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S1 E9 All about how Nicole Kavanaugh makes raising 4 children (and a dog) look easy the Montessori way

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On today’s podcast I had so much fun chatting to Nicole Kavanaugh of The Kavanaugh Report, mother of four children (and a dog), raising four children in a Montessori way. So if you’ve ever thought it might be easy to raise children in a Montessori way with one child, but struggled once there were some siblings involved, this episode will help you breathe a sigh of relief and give you an insight into how it can be a more relaxing way to parent, even in larger families.

We cover so much in this conversation including:

  • dealing with 4 children who may be needing her help and how she gets them to help each other
  • what Nicole does when siblings are in disagreement
  • the different needs of a second plane child (6-12) and how they view the world
  • how Nicole uses her spaces in an intentional way to meet everyone’s needs
  • how she looks after herself
  • some of their favourite practical life activities and the value of including children around the home
  • ways to give maximum effort to a toddler/preschooler
  • Montessori DIY ideas and her favourite thrift store finds
  • what she’s learning about with her fourth child
  • their experience using a floor bed
  • how she gets her husband on board with the Montessori approach
  • how they maintain their partnership with 4 young children
  • and, something now often talked about, how she dealt with her miscarriages

I also talk about how I use Ayurveda to support being a Montessori teacher and parent and give an introduction to Ayurvedic principles. As well as answer a listener question about when a child throws, hits and laughs.

This week’s listener question

Nora asks:

“My 2.9 years old boy is very active and I always find it hard to stop him from throwing the toys and hitting his sister. Now in quarantine, it got worse. He sometimes has episodes of total destruction lasting almost 15 minutes, throwing anything in front of him, running away, hitting everybody and laughing. I take him to a quiet room and explain that I cannot let him do that *i read your book* but he continues. Do you think I should change something in his routine or activities? Or just continue to react the same when it happens?”

Links

Inspiration from Nicole’s instagram