The following is the text from this section of the 2009-2010 edition of Child of the World, Montessori from Three to Six Years
To see other sections of this publication return to: http://www.michaelolaf.com/CWcontents.html
INTRODUCTION
Arranging the cooking and dining areas for the work of
the child does not have to be a giant undertaking, and it does not need
to be done all at once. Consider giving the child one low shelf or one
drawer in the kitchen in the beginning. This could contain a cutting board
and safe knife, or cereal bowls and spoons—whatever the child is
most likely to use most often.
A stool is a good first investment, so the child can reach the sink or
the counter, for work. Even better, if there is room, have a small table
and chair or stool out of the way where the child can prepare and eat
snacks, or do his share of the food preparation.
In the classroom, there should always be a space for children to prepare
snack at any time of the day, and lessons on how to do the work, and how
to clean it up in preparation for use by the next child.
This is an exercise in contributing to the good of others—preparing
and serving snack, and cleaning up.
PRACTICAL LIFE TASKS
AS THE FOUNDATION FOR ALL LATER WORK
It is not
uncommon for the value of practical life or family life exercise to be
misunderstood. I have heard parents exclaim in dismay that their child
is "wasting time cleaning in her new Montessori school when she should
be doing math!" However, math and all other intellectual work requires
the ability to move carefully, to focus, to complete sequential steps,
to concentrate, to make intelligent choices and to persevere in one's
work. This is exactly what is learned during practical life work. As a
result of periods of time spent concentrating on such a task a child becomes
calm and satisfied and, because of this inner peace, full of love for
others.
Perhaps an even more important result of this work is that the child sees
himself already as an important and contributing member of the group,
and as an intimate friend, when he is welcome to participate in the work
of the adult. Think about the difference between how close you feel to
your own guests. If all the work is done by you in anticipation for the
guest's arrival, that is one relationship. When a friend joins you in
your preparation of the meal, that is a closer relationship. The child
benefits most from this close relationship with the parent, whether it
be in scrubbing or cutting up the vegetables, washing or drying the dishes,
setting the table, cleaning out the cupboards or refrigerator, mixing
the muffin batter, and so forth.
When a child has a lot of experience with the important developmental
tasks called "practical life" he becomes more successful in
all other areas of study and in relating to others.
The most important
discovery is that a child returns to a normal state through work. Countless
experiments made upon children of every race throughout the world have
shown that this is the most certain datum that we have in the field of
psychology and education. A child's desire to work represents a vital
instinct since he cannot organize his personality without working: a man
builds himself through working. There can be no substitute for work, neither
affection nor physical well-being can replace it. A man builds himself
by carrying out manual labor in which he uses his hands as the instruments
of his personality and as an expression of his intellect and will help
him to dominate his environment. A child's instinct for work is a proof
that work is instinctive to man and characteristic of the species.
. . if we showed them exactly how to do something, this precision itself
seemed to hold their interest. To have a real purpose to which the action
was directed, this was the first condition, but the exact way of doing
it acted like a support which rendered the child stable in his efforts,
and therefore brought him to make progress in his development. Order and
precision, we found, were the keys to spontaneous work in the school.
—Dr. Maria Montessori
THE NEEDS OF THE PARENTS
and THE FAMILY
Parents do not always
have the time to include the child in everything and should not feel bad
about this. A teacher is available to the child for this work all day
long, and trained to give lessons and help the child grow toward independence.
It is too much to expect a new parent, or a busy parent to do this perfectly.
We must be easy on ourselves in the home and plan a time when we will
enjoy work as well as the children.
Begin with just one thing, perhaps putting the napkins on the table for
a meal, and gradually add to the tasks in which the child can participate,
and eventually take over. This effort on the part of the parent pays off
for the adult as well as the child as we observe that the child's method
of working is not just to get the task finished, but to enjoy it!
One of the most important lessons we can learn from the child is how to
bring our whole selves, mentally, physically, and spiritually, to the
task at hand, to focus on each thing we do, and to enjoy each moment of
life.
I remember once reading a study on teenagers. A group of happy, balanced,
academically and socially successful, and physically healthy teenagers
were identified by their peers and teachers and studied to find out what
they had in common in their upbringing if anything.
There was no correlation with family social status, economic level, race,
religion, types of school, private classes, camps, IQ or anything else
obvious. The only thing that they had in common was that they shared a
meal once a day with the rest of their family, without television. It
did not matter which meal, or any of the other details of a meal. The
implications of spending this time each day communicating with a group
of people who care about one, give us a lot to think about. I have never
forgotten this.
Life has changed, but the need to feel a part of a group, for the adults
and for the children, has not. And cooking and eating are something everyone
does every day. Perhaps taking a few moments to work together to cook
something, to set the table, just one little thing each day, can keep
the whole family on the path to wholeness. |