December 2, 2006 7:43 AM
Montessori at home #11
This morning I was reminded how important it is for us moms to always be looking for ways to challenge our kids and how we can limit their potential by automatically doing things for them. The reason I started writing in the first place was to pass on some foundational Montessori ideas that would help moms help their kids reach their potential by giving them the opportunities they need to grow in independence, concentration, self-control, and order.
You know how I'm always talking about pincer grasp - how important it is for writing skills and how to develop it early on before the child ever picks up a pencil. I wrote about it recently here.
Well, this time of year gives you a wonderful opportunity to challenge your child, encouraging his independence, concentration and pincer grasp all at once.
For the past few years, our stores have been selling clementines. They are a wonderful improvement over tangerines as they don't have seeds and the sections come apart very easily. For children who are still not able to peel oranges, peeling clementines could be a good transition (much as when you want your child to learn to put on socks, you can start with a larger pair to give her practice and confidence).
I had thought clementines were a development of tangerines, but researching this morning I found they are really related to the mandarin orange. They really are more enjoyable than tangerines, in my opinion.
Anyway, watching Justin (my #12) peel his clementine this morning, I thought I'd remind you to seize every opportunity you can to help your child take care of his own needs. Motherhood is a job we need to be working ourselves out of each day - at least the waiting on your child part. After all, you don't want to be doing their science projects later on.
When they're young, children are eager to learn to do these little things. It's what Maria Montessori called the "sensitive period." When we encourage them and give them opportunities and make difficult things possible for them - like sweeping the floor - we are building character in our children that will be expressed later on as a willingness to take responsibility and serve others.
Little things always mean a lot!
By the way - the clementines reminded me this morning to sing Oh, My Darlin' Clementine for my kids. You can find the music and lyrics here. Yes, they are a bit morbid, but typical of that genre of music generated by settlers moving across America. I think it's an important part of our American heritage and worth passing on to kids.
I also discovered a resource of music and lyrics at NIEHS Kids' Pages - Sing-a-Long Songs.
Enjoy!
PS For more, type "Montessori at Home" into my personal Google on the right sidebar.
Posted in Montessori, Mothering, Preschoolers, Toddlers | Permalink
Comments
I am so glad that you keep reminding us to let our little one do what we are doing. During Thanksgiving my youngest 2 --ages 6 and 3--wanted to help with the pies. This time instead of 'no' they got a 'sure'. DD6 asked to taste the pumpkin from the can. The look of concentration as she tasted it was beautiful. Then I asked 'well what do you think?', expecting a simple answer like yucky, but instead she thought another minute and answered 'plain...its just plain'. The 3yob agreed yes its plain & no don't want some more. I never expected an answer like plain from a 6 yo, and even better she has taught her little brother how to describe a taste not a catagory. The 3yo loved using the whisk and did a great job. This whole helping only added a few more minutes to the task, a small price to pay for those memories!
Posted by: Stephanie | December 2, 2006 11:18 AM
Wow we had clementines this week (and looked them up too and found they are related to mandarin oranges). I didn't think about it helping with their pincer grasp-- but I did show them how to stick their thumb in at the little round spot so they could peel it easily.
Oh and my 5 year old calls them Cuties because she read that on the box-- I guess it is the brand, LOL.
Posted by: Leslie | December 2, 2006 12:58 PM
My 22-month old son has an amazing pincer grasp - he holds the pencil and draws quite well - but I never thought to let him peel the clementines. I'll be trying that with him tomorrow!
Just an interesting tidbit about clementines - they are very traditional advent/Christmas season food here in Switzerland and also in Germany. In Switzerland the stores are full of clementines and peanuts in the shell all winter. On St. Nikolaus day children receive clementines, peanuts and bread baked into the shape of little men.
Posted by: swissmiss | December 2, 2006 1:22 PM
I'll have to go buy a crate of clementines now...you brought back a painful memory...that a good-sized bag of clementines in Germany is about 1/2 the price of the same sized bag here...painful to the wallet. But the Clementines ARE good.
My daughter, age 5 11/12th (6 in January) is still having issues with socks. I'm off now to buy larger socks in the hopes that this will help! Thank you for that suggestion.
Posted by: Linda | December 2, 2006 1:25 PM
Here's my daughterdoing something similar
Mary, mom to 8
Posted by: owlhaven | December 3, 2006 12:13 AM
