Chat on our starting solids forum

You walk past the supermarket shelves of nappies, dummies, bottles, teats and formula quite happily but somehow at around four months you find yourself glancing at the baby rice and colourful jars and tins. You are not sure if these so called “children’s foods” belong in a separate category along with turkey twizzlers but there seems to be a children’s version of most products and they are hard to avoid. Everyone else is weaning but somehow it doesn’t feel right for you and your baby?

Stop! There is another way. A fantastically instinctive and intuitive approach to weaning has been developed by UNICEF and the world heath organisation WHO

Baby led weaning basically is what it says; you do not even offer solid food until the baby shows signs of internal and external readiness (being able to sit up unaided, tongue thrust movement disappears, gut lining becomes less leaky between during the weeks between four and six months.) This generally happens somewhere around the middle of the babies first year.

At this time at normal family meal times you simply sit the baby up at the table and offer them pieces of the raw or cooked ingredients from your family meal. E.g. cucumber batons, banana chunks, cooked pasta shapes, avocado slices. Until the child’s pincer movement develops further they are unlikely to be able to pick up pieces small enough to choke on and that is pretty much it! Over the time between 6 and 12 months on a very gradual basis they will move from being exclusively breast fed to taking about half of their calories from solid food.

When you consider that almost 350g of cooked carrot contains the same amount of energy as 100g of breast milk it makes those entire big baby / small baby / weight gain arguments look pretty daft!

The key seems to me that you are not “feeding” the child - so throw away those weaning spoons. Just as a breast fed baby has learnt to regulate their food intake for the first six months and you learn to adjust to the idea that you can’t visualise how much milk they are taking this is simply a continuation of trusting your baby.

Missing out the “goo stage” means you also miss out the fiddleyness of introducing one food at a time‚ babies who were videoed for the unicef study seemed to do this naturally.

Weaning is an incredible gradual process on using this approach - A child needs the same amount of calories at 6 months, 1 year, 2 years and 3 years (as their growth rate slows) it is simply the composition of these calories that is changing.

The “iron issue” is often used to encourage mothers to wean early‚ breast milk is low is iron yes but this iron is easily and readily absorbed by the baby‚ the store built up at birth is usually starting to run low between six and twelve months‚ you can offer iron rich foods from six months but you must trust that the baby that needs them will eat them and the baby that doesn’t won’t!!

Health Visitors in the UK are only just beginning to be schooled in this new approach and it is unlikely to be rolled out until government plans to extend maternity leave are approved. (Just as the government weaning advice was changed in 2004 from four to six months when maternity leave rules were changed before.) Anecdotal evidence suggests most health visitors are ignoring this new advice anyway and still encouraging mothers to wean far to early.

Weaning does seem to be occurring later in the west – some babies born in the sixties were often solids at three weeks, ten weeks seemed popular in the seventies‚ and so on - politics of our attitudes to food aside you could view this as the logical next stage!

1) Just because your four-month-old baby is watching you eat it doesn’t mean they are ready for solids‚ they watch you do everything‚ that is just what four-month-old babies do.

2) Do not be tempted to spoon feed your baby‚ allow them to continue regulating there own food intake just as they have done already‚ a very useful skill and one that may help them avoid eating disorders in adult life.

3) You can introduce a spoon as their manual dexterity improves but it is for them to use it.

4) Present a selection of healthy foods in pieces they can manage‚ let them choose which to eat or explore with their mouths. Do not put foods in their mouths‚ this is where the choking danger comes from.

5) Babies given solids early do not sleep better‚ gram for gram in comparison to breast milk solids are very low in calories so will not “fill them up” contrary to what many people think.

6) Waiting for your baby to be ready means that preparing food is much easier (i.e. no hand blender etc needed) and food allergies are less likely.

7) Baby food manufacturers should no longer be labelling jars and packets with “16 weeks” they have been told by the government to change this to 6 months but are being rather slow to do so.

8) By twelve months a baby eating a variety of nutrious foods will be eating what its body tells it it needs and obtaining about half its daily calories from solids.

The original catalyst for these notes was a woman’s hour interview with Jenni Murray‚ featuring Annabel Karmel and Gill Rapley who conducted the MSC research into Baby led weaning.

Click here to listen to the interview

This led me to attend a fantastic seminar organised by La Leche entitled “Starting Solids” probably the best £2 of our families food budget I have ever spent!!

