Mastering his world around him

I am always inspired by Montessori when its about my boys' development. Thanks to her, I am able to see and understand their actions/reasoning based on her research made 100 years ago.

Maria Montessori believed the child’s mind from birth to six years is quite different from the adult’s and labeled it an absorbent mind. The child effortlessly soaks in everything in his culture and environment.

Montessori called children under 6 years old the "sensorial explorer" as they learn about their world based on the 5 senses. That is why it is always encouraging to use concrete materials that can be touched / felt with the small hands ; and are real things - not plain plasticy toys that do not have much texture, not fantasy that cannot be seen with our naked eyes. It is not possible for the little minds to use their imagination/abstract thinking if they have not seen / touch one before.

Feeling the water sensation. Can a person who has not feel water knows what is water? same goes for a lil child, how does he knows COLD if he never experience it?

Fireman to the rescue

I do admit, in this instant modern world, children even adults are getting more and more impatience because they want to see the outcome immediately! Kids want to be entertained, instead of discovering the real world. They prefer to be in front of the computer / TV for hours, instead of being outdoors getting dirty & sweaty. It is difficult to get good, quality toys that encourages the child's thinking ability too. I see young boys adore their "Ben 10" watch that could costs their parents more than RM100 (I remembered one young boy - no more than 5 years old said to me - "I got Ben 10 watch, you dont!") hahahaahha... I always wonder what is in the child's mind by having that expensive watch? Does he thinks he is be able to mutate just like Ben 10? Does he thinks he is a super hero too? I dont know, deep in side me, I just laugh out loud. Maybe it's the in thing or peer pressure! *shrugs* I dread if my kid one day asked me to buy one for him too! (Lil C doesnt really know who is Ben10, but he did receive some Ben 10 stuffs for his birthday gift. I wonder does he really need to know who B10 is? Will it benefit him at this young age?) It is not that I dont allow my kids to watch TV, but I will always encourage them to explore and develop their refined hand movements instead. The hand is the chief teacher of the child.

In the first stage of development, the infant child absorbs the world through his unconscious intelligence. Merely by being moved about in it, now he takes in consciously using his hand. This is the first job that he has to do – to get the hand ready as a tool that he can direct. The hand has now become the instrument of the brain; a child touches something and his hand reports it to the brain. The brain decodes and guide the hand with the new information, the hand discovers more and reports to the brain again. This process is a continuous action of learning and developing and it is through the activity of his hands that he enriches his experience and develops himself at the same time. According to Montessori, "We must give no more to the eye and the ear than we give to the hand.” (E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori: Her Life & Work). It could pose a problem which could cause disunity when the brain gets ahead of the hand and the hand is no longer feeding the brain.

Basically what it mean is that where there is input, the should have an output. I call that balance in learning! Montessori actually developed a "psychomotor timeline" to show how the preparation of the body and hands proceeds in unison from the begining of life with development in one area complementating that in the other. There fore it is important to assist the child with the right activities based on their age group. You can read about it here

Here's a 3minute action from baby C having breakfast by himself.. watch till the end.. haha

here's more about lil C in 2007.

• feeding himself
• Pouring drinks himself