Susan, this is fascinating stuff and quite aligned with how I understand things. Evolutionary wisdom.
—Gabor Maté, Canadian MD and author
In 1907 the first Montessori primary class attracted worldwide attention. Then came research and practice for the elementary years. In 1940, Dr. Montessori asked her colleagues to begin research for supporting the development of the child from birth to three years, she realizing that this is the most powerful stage of human development.
I have read this book, and I consider it a good introduction for parents and teachers alike.
—Judi Orion, 0-6 teacher trainer and director of pedagogy for Association Montessori Internationale (AMI), Amsterdam
Contents: joy, purpose, sleeping, early language, movement, first steps, first words, real work, language, music, praise, concentration
(This picture and QR code are from page 15) There are 14 QR codes in the book. When scanned, they lead to short video clips that I have used for many years in international presentations, consultations, and lectures and now have uploaded to YouTube for this book. Why video clips? A picture is worth 1,000 words, and . . .A video clip is worth 10,000, at least.
This book is based on many years of loving scientific observation of children, by thousands of people, in many countries of the world. This has led to an ever deepening discovery to the physical, mental, and emotional needs of the human early in life, and how we can meet these needs. Learning to observe our children inspires study, followed by more observation, followed by more study and understanding, on and on. This is a dynamic process unique to each family, teacher, parent, grandparent, child.
This short book makes it clear that infants are not “empty vessels waiting for us to fill” but that each child is already born with an inner guide or instinct to support healthy sleep, movement, language, social interaction, etc. at each stage of life. Health and joy are the results when the adults understand this inner wisdom and honor it.
(page 2) I was born during World War II, my parents far from home with no relatives to support them with the birth of their first child. Following the advice of other scientists, when I sobbed my heart out with hunger, father enfolded mother in his arms as she cried along with me. Together they watched the clock till the second hand approached twelve and the four hours were up. Only then was I allowed to nurse. This was 1943 when it was recommended that babies only be fed every four hours to prevent their being “spoiled.”
Now we know two things that would have been helpful. First, the intervals between feedings for a newborn shorten in the early days, and then lengthen, as mother and child adjust to each other. Secondly, it is during these first days and weeks that a child learns that the world is a safe place and that his needs will be met; or he learns that this is not the case. When a newborn is left to cry because the four hours wait-to-eat is not over, his brain might well have created an unhappy view of his world, even resulting in trauma later in life.
My colleague Gabor Maté (three months younger than me) recalls that his mother, being a physician’s daughter, dared not disobey the “experts” who at this time insisted on a strict schedule when feeding a newborn and infant. He says, in the book The Myth of Normal, Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture: It turns out that our innate parenting instinct is perfectly calibrated to ensure the provision of the thing many experts would have us ignore: the child’s developmental needs.
(Chapter “Horticulture on the Moon: Parenting, Undermined”)
The ideas presented in the book Joy and Purpose, the Infant-Toddler Years, can have a profound and life-long positive affect on the newborn, the infant or toddler, the parents, the whole family.
Joy and Purpose, the Infant-Toddler Years
(US$10, 38 pages) Available from Nienhuis Montessori materials company, the publisher, and around the world on Amazon. CLICK: Joy and Purpose 0-3
Most of this book has been taken from Montessori for Family and Community (an easy-to read over view of birth to age 18) at the request of many people around the world who understand the need to understand the first three years, no matter their focus at home or school To see this book, addressing ages 0-18, CLICK: MFC
Blessings,
Susan
Home page, CLICK: Susan
To see other books in this series, CLICK: Books
