Montessori parenting embodies the belief that parents should respect their children and empower their abilities. Parents are always encouraged to give space, time, and support to their kids without doing it for them. This style of parenting believes in bridging the gap between home and school.
Dr. Maria Montessori who invented the Montessori educational approach didn’t intend for this guide to be limited to the classroom. She emphasized the focus on the development of the whole child, taking into account the child’s life in and outside the classroom. Her own life experiences helped shape the current Montessori Method.
Born in 1870 in Italy, Maria aspired to become an engineer but later entered Medical school. At the age of twenty-eight, she began advocating her popular theory that the lack of support for mentally and developmentally disabled children were the cause of their delinquency. By 1909, she began giving the first training course in her new approach to child education. It gave birth to the popular guidebook in 1912 known as “The Montessori Method.” Today, the Montessori Method is adopted by hundreds of thousands of educational institutions around the world and is also used as an essential parenting guide.
30 Ways of Embracing Montessori Parenting
- Parents should embrace the idea that the Montessori Method isn’t just an education approach but a lifestyle.
- Assist your child’s physical ability by buying stools for home so your child can reach higher places.
- While feeding your child, you should avoid using plastic wares and toy utensils.
- Embrace the Montessori Coat Flip
- Practice simplicity at home
- Always be a model of behavior to your children no matter the mood or stage in life
- Assist your child with scientific and rational thinking
- Teach children about history but not on dates but as a sense of duration and passage of time.
- Use real images for learning and references.
- Hang a coat rack at your child’s level
- Allow your kids to be creative with their work and learning
- Consider adding a faucet extender, so they reach to it.
- Create a culture basket – a collection of influential factors of one’s life.
- Wait for your child to put his coat or overall on before going out.
- Give your child space and time to put on his shoes
- Practice Letter Writing. You can slowly add different languages as they grow up.
- Explore the outdoors with these books about rocks, ants, bears, and seeds.
- Teach kids to code. Learning about complex computer language helps to adapt to technology at an early age.
- Focus on sounds, not memorization, of letters
- Use concrete objects for learning that kids can grab with their hands
- Teach children about what it means to be courageous
- Read and practice positive disciplining
- Learn about ways to encourages children with writing
- Create the environment for discovery of reading, writing, and comprehending
- Practice observing your child for at least five minutes a day including their habits and gestures.
- Don’t intervene in conflict or struggle. Let them resolve it by themselves. You can offer minimal assistance.
- Practical Life is about focus, completion of a work cycle, preparation for writing, and independence.
- Cook with your kids to instill the value of creating something.
- Put together an easy Letter Sound Work for your kids
- Always move left to right
Montessori Method & “THE ABSORBENT MIND”
Montessori’s Method aligns with Dr. Montessori another theory about “The Absorbent Mind.” According to her, a young child experiences a period of intense mental activity from birth to the age of 6. This period is well defined by their capability to absorb order, language, movement, and refinement of the senses, math, and manners from the surrounding environment.
The Montessori teacher or parent prepares the environment of the child with carefully selected, aesthetically arranged materials that are then offered to the child sequentially to meet their development need.
Edwin Mortimer Standing, close friend and assistant to Dr. Montessori shared,
“The skill, care, and devotion with which the directress gets ready the environment is the very condition of the children’s freedom.”
Montessori Parents Guide
Here is the comprehensive Montessori Parenting Guide for all the interested parents. You can find in-depth information about the Montessori Method in Dr. Montessori’s book.
Respect your child as a person
Despite their young age and minimal understanding of life, children are a person and you should treat them as such. Undermining their presence can affect their self-esteem and confidence. Although people believe in respecting everyone, only a few people practice respecting elders and children alike. Respecting your children will help instill the value of being heard, loved, and cared for.
Example: Listen to your kid’s opinion whenever you need to decide anything. Wait until they finish and thank them for speaking their mind.
Foster your child’s freedom and independence
Instill the belief of freedom and independence into your kid from an early age. Montessori Parenting focuses on designing both home and classroom to allow children to use them independently. They enjoy the fact that they have control and independence over basic tasks like brushing their teeth, washing their hands, clearing their plates, and flushing the toilet.
You can install a stool so your kid can reach shelves or drawers they aren’t normally able to reach.
Give them freedom—within limits
For kids, freedom comes with limits. Montessori Parents allow their kid to pursue their lifestyles based on their interests. However, setting limits will make them understand what is and isn’t acceptable. This will help install the value of accountability in them.
Slow down—and give them space
Montessori Method emphasizes on providing ample space and time to children. You should let them explore their space and time. Kids run on an entirely different clock than grown-ups and they need their own time and space to comprehend things. Help them decide their daily schedule and respect them for doing it.
Use big words—even with little kids
Talk like adults to the kids. The teachers and instructors have started implementing using “big words” to kids in the classroom, and you should do the same when you talk to your kid. With their age and aptitude, children pick up almost any word. Don’t get shocked when you hear a teacher using big words such as “innocuous,” “preposterous,” “congregation,” etc. to their pupils! You can start incorporating a new language at home by adding new words and phrases every day.
Always be making observations of your little one
Observe your children, their activity, behavior, gesture, and mood, at all times. Montessori Method emphasizes observing children at home at least 5 minutes every day. This helps you gain insights into your child’s life. This can also help you add or remove something from your behavior towards them.
Follow the child
Respect their space and prepare guidelines for them to choose such as what game to play, what tv program to watch, etc. This helps to instill a sense of self-worth at a very young age.
Child Safety First
Montessori parenting advocates safe playtime for children at home and school. Create a play space at home that allows them to move in and out as they desire without getting hurt. This will help boost their confidence and keep them safe.
Practice Positive Disciplining
Approach the positive disciplining methods when you feel the need to punish your child. Positive disciplining helps to instill the value that they should become accountable for their misdemeanor and they themselves should find ways to correct it. Too much punishment can lead to withdrawal at a young age.