Chat on our starting solids forum

ALL children possess these characteristics, but spirited children possess them with a depth and range not available to other children. Spirited kids are the super ball in a room full of rubber balls. Other kids bounce three feet off the ground. Every bounce for a spirited child hits the ceiling.

It is difficult to describe what it is like to be the parent of a spirited child. The answer keeps changing; it depends on the day, even the moment. How does one describe the experience of sliding from joy to exasperation in seconds, ten times a day. How does one explain the “sense” at eight in the morning that this will be a good day or a dreadful one.

The good ones couldn’t be better. Profound statements roll from his mouth, much too mature and intellectual for a child of his age. He remembers experiences you have long since forgotten and drags you to the window to watch the raindrops, falling like diamonds from the sky. On the good days being the parent of a spirited child is astounding, dumbfounding, wonderful, funny, interesting, and interspersed with moment of brilliance.

The dreadful days are another story. On those days you’re not sure whether you can face another twenty four hours with him, It’s hard to feel good as a parent when you can’t even get his socks on, when every word you’ve said to him has been a reprimand, when the innocents act of serving up tuna casseroles instead of the expected tacos incites a riot, when you realise you’ve left more public places in a huff with your child in five years than most people do in a lifetime.

On the bad days being the parent of a spirited child is confusing, frustrating, taxing, challenging, and guilt inducing.

The Characteristics

Each spirited child is unique, yet there exists distinct characteristics in which more is very apparent. Not all spirited children will possess all of the following five characteristics, but each will exhibit enough of them to make her stand out in a crowd.

1. Intensity.
The loud, dramatic spirited children are the easiest to spot. They don’t cry, they shriek. They’re noisy when they play, when they laugh, and even when they take a shower.
But quiet, intently observant children may also be spirited. They assess each situation before entering it as though developing a strategy for every move; their intensity is focused inward rather than outward.

No matter where their intensity is focussed, the reactions of a spirited child are always powerful. There is rarely a middle of the road. They never whimper, they wail. They can skip into a room, smiling and laughing only to depart thirty seconds later inflamed. Their tantrums are raw and enduring.

2. Persistence.
If an idea or activity is important to them, spirited children can “lock” right in. They are committed to their task, goal oriented, and unwilling to give up. Getting them to change their minds is a major undertaking. They love to debate and are not afraid to assert themselves.

3. Sensitivity
Keenly aware, spirited kids quickly respond to the slightest noises, smells, lights, textures, or changes in mood. They are easily overwhelmed in crowds by the barrage of sensations. Getting through a shopping centre, fair or family gathering without losing them to a fit of tears is a major achievement. Getting dressed can be torture. A wayward string, or a scratchy texture can render clothes unwearable.
Every sensation and emotion is absorbed by them, including your feelings. They’ll tell you you’re having a rotten day before you realise it yourself and even scream and sulk for you.

4. Perceptiveness.
Send them to their room to get dressed and they’ll never make it. Something along the way- perhaps a commercial on television – will catch their attention as they walk by and they’ll forget about getting dressed. It can take ten minutes to get from the house to the car. They notice everything – the latest oil spill, the white feather in a bird’s next, and the dew in the spider web. They’re often accused of not listening.

5. Adaptability
Spirited children are uncomfortable with change. They hate surprises and do not shift easily from one activity or idea to another. If they’re expecting hot dogs on the grill for supper, heaven forbid if you come home and suggest going out to a restaurant. Even if it is their favourite restaurant, they’ll say, “No, I want hot dogs.”
Adapting to change, any change is tough: ending a game in order to come to lunch, changing clothes for different seasons, getting in and out of the card. All of these activities signal a struggle for slow-to-adapt spirited children.

——————
WHILE EACH spirited child is unique most are more intense, persistent, sensitive, perceptive and uncomfortable with change. Many, but not all possess four additional “bonus” characteristics: aspects of their personality that can make being their parent even more challenging.
——————

6. Regularity
Figuring out when they will sleep or eat is a daily puzzlement for parents of spirited kids who are irregular. It seems impossible to get them on to any kind of schedule. An eight-hour night of undisturbed sleep is like a mere memory lingering in your mind from the days before their birth.

7. Energy
Not all spirited kids are climbers and leapers. But they do tend to be busy – taking things apart, exploring, and creating projects – from the time they wake up until they finally fall asleep. Although sometimes viewed as “wild”, their energy is usually focussed and has a purpose.

