Eps 184: The Montessori Toddler with Simone Davies
Today’s guest is Simone Davis. Simone is the author of the new book, The Montessori Toddler. Simone is an AMI Association Montessori International Montessori Educator. She lives in Amsterdam where she runs parent-child Montessori classes at Jacaranda Tree Montessori. Simone is the author of a popular blog, The Montessori Notebook. She is also mother to two young adults. We will be discussing toddlers. Join us!
"In Montessori it's an alternative education system where we're actually following each unique child on their own unique individual development.”
“We start to think that toddlers are giving us a hard time when actually it's them having a hard time.”
“We help them as much as necessary and as little as possible.”
“Montessori is somewhere in between, we call it freedom within limits.”
“It's really just how to communicate in an effective, respectful way.”
“it's really about trusting your child that they're on their own unique timeline and that they're different to everybody else.”
“I think of us as planting that seed as well and nurturing it so that we really recognize that each child's individual, how can I support and help them become the best version of themselves?”
What you’ll hear in this episode:
- What the Montessori philosophy is all about
- The role of multi-age modeling in a Montessori environment
- The importance of taking time for training
- Preparing the environment and what that looks like
- How Montessori builds community and independence
- Teaching kids to care for things and each other: values-based learning
- How breaking down steps reduces assumptions and frustration
- The benefits of the Montessori approach
- Applying Montessori principles to your home
- What gets in the way of parents for seeing the gifts of the toddler years
- Practicing neutral observation without assumption like a scientist
- How the quest for Independence is similar in the teen and toddler years
- Setting kind and clear limits
- The value of a rich language environment with the space to try new things
- Getting comfortable with repeating yourself
- The role of making amends and modeling doing so yourself
- The most important thing for parents of young children to know in order to shift into the Montessori mindset
Resources:
Dan Siegel hand model of the brain video
Where to find Simone:
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