Valentine’s Day in the Montessori Environment: Lessons in Grace and Courtesy
Of all things love is the most potent. —Maria Montessori The Absorbent Mind, p. 269. Love… it’s a complicated emotion. We can love our child, our partner, or our pet. We can love pizza, the smell of rain, or cheering for our favorite football team. We can love a good book, a walk along the beach, or sleeping in on Saturday mornings. How then, do we teach a child to love? The Greeks thought love to be so multifaceted they actually had six terms for it: eros — passionate, romantic love philia — the love between friends, or between parent and child ludus — the affectionate, playful love often seen in children or those in a new relationship agape — love for humankind pragma — longstanding love, like that of long-married couples pilautia — love of self When we look at those six types of love, we see that agape comes closest to Montessori’s vision of cosmic education. Theologians have described agape in various ways. C.S. Lewis called it “the gift” and the highest form of Christian lov...