8. First reaction
A quick withdrawal from anything new is typical of many spirited kids. An unfamiliar Idea, thing, place or person may be met with a vehement no. They need time to warm up before they’re ready to participate.

9. Mood
The world is a serious place for some spirited kids. They’re analytical, picking apart experiences, finding the flaws, and making suggestions for change. Their smiles are few and far between and they may be prone to whining.

If your child possesses any of the “bonus” characteristics, you will need to be even more enterprising. You are not only living with a child who is more, but you’re also faced with the exhaustion of life with a kid who is energetic, needs little sleep, expresses a strong resistance to new situations and things.

ALL children possess these characteristics to a certain degree, but the distinguishing factor for spirited children is more. They are not, however experiencing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Children experiencing ADHD, even if they want to, are unable to focus their energy and attention. Spirited kids fall within the range of normal behaviour.

Read a review of this book
Chat on our raising your spirited child forum.

Introduction:
Gavin de Becker is described as the nations (USA) leading expert on predicting violent behaviour. The book is a parents guide to keeping our children safe from violence and abuse. It covers topics from choosing childcare for babies and toddlers to keeping your teenagers safe

Good points about the book/parts you found helpful:
I found this a really reassuring book. Gavin de Becker is very realistic about the dangers our children are likely to meet and encourages us to trust our intuitions and our own ability to protect our child.

There is a chapter on what we should teach our children to give them the best chance of being able to seek help and protect themselves if they are seperated from us accidentally when young and inevitably as they get older. There are chapters on recognising the signs of sexual abuse and potential abusers and on choosing childcare and schools for our children as well as talking frankly about the relatively very small risks of our children being abducted or meeting with serious violence

Bad points, inaccuracies:
This book is written for the USA so the resources he suggests we turn to just aren’t here in our country. Sections on how to choose a pediatrician etc aren’t relevant to us and there is a big section on guns and how to protect your children from them.

Comments and other opinions:

There is a lot of useful information that everyone should read, particularly how to recognise when somebody may be preying or intending to prey on you or your child, and what we should be teaching our children in order to give them the skills they need to protect themselves. Some of it may be distressing to read, there are real life stories of people who have found themselves in some of the situations described, and they don’t all have happy endings.
I think it needs to be read, the scary parts are outweighed by the amount of information that I haven’t found elsewhere.

Whilst we often hear health benefits cited as a reason to breastfeed, many supporters are hesitant to discuss bonding; despite sound scientific evidence.

This is hardly surprising, because whilst many formula feeding mums can acknowledge their child might have more colds or minor infections – the suggestion they may not be effectively bonded with her infant is likely to provoke a hair raising reaction in most quarters.

Bonding is of course a complex issue and fathers/aunts/ siblings/grandmas etc bond with baby too. Unlike illness, beyond the science aspect – for most parents it’s extremely hard to quantify. You can’t measure feelings, nor compare to what someone else is feeling. Formula feeding mothers love and care for their infants and cannot understand how this would be different if they breastfed.

The only people who can truly compare bonding between breast and bottle fed babies, is mothers who have done both. Even one of each is not really reliable, due to all the other possible influencing factors.

As a mum of eight; five formula fed and three breastfed – I want to share my experiences with you in this article, as you can imagine it has taken a lot of soul searching on my part to ponder the question; what is the big deal about breastfeeding and bonding?

If breastfeeding is considered just as a method of transferring milk into baby, then on the surface there does not seem to be that much difference. One could argue that bottle feeding mums have the advantage as their babies can look straight into their eyes, something that most newborns correctly latched on will not manage to do until they are older.

As a breastfeeding mum it can be easy to feel just like a milk machine and that is all baby wants you for. Everyone else can get a cuddle and the minute baby gets close to you, all baby wants is milk and will not settle until you feed him. You may be sore, you are probably leaking milk everywhere and well it can all be rather undignified to start with. A far cry from the rose tinted pictures of mum breastfeeding baby happily that you imagined! Rather then looking adoringly down on your newborn, you are probably busting for the loo, as you haven’t managed to get off the settee for the last few hours!

I am deliberately painting a negative picture, because breastfeeding can be blooming hard work to start with and that’s when all is going well. Throw in a baby who is not latching well, thus causing mum to be in pain, mastitis, thrush, cracked nipples etc and it can be a relief to go over to bottle. You often hear it don’t you, I only started bonding with my baby once we had switched to formula and the pain stopped. I was dreading feeding him as it hurt so much………………..

