coffee. Because I was moving soon, I had already packed up my few remaining infant toys. I was worried that I didn’t have anything interesting to share with my young guest until I remembered Dr. Montessori’s observation that children prefer real objects to toys. Having never visited my house before, young Ellie needed to explore her new environment. She wandered around the living room, checking out the furniture and knick-knacks on the end and coffee tables. Ellie was intrigued by the glass topped coffee table: How did it work? What held up the glass and how did objects not fall through it? And then she saw my large blue art-deco glass vase. Fascinated, she asked to see what was inside. Whe...

“It seems to him, at this stage, a particularly vital matter that everything in his environment should be kept in its accustomed place; and that the actions of the day should be carried out in their accustomed routine.”   – E.M. Standing,  Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work , p. 123 Understanding the Child’s Sense of Order in the Montessori Environment When my son was a toddler, he would line his shoes up just right in his closet. They had to be perfectly straight and even. On his bed, all of his stuffed animals had to be placed in exactly the same spot each morning, and all the trucks and trains had specific ‘homes’ when not being played with. We laughed over his desire to have everything in its place, but he really would get upset if something was out of order. “... nature endows a child with a sensitiveness to order. It is a kind of inner sense that distinguishes the relationships between various objects rather than the objects themselves. … Such an environment provides th...

“…the child’s sensitiveness is greater than anything we can imagine.” – Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind , p. 131 There is an old English nursery rhyme that says, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” However, when I reflect back on times of pain or trauma in my life they were not due to physical distress, but to mental and emotional attacks. At times of emotional distress, I can remember such vivid details, including what I was wearing, doing, and thinking. And if I am not careful, I can get caught up in the negativity all over again. Dr. Montessori understood how the mind stores and remembers the impressions that emotions leave behind and the impact this has on very young children. “It is that both the impressions the child’s mind receives, and the emotional consequences they provoke, tend to remain permanently registered in it.” She likens the impact of emotions as leaving an imprint on the child like the “mark of on a photographic plate…which app...

“What is clear is that when the child is born, he has neither hearing nor speech. So what exists? Nothing, yet all is ready to appear.” — Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind , p. 117. Chapter 11 of The Absorbent Mind is a continuation of Montessori’s discussion on language development during the first plane of development. In this chapter, she continues her description of the natural progression of language, speculating that the sensory-motor centers for language comprehension and production are “specially designed for the capture of language, of words; so it may be that this powerful hearing mechanism only responds and acts in relation to sounds of a particular kind — those of speech. If there were no special isolation of the sensitivity which directs this — if the centers were free to welcome every kind of sound — the child would start making the most astonishing noises.” (Montessori, p. 119) Studying the Works of Montessori - The Absorbent Mind, Chapter 11: How Language Calls to t...

“All children pass through a period in which they can only pronounce syllables; then they pronounce whole words, and finally, they use to perfection all the rules of syntax and grammar.” — Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind , p. 111. Last summer, my teenage son and I were visiting my sister and her family. One morning, my son found himself tending my 5-month-old nephew while the adults were getting ready. The baby, not used to his cousin, began to cry. I hurried downstairs only to hear my son say in exasperation, “I don’t know what you want. If only you could use your words!” We have all been there. Trying to decipher baby and toddler speech can be frustrating. Mono-syllables are easily misunderstood and lost in translation, leaving both child and adult bewildered and confused. Language, says Montessori, “is an instrument of collective thought. ” (Montessori, p. 108) Simply thinking a thing is not enough; there must be communication and mutual comprehension. Studying the Works of Mon...

" When you hold an infant, hold him not just with your body, but with your mind and heart. " – Magda Gerber In our continuing blog series studying the works of Montessori, we have looked at the first nine chapters of The Absorbent Mind . All over the world, educators and caregivers find common ground in many of Montessori’s ideas– especially so when it comes to the care of infants. Psychologist Laura Berk, like Montessori, states that “knowledge of the world is first gathered through the senses.” Berk notes the physical changes in heart rate and respiration in infants when there is a change in their environment – someone new arrives, there are new pictures on the wall, or mother starts wearing new cologne. (Berk, 2006) Montessori Values Around the World – Supporting an Infant's Development with Conscious Interaction Modern child philosophers also discuss the importance of respectful awareness of children, beginning at birth. Magda Gerber’s RIE philosophy calls for “res...

“Children become like the things they love.” — Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind , p. 101 A carefully prepared environment is central to the teachings of Maria Montessori. We often think of the Montessori environment as the classroom itself. However, the environment extends to all of the conditions that influence the physical and mental growth of the child. Studying the Works of Montessori - The Absorbent Mind, Chapter 9: The First Days of Life Dr. Montessori was very clear about the environment needed immediately after birth. She states that for the first few days the infant should be in direct contact with the mother. The surroundings must not be harsh, since this is infant’s first experience after the moderated, safe surroundings of the womb. “There must not be too much contrast, as regards warmth, light, noise with his conditions before birth, where in his mother’s womb, there was perfect silence, darkness, and an even temperature.” (Montessori, p. 98) The bond of mother and inf...