Learnings From A Montessori Beginner Parent

I’ve stumbled upon the concept of Montessori ever since my child was a little over 3 months old, and the philosophy left a rather deep impression in me. Since then, what with balancing the ropes of being a first time mom, I’ve tried to squeeze in some time to do my own research regarding the topic. I’m nowhere considered an expert, but I thought I’d still share a few of my key take-aways from my learning in the process. So without further ado, let’s dive in those points:

1. Follow the child. This is probably one of the most common phrases you will be hearing when you first learn about Montessori. But before you get any bright ideas about how this is just meant to spoil your child rotten, it’s more of becoming more mindful and insightful about the actions your child is taking to learn. Following your child means that you follow your child’s lead on what are the things that spark their interest, and you prepare their environment in such a way that they will continuously develop their love for learning about the world around them. 

2. Set up your child’s environment for their interest and success. One characteristic all children have is curiosity. Especially in the early years of 0 to 6 years old, their minds are continuously trying to make sense of the world around them. This is also where they develop their personality and character that would hopefully end up with them becoming responsible adults in the future. And the way we prepare their environment for learning and character development is important. This keypoint has so much depth that I’ll be sharing such practical ways this can be done in another blog post. 

3. Help your child to be able to help themselves. One of the most admirable insights of Dr. Maria Montessori is allowing our child to learn how to do self-care, practical-life activities, and to teach them how to manuever this world as little humans. This aspect of Montessori actually requires a lot of patience on our part as parents, but serves as a very empowering learning for our children. As young and innocent as our children are, giving them the trust that they’re capable of doing the simple task of self-care by themselves sets them up for a lot of things in them, one of which is self-confidence.

4. Respect your child. This key-takeaway is huge for me. It goes without saying that our little ones are born helpless and constantly trying to make sense of things that’re happening around them. And this point actually served more of a reminder for me to become more mindful of how I act towards my child. One rule here is to not do anything to your child what you would otherwise do to adults. This includes taking things from their hands (without asking beforehand), laughing at their mistakes and blunders, or even talking badly about them (with or without them around). We ought to become more mindful of how we treat our little ones, for they are still, without a doubt, humans. 

5. Teach them to become human. When I say becoming humans, I mean everything about being a decent human, both the good parts and the not-so good parts. They look up to us parents so much more than we realize, and we don’t necessarily need to become perfect in their eyes, because that would just give them unnecessary pressure on themselves as well. Teach them how we deal with arguments, to cope with big feelings, to value culture, to laugh, to be silly, to say sorry, to take responsibility. And one way to teach them to become human is to be vulnerable as well, to be safe to express themselves to us, as their parents. Lastly, teach them that as humans, we can go to great lengths to show that they’re and will always be loved. 

This blog post is just purely based on my opinions on my researches and readings. I’ll be posting some of my favorite Montessori books on my Favorites page, so you might want to check them out if you want to!

No matter what parenting philosophy you choose, however, never forget that we’re in this parenting together. Our goals are all the same, which is to raise our kids to become emotionally strong, resilient, and responsible adults in life, and for my family specifically, to become filial children to our Heavenly Parent and True Parents. Let’s rock this parenting together!