Baan Dek · Episode 126 – Speaking For Children As I’m writing this, there’s a baby fussing and I asked his mom, “does he know what he wants?” to which she replied, “no he has no idea.” When they’re tiny, no one has any idea of anything ever. They’re guessing, we’re guessing, it’s a roll […]
Baan Dek · Episode 125 – Toileting Doesn't Have to be Tough Toileting doesn’t have to be tough. Any new experience is a learning process, sure, but there can be a monster-in-the-closet sense around toileting. When you read about how it can happen in a weekend, it can be easy to feel a sense of […]
Baan Dek · Episode 124 – Challenge is Essential If you’ve ever peeked into a Montessori classroom, you’ll see children working at various levels of intensity individually and in small groups. You’ll see children concentrating, and as classroom adults it’s our responsibility to protect that concentration. A young child’s work is completely process-oriented. To paraphrase […]
Baan Dek · Episode 123 – Reactive to Responsive to Proactive Maybe you’ve heard the phrase, “respond rather than react.” There’s a lot of work being done in childcare, parenting, education, and other child-advocacy circles — in addition to areas outside the child-centered sphere — about becoming trauma-informed, examining our own experiences and how […]
Baan Dek · Episode 122 – Montessori & The Olympics The Olympics are coming up, which is one of the few sporting events I watch. I look forward to them, have them set to record, it’s a whole thing. They’re fantastic to watch with children, too. As a general rule Montessori doesn’t really encourage children […]