WHY I LOVE TODDLERS Most Montessori teachers have a favourite age to work with. For me it is working with my toddler friends. People are often confused by this preference. Toddlers can be hard work, they are emotional, and they do not always listen to us. I want to paint…
Looking after toddlers is indeed hard. They are impulsive. They run the other direction when we want them to get dressed. They throw things. They don’t listen. They ignore us and others while they are busy mastering so many skills for themselves. They need to move. They need to test…
Hello everyone! I hope it’s not too late to wish you a happy new year this being my first letter of the year. How is your new year going already? This year has started slow for me and it was exactly the calm, cosy holiday of my dreams. We made…
Imagine if our dreams of a calm and cosy festive season could possibly be true. We’ve started some family rituals we love, we are starting to work out what we enjoy and what is important to us…. And then along come the extended family with their gifts of plastic toys…
Letting go and separation anxiety are sometimes harder for the parents than the children. I have a confession. You can ask my parents. When my son was born, I didn’t want him to cry, I was super protective, I didn’t want to leave him with anyone else, and I thought…
I’ve had many parents think that Montessori sounded great but then they get a little nervous thinking about the idea that a child with all that choice might avoid an area completely, or only play with one thing. It certainly takes a lot of trust to follow the child. To…
In all this time writing the blog, I somehow have never written a full post about siblings. I did make this infographic here from the book Siblings without Rivalry – my go to source for approaching disputes between siblings, raising siblings without rivalry, and keeping your sanity. So with the…
This is a letter of apology of sorts. For my part in raising standards for parents that might be unattainable. And to address some myths about what Montessori is. I really do believe that we can be kinder guides to our children; that children love to participate in daily life…
So today I’ve been wondering why do we test our child? We keep asking questions like “What colour is this?" and so many others. I’ve done it too. Before I had any exposure to the Montessori approach, I was unknowingly and constantly testing my son. “Can you show grandma how…
Families come in all types of constellations. This is totally normal these days. So I wonder why I skirt around the issue. When I was 25 I was living in London and fell in love with a Welsh man. I was moving back to Australia to spend more time with…
Firstly a huge thank you to everyone who responded to the recent tour of our Montessori toddler classroom here. And to everyone who has been receiving their copies of The Montessori Toddler book and sharing them. The excitement has been infectious. So fun to be part of a revolution to…
Are you also questioning what it is to be human with everything going on in the world around us right now? It almost feels as if there is no time in history when change has happened at such a rapid pace. I think we are at a turning point. An…
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