I once said to a friend that I could not know whether our parenting choices were “right”; I just had to do the thing that felt okay at day’s end. Now, we’re looking at much larger transitions than beditme— two children head to college this fall and the third heads into high school. All around us the little ones we watched climb trees and wield wooden swords through mythic quests are driving cars and turning to face the world outside. … Read More...
I know no parent who has not struggled at times to feel that their child is hearing their message. Some phases of childhood can be more challenging than others and some children can hear their own drummer more clearly than the voices of their parents. In these scenarios, it’s handy to have a variety of tricks up your sleeve. One that we found especially helpful was using poetry and rhymes to communicate ideas that had to be repeated more often. … Read More...
“Too many cooks spoil the broth.”
or
“Many hands make light work.”
Endless turns of life take place in the kitchen. Much of our family life occurs around the table or somewhere between the kitchen sink and the stove, everyone’s spoon in the “broth” of the day-to-day rhythms. And I’m pretty sure many families find their own important work happens here, where we sustain ourselves body and soul. It’s in the kitchen that we model values around health, ecology, experimentation … Read More...
As noted scientist Temple Grandin titled her book of the same name, animals make us human. This can seem a very strong statement until one watches children and notes their affinity for and curiosity about animals. Some kids watch creatures from a safe distance. Others are more forward and grab every cat or dog they can get close enough to to touch. Most children will add the names of animals to their first few words. However they show it, new … Read More...
Personally, I was delighted when my toddlers began pushing brooms around. As a trained Montessori teacher, I was always excited to see my own children beginning to engage in “work”, but first as a teacher and then as a parent, I knew that everyone was happier if I distinguished my children’s work from mine. I had learned that it was better to classify this work as very important “play”. Playing house is often one of the first ways adults … Read More...
We want to do so much to help our children, but life teaches us that their greatest gifts may be the intangible tools they carry inside themselves. Watching them, we see that some are born with a fully-stocked “toolchest” that will aid them on any path they choose. Other children seem to need a little more help, whether in recognizing what was there all along or in developing skills unfamiliar to their natures.
Regardless of how competent children are out … Read More...
Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner and Charlotte Mason might not have agreed on many things regarding children and the best way to support their development. However, they all shared at least one similar premise, that children enjoy and even need work and other kinds of purposeful activity. They each had different ideas on how adults should meet this impulse but they all agreed it was there.
One place you might see it surface in your own children is through their … Read More...
When my children were younger, I copied this list of ideas from a post on one of Mothering Magazine’s message boards. (Though I’ve created my own examples of how to use each one in the hard won lessons of raising my own kids!) I’ve carried it in my purse for more than ten years to help me remember and refocus when I am at my wit’s end with one of my children. I have found the strategies useful for each … Read More...