I can relate to that, because I have been there, done that. It *was* a relief at the time, the regrets come later. When you raise your head out of its sleep deprived state, when you ‘have your body back’ when your baby is not in your arms constantly anymore, when those chubby hands are caressing a plastic bottle instead of your breast. When baby gets excited at the sound of the bottle lid coming off, rather then you lifting your top. When your baby simply doesn’t smell like your baby anymore!
When you stand with your seriously ill baby on your shoulder and you look at a breastfeeding display in the children’s ward, citing all the things that breastfeeding protects against, all the things that are making your baby so ill and you *know* that you have failed *that* baby.

If only you had tried harder, the pain wasn’t really that bad if only, if only, if only……………….

Of course none of us have a crystal ball, breastfed babies *do* get ill and hindsight is a wonderful thing. And of course you *love* your baby. You would challenge anyone who dare suggest that you could love your baby anymore were you still breastfeeding. But still, you see other mothers breastfeeding and you are simply green with envy. You justify it to yourself that they obviously had a much easier ride then you. Their baby could not possibly have been as hungry as yours. They do not have other children to take care off. Their skin is not as sensitive , whatever was the problem or was perceived to be the problem you have a justification for having to give up.

And at the end of the day it’s just milk right. You love your baby just as much, you know your baby just as much. A happy mother = a happy baby! Formula is not poison, ok breast milk is best but formula is good enough…………

Putting aside the obvious health issues here, you are deluding yourself. It *does* matter, and it matters a great deal - but you do not know that, because you have been robbed of your nursing relationship before it even started. And how could you know really? You simply do not know what you are missing, as you have not been able to experience it.

Now fast forward a few babies. Quite a few babies in my case. You seek and find the right support whilst you are still pregnant. You listen, you learn, you surround yourself with other happily breastfeeding mothers and it is beginning to dawn on you that actually they did not have an easier ride then you. They had support when it mattered! So you grow quietly hopeful that maybe, just maybe you will be able to feed this baby yourself. Maybe it will not all end in tears, regrets and recriminations.

And then your new baby girl is here, born at home surrounded by all your loved ones and she latches on beautifully, so far so good. There is no pain, as you both know what you are doing. You have the confidence to co-sleep from the start, making night feeds so much easier. You have your breastfeeding counsellor on speed dial, lol, but really you do not need her as it just works. And you fall hopelessly and utterly in love with this little bundle. You treasure every moment you have with her at the breast. You love that drunken sailor look she gets all the time. You love the fact that she only wants you and all you have to do is lift your top and let her disappear under your jumper and she is happy.

And you simply cannot bear to be parted from her. Even when she is fast asleep in her basket you *need* to move her from room to room with you or you feel as though your right arm has been cut off. You know when she will want feeding as your milk will let down seconds before she wakes up. You put her at the other end of the bed to give yourself some room to sleep and you wake up seconds before she does and you realise that you haven’t moved but your newborn has managed to wriggle across until she is right next to your boob! You cannot stop sniffing her because she smells SO good. So familiar and sweet and you get such a kick out of seeing her grow. Knowing that it is all your milk that has caused those chubby dimples. And then you get the first smile as she is coming off the boob, your milk dribbling down her chin. And then the first raspberry blown that has you both in fits of giggles. Chubby hands stroking your breasts, a little mouth contently glugging away and you just feel on top of the world.

Your older children imitating you by breastfeeding their dolls, suggesting baby needs feeding so they can get on with their play and then your toddler coming up to you and asking to have some too. So you end up with both of them at the breast and of course your toddler does not know what to do, but you feel such a rush of love and it heals so many wounds, wounds you never even knew you had.

The conversations you have with your teenager, as to why she was not breastfed, did you not love her enough? Ouch! How do you answer that one???

And through it all those breastfeeding hormones are working their magic. Everyone around you is surprised at the change in you. The kids and your husband are commenting on how much calmer you are. “Mum you are a much nicer person you know!” From a friend:” What has happened to you, you have really changed!” (Incidentally that friend ended up breastfeeding her last baby for 3 years, having f/f the first 4!)

