“The child builds his inmost self out of the deeply held impressions he receives.” ~ Dr Maria Montessori
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Fundraising Committee Meeting, Sun., 1/8/12, noon-1pm
Book Club, Sun., 1/8/12, 1-3pm “The Science Behind The Genius” by Angeline Stoll Lillard
SCHOOL CLOSED Mon. 1/16/12, In-Service
“Building Independence” parenting workshop led by Megan and Laura, Sat., 1/21/12, 9:30-11am – signs, cues and preparation for supporting your child as they learn to eat, sleep and toilet independently
“Life is the process of giving birth to ourselves.”
Eric Fromm
Happy New Year!
Tradition has it that we start each year reflecting back on the one just past and promising to start the new with resolve.
New beginnings … I’ve been thinking about them a good bit lately as I join my one pregnant massage client in waiting for the January birth of her son. I’m already in love with this little guy. I have the privilege of feeling him move during our massages. It is already a relationship… and I’m with him just once a week! The depth of relationship between him and his mom (his first “prepared (by nature) environment”) is truly extraordinary.
Nature – and millions of years of evolution – gives the unborn child experience of the external world. He has been experiencing stimulation of the skin, smell and movement from very early on in the pregnancy. He experiences his mother’s heartbeat, breathing and voice, as well as environmental sounds and he has taste experiences from about 3 months. Most amazingly he experiences light and dark from about 4 months on and his own mouth movement and REM sleeping from about 7 months.
With his senses of smell, vision, touch, hearing and taste already working before birth the baby is interacting with the external environment, the one into which he’ll be born, even before arriving here. His “new beginning” will be built upon his in-utero experiences. For instance, the sounds he’s been hearing – his mother’s heart beat, her voice, the voices of those close-by, music – all will serve as “points of reference” for him once he is born. He may be hidden from our view (except for those sonogram photos) but he is in relationship with this bigger world.
This got me to thinking about all the different “firsts” there are. A few for the infant include muscle control, intentional movement, grasping, rolling over, sitting, standing. Then there’s talking and toileting! The list goes on and on. Each new capability is built on effort born of an internal drive to become more. I imagine a newborn’s new year resolution to be something like, “This year I’ll grasp, turn, sit, grow teeth, feed myself and come to standing!”and then he gets busy at making it all happen! We should all be so lucky as to have such a strong internal drive!
How can we assist the child in meeting his “goals”? Well, for the infant, as Dr. Montessori said, “it would be enough for us not to put obstacles in his way.” Of course we do much more than that. We offer safe space for free movement, ‘developmental aids’ (ie toys) that encourage and engage him and our respectful attention – in other words, a “prepared environment.”
For the older children the materials Dr. Montessori developed hold a wonderful key: indirect preparation and the progression of concrete experiences to abstract understanding.
Just as the infant who arrives is touched by the influences of the external world, the children in the classroom are becoming readers, writers, and number manipulators through exposure to, and use of, materials that may not seem related to those “goals.”
For instance, one might wonder what grasping the knobs of the cylinders in the cylinder blocks has to do with writing. Grasping the knobs of the cylinders is an indirect preparation for holding a pencil. All the ‘sensorial materials’ serve in one way or another as ‘indirect preparation’ while offering a concrete experience. “Large” and “small” have a hands-on meaning while manipulating the cylinders. “Loud” and “soft” become clear while matching the sound cylinders, as do “heavy” and “light” while using the baric tablets.
With the senses developed and refined by the use of these materials, the child moves on to more sophisticated work just as the infant, with all he has absorbed during his time in-utero, moves into the bigger world, already in love, ready to put his 100 billion neurons to work to become fully human.
So, here’s to each stage! May each be filled with experiences that enrich the “new beginning” to follow!
Oh, speaking of stages – the baby was born on the 30th of December and I got to be there! Each stage of labor leading beautifully to the next until that little sweetheart was in his mother’s arms. Love. Fully human. Fantastic!
“The study of love and its utilization will lead us to the source from which it springs, The Child.”
- Dr Maria Montessori
For more information on Gio Bellonci who writes this portion of our newsletter, follow her blog Montessori In Motion
