First off, I cannot sing the praises of this school enough. Not only do they have scholar options in order for a Montessori education to be available to all but the sense of community & family fostered there is more than I could have asked for. The teachers truly care about the children and can actually really get to know them because of the age/stage grouping and setup of 2-3 year old then 3-6 year old. So they have the same teacher during these forming years. It's wonderful. But, back to my point...
During this meeting the Director of Schools, Lisa, guided the conversation. I just had to share a few of the wonderful things I learned:
1. DISCIPLINE, not Punishment. The root word of Discipline is disciple: meaning to follow in love or a follower of a teacher. This resonated with me and will surely help for parents to remember when that frustration strikes. We are our children's teachers and we need to lovingly guide them.
2. Is it Safe? Is it Respectful? These are key questions for preschoolers because they know the answer and it stops the power struggle. I have actually already used this with Madeline and by asking questions we talked it out instead of having both of us get frustrated.
3. It's important to praise our children when they do well but we must also remember to help them individualize by saying things like, you look so proud? Or you seem happy with yourself? In order to help them affirm there own success. Can you imagine how important that skill is into adulthood? How many of us look to others for approval though we know we did well? I know I'm guilty of that.
We also covered potty training, night training, and talked about some great books that are definitely on my next library trip list. Pictures of a few of those will be posted below.
I hope that someone who reads this will take away even a fraction of what I did; it's all about perspective :-)
PS- Furry Logic is super cute! Great even for adults