And what about you? You gain a new self belief. You at long last feel comfortable in your own skin. You are WOMAN hear me roar! Your milk has superpowers it must have. Your baby grows into a toddler and tells you so, so it must be true! And you discover another thing about breastfeeding that you never knew. It is such a brilliant parenting tool when you have a toddler. How on earth did you ever manage without it before?
There are hardly any tantrums, you have the perfect tool right there, strapped to your chest and you use it willingly and gladly. And there is such joy, such indescribable joy. You are finally doing what you were meant to be doing. It’s natural and all of a sudden you are the one who other mums come up to and tell their breastfeeding story of pain and failure and justification and you see yourself and how you used to be.

And you feel sad, so very sad that these mothers will not be experiencing the joys and the sheer magic of breastfeeding. And you get angry too, angry at the system that lets mothers down, angry at the health professionals who robbed you of your own nursing relationship with your older children and you vow to do something about it. You become a breastfeeding counsellor yourself and you have come full circle really.

Breastfeeding it makes a difference it really does!

—————————–

Read article commentary here on the “one of those women” blog.

What are breasts for?
by Charlotte Young, iwantmymum.com

Breasts in papers line the shops,
Breasts on billboards, skimpy tops,
Breasts on beaches out on show,
What are breasts for? do you know?

I think that some perhaps forgot,
(The formula companies helped a lot)
Monkeys, cats and even camels,
Are all like us and we’re called Mammals.

Mammal means that milk we make,
On instant tap for babe to take,
So why then now in modern age,
Is bottle feeding all the rage?

Did women’s breasts break over time?
Did breastmilk become less sublime?
Did something better come along?
Maybe nature got it wrong!

Alas the answer’s sadly not,
Nothings changed, not a jot,
At least in terms of women’s breasts,
And doing what they do the best.

The other a poor substitute,
Which evidence does not refute,
Increasing risk of death, disease,
Cancers, cot death, being obese.

For this the parents have to pay,
A pound or two, but every day!
It then needs making, every feed,
At 3am not what you need!

With babies dying every day,
I really think its time we say,
Give women the support they need,
To feed their babies AND succeed!

I also adapted it slightly to fit to the tune of heads, shoulders, knees & toes!

Breasts in papers line the shops, line the shops,
Breasts on billboards, skimpy tops, skimpy tops,
There’s breasts on beaches out on show,
What are breasts for? do you know? do you know?

I think that some perhaps forgot, they forgot,
formula companies helped a lot, helped a lot,
Cos monkeys, cats and even camels,
feed their young and are called mammals, are called mammals.

Mammal means that milk we make, milk we make,
On instant tap for babe to take, babe to take,
So why then now in modern age,
Is bottle feeding all the rage? all the rage.

Did women’s breasts break over time? over time,
Did breastmilk become less sublime? less sublime.
Did something better come along?
Maybe nature got it wrong! got it wrong.

Alas the answer’s sadly not, sadly not,
Nothings changed now, not a jot, not a jot,
At least in terms of women’s breasts,
And doing what they do the best, do the best.

The other a poor substitute, substitute,
Which evidence does not refute, not refute
Increasing risk of death, disease,
Cancers, cot death, being obese, being obese.

For this the parents have to pay, have to pay,
A pound or two, but every day! every day,
It then needs making, every feed,
At 3am not what you need! what you need.

With babies dying every day, every day,
I really think its time we say, time we say,
Give women the support they need,
To feed their babies AND succeed! AND succeed.

This is more difficult than it sounds because the argument is not balanced - it IS heavily weighted in favour of breastfeeding. So when you provide research-based information about ALL the advantages and disadvantages of both methods, without any comment of your own, it still seems as if you are being biased. To avoid this appearance of bias some antenatal teachers *doctor* the evidence to make it appear balanced.
Kim Wildner presents a good chapter on this in her book, “Mother’s Intention : How Belief Shapes Birth”.

She writes, “Let us look at “balanced” first.”to make two parts exactly equal.” What if the two parts are not equal? What if a parent will be making decisions that will affect her and her baby with both short and long
term consequences. Is it fair to distort reality so that the information she has to choose from seems ‘equal’, even though it really isn’t? Why would a parent want information that appears balanced, but isn’t
factual?”

This is a dilemma many midwives and childbirth educators have to grapple with. It takes a brave person to state an unpalatable truth about an issue calmly and clearly - but not to do so, is to collude with the
untruth.

However it is quite possible to state the truth but remain non-judgemental, and sympathetic to the social mores that make a radical change in behaviour so difficult.

