What are the activities which a child of two-and-a-half, or so, would like to do on his own?
They are usually simple activities he sees grown-ups doing around
him-which have an intelligent purpose intelligible to him. They
are generally activities that he can manage to do on his own, if
given suitable material and the necessary guidance. For
instance, activities like dusting and polishing furniture,
sweeping and scrubbing the floor, or watering plants, folding
the garments, or tuning on or off the wireless set, etc. do
fascinate a child of this age. He needs to be independent with
regards to such intelligent yet simple activities. He is urged
from within to make efforts to conquer this independence. He
actually comes to the adults performing such activities and asks
them or appeals to them to let him help them. Many adults
misinterpret this behavior and assume that he is being difficult,
and that he is troubling them! He is told to go out and play as
if he could work at his development only by playing!
If only the child could find the help, namely, the right
material (similar to the material available at the Montessori
House of Children), guidance and freedom, to do the activities he can
perform even at home, he would not come in the way of adults
and in fact, he could make things easier for the adults.
Parents who sometimes struggle to manage their child can in fact
read the book “Take Montessori Home” to help them out. Take
Montessori Home compiles diverse activities for
different age groups of children in which a parent can engage a
child.The activities will enable the child’s development and, at
the same time, make the parent’s life easier.
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July 8th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Yes, surely kids are misinterpreted, thinking that they will mess up the work. But if we try and teach the child how to do a particular job, for eg: folding clothes, may be his/her first trials will be not neat, but then they will learn how to perfect their task. Watching us only they will learn.
July 11th, 2008 at 6:39 am
children start showing an interest in what adults do the moment they learn to walk and talk. Of course adults have to maintain certain boundaries taking a childs age physique and mental development into account but this does not mean that the child is totally incapable of any kind of reasoning. Children in todays generation are far ahead of their years in their thinking and reasoning than us simply because they are exposed to much more. therefore adult caregivers have a far greater responsibility of providing age appropriate stimulants to the child. One activity can be mixing dough for baking. the parent can also teach him to cut vegetables and fruits with child friendly knives. this helps the child to gain confidence to eat on his own and develops his fine motor skills. parents often complain that children have poor handwriting. this is because of two reasons 1)they are being forced to write before their time2)they are not being encouraged to develop fine motor skills. Rolling out chapattis and puris is also an excellent way to make children develop their grip and finger muscles.
it is up to us adults to make kids feel responsible and confident enough to carry themselves well. If adults are encouraging about a child helping it boosts his self esteem and makes him feel wanted. If parents are always dismissive and say that they do not have enough patience to make a child do something the child feels rejected and will probably turn into an adult with little or no self esteem