Category Archive:
Social/emotional needs

The Child in Nature

The Child In Nature

”There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.” ~Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 1949 A visit to a toy store in a California beach town uncovered a new product, a mud […]


Extending the Olive Branch for Our Children’s Sake

extending the olive branch

”The troubling nature of censorship is clearer when it falls on the very young. A certain kind of silence, that which comes from holding back the truth, is abusive itself to the child. The soul has a natural movement toward knowledge, so that not to know can be to despair. In the paucity of explanation […]


Attention Deficit to Attention Abundance

attention deficit to attention abundance

Nine million prescriptions were written last year in the United States for school-aged children for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). In 1975 roughly 150,000 children were taking Ritalin. In 2003 about 6 million American children took Ritalin. Drugging children to get them to behave seems to be the trend. What we have learned in the […]


The Three C’s of Motivation

three c's of motivation

”The manager’s job, then, is not to motivate people to get them to achieve; instead, the manager should provide opportunities for people to achieve, so they will become motivated.”~Frederick Herzberg Charlie walked over with the teaching clock. ”I’ve learned to tell time. Do any time, and I can tell you.” Five-year-old Charlie sat down with […]


Boys and Girls Learn Differently

In his book Boys and Girls Learn Differently, Michael Gurian cites 20 years of brain research to highlight the differences of how males and females learn. In the past few years, being a boy seems to be a pathology as more boys are being diagnosed with ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and undergo drug therapy, […]


Help Your Child With Brain Gym

brain gym

“Floyd acts as if he’s missing part of his brain,” my grandmother commented on the behavior of a neighbor. Recent discoveries from neuroscientists let us know that when certain parts of the brain do not communicate effectively, it may appear that someone has “lost” his or her mind. As a Montessori teacher, I’ve had the […]


Taming the Television Monster

television monster

“All my three- and four-year-old want to do is watch TV. They fuss about having to turn off the TV at dinner and bedtime. They wouldn’t even play with their friends yesterday because their favorite shows were on. I think I’ve let it get out of hand,” lamented Robin. I was impressed to hear Robin […]


Using Positive Statements with Children

using positive statements

“If I tell Ginny not to do something, she just looks me in the eye and does it. She seems defiant,” Sam, Ginny’s dad, told me at a company picnic. Ginny, an almost four-year-old curly-headed brunette, ran over from the swings at the park. “Ginny, how about playing a little game with me? I’m going […]


Using Natural and Logical Consequences to Teach