4 months
Baby Einstein - Discovery Water Play Gym
Skwish Classic
Whoozit
Pop-Up Surprise Ball
Lamaze - Fish Bowl

10 months
Stacking Boxes
Baby Beach Band Complete with Clam Shakers, Lobster Maraca, Starfish Cymbal, Fish Tambourine & Octopus Drum.
Galt Sorting Wheel
Classic Pop-Up Toy
LeapFrog LeapStart Learning Table
First Steps Baby Walker

18 months upwards
Pintoy Wooden 6 peg Hammer Bench
Painting
Tomy Rainbow Aquadraw
Drawing
Play Doh
Magnetic books,
Stickers
Cart
Fuzzy-Felt
Lilydoll
First Abacus
Trike
Rainbow Sound Blocks
LEGO Duplo
Easy PC Keyboard
Buggy
Rocking Horse
WoodenTrike
Magna Doodle
Thomas & Friends Giant Floor Puzzle
Crocodile A-Z Puzzle
Toy Pan Set 15pc
Wooden tea cup set
Play Food
Dolls House
Little People
Toy Post Office

3 yrs
Charlie and Lola - Daytime and Nightime Lola
Ravensburger Puzzle Charlie & Lola
Kitchen
Playhouse
Plasticine
Hammer & Tap
Snakes & Ladders and Ludo
Dora the Explorer Velvet Colouring Set
Tomy Thomas & Friends Motor Road & Rail: Steam Along Thomas Set

4 yrs
LeapFrog Leapster
Daisy Peg board
Make Your Own Accessories
Guess Who
Buckaroo
Charlie & Lola Giant Floor Puzzle

Train Set

Montessori education is a balanced program that addresses all aspects of a child’s development: intellectual, social, moral, physical and aesthetic. Montessori education is highly individualised, which is why it works so well for such a wide variety of children; from typical or gifted learners, through to children with learning disabilities.

Quick jump within article to:
The Montessori materials
Independence with Co-operation
Absorbing Through the Senses
Learning With Each Other
Hands on Experience
In Their Own Time
Help Only When Needed
Academic Outcome

The Montessori Materials

The Montessori materials are key to the Montessori approach to education. They are different from traditional “teaching aids” because their purpose is to give the child the chance to discover and learn for him-or herself (rather than being told what he/she should know). The materials are “self-correcting” which means that the child can use them and learn from them without constantly checking back in with the teacher to see if they “got it right”. Exploring the materials (learning how to learn) is as important as “getting the answer right”.

The materials are designed so that children can learn academic subjects (like math, for example, or geography or writing) in a concrete or physical way, before progressing to an abstract understanding. This has many benefits:

It is because the Montessori materials are self-correcting that the children can progress at their own rate. No child is held back while the whole class learns something that that one child already understands. And no child suffers through a group lesson that is way above their head. Children are excited, motivated, interested. Self-esteem is high.

Independence with Co-operation

In a true Montessori school you will find independent children who are encouraged not only to do things for themselves but also to think for themselves. You will find children who have learnt how to explore and solve problems for themselves. Most importantly you will see small children who are often perceived as only being aware of their own needs helping each other and who, without being asked to, will put things away and perform acts of kindness purely to benefit the group as a whole.

Absorbing Through the Senses

Maria Montessori observed that children under six absorb limitlessly and effortlessly from the world around hem and in so doing lay down all the foundations for later life - they become adults with all the characteristics and language of the culture into which they have been born simply by living. In this huge task, however, they have some help. They have a special kind of mind that she called an absorbent mind - a strong desire to explore everything around them using their senses and a drive to become independent. She identified certain windows of opportunity for the child that she called ’sensitive periods’ during which the child is irresistibly drawn to the things he needs to help him develop his full human potential.

Learning With Each Other

Everything in the classroom is designed to support these windows of opportunity. The Montessori ‘nursery school’ is called the Children’s House because everything in it is designed to allow the child to become independent - the materials are child sized and the equipment is laid out in an orderly fashion on low shelves that are easily accessible for the children.

The equipment is aesthetically pleasing and is meticulously cared for (and handled with respect) which encourages the children to take care of it too. Children between the ages of 3 and 6 are grouped together in their own mini society. The younger children learn from watching the older children and the older ones benefit by helping the younger children. The mixed age group allows the children to develop socially, intellectually and emotionally - it is an essential part of any Montessori school.

Hands on Experience

The curriculum is divided into four main areas. Practical life not only gives the children the opportunity to practise the skills of everyday life but also helps them to develop concentration and develop co-ordination of mind and body. The sensorial materials capitalise on the fact that children use their senses to learn. Through these materials they are encouraged to order and classify the physical properties of the world they live in. The materials for mathematics help the children to learn and really understand mathematical concepts because they are presented using concrete materials. Children are prepared for language (to write and read) from the minute they come into the class through a series of activities that gradually build all the individual skills required so that when they are ready it is just a natural progression.

Geography, history, biology, botany, zoology, art and music are covered with a hands-on approach that is based on the fact that children learn most effectively from their own experiences. Many childrens houses will include nature tables, plants, animals (children are taught how to care for them to encourage development of a sense of responsibility)

In Their Own Time

In a Montessori school you will see children choosing their activities independently and moving from one activity to the next - always returning things to the shelf after they have used them. You will experience an atmosphere of natural calm and see young children concentrating for surprising periods of time. Children work individually, in a group or with a friend. The morning should last for a minimum of three hours - three hours in which there is no fixed ‘timetable’. Groups arise spontaneously rather than at a fixed time every day. Maria Montessori observed that this unfettered period of time was essential for the children to develop the kind of concentration that you see when a child becomes involved with something that is essential for his development. There are no time limits for the child - he may work with whatever he chooses for as long as he likes and as his workspace is defined he can be sure nobody will disturb his work/remove the materials.

Help Only When Needed

In a Montessori school the child is guided by a trained adult who will show him how to do the things that he is ready for (by demonstrating), after which he can work with them independently. The adult observes the child and will not interfere so long as the child is working with the material productively.

When a difficulty arises she is able to step in and give help but is always careful never to give more help than is needed. Each child’s individual needs are assessed through observation so that he is shown new things when he is developmentally ready and new knowledge is always built on what he already knows.

The ‘directress’ is not teaching the child she is putting him in charge of his own learning through his own exploration. This may seem a subtle distinction but it is a key part of the Montessori approach. He/she constantly role models the behaviour they would like the children to demonstrate, from how to handle equipment to speaking/socialising with others.

Academic Outcome

Some people believe that because Montessori nurtures life skills and emotional/psychological development as well as academic development, “academic results” must suffer compared to mainstream/Independent education. In fact the converse is true; OFSTEAD state Montessori leads to better outcome and research supports this claim.

One example of many was a study undertaken by Virginia University psychology professor Dr Angline LiIlard and former Wisconsin University graduate student Dr Nicole Else-Quest. They compared the outcomes of children at a public inner-city Montessori school with children at traditional schools and found Montessori educated children had better social and academic skills.

“We found significant advantages for the Montessori students in these tests for both age groups,”

Lillard said.

“Particularly remarkable are the positive social effects of Montessori education. Typically the home environment overwhelms all other influences in that area.”

Among the 5-year-olds, Montessori students proved to be significantly better prepared for primary school in reading and maths skills than the non-Montessori children. They also tested better on “executive function”, the ability to adapt to changing and more complex problems; an indicator of future school and life success.

Montessori children also displayed better abilities on the social and behavioural tests, demonstrating a greater sense of justice and fairness. And on the playground they were much more likely to engage in emotionally positive play with peers, and less likely to engage in rough play.

Among the 12-year-olds from both groups, the Montessori children, in cognitive and academic measures, produced essays that were rated as “significantly more creative” and using “significantly more sophisticated sentence structures”. The Montessori and non-Montessori students scored similarly on spelling, punctuation and grammar. This parity occurred despite the Montessori children not being regularly tested and graded.

There are now moves within the UK to adopt more Montessori techniques into mainstream education. A pilot scheme within several deprived inner city London schools has demonstrated startling results, improving behaviour and academic outcome; regardless of social background. In Essex one School which has implemented Montessori philosophies had a dramatic effect on the behaviour of pupils within a very short space of time. (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article1290561.ece)

Recommended Reading:

I have to date not been able to uncover any evidence demonstrating mainstream practices as the most effective way for a child to learn. If you aware aware of such evidence please contact us.

Recommended Webpages:
http://www.boyd.k12.ky.us/eclc/MONTESSORI%20ED%20AREAS%20OF%20STUDY.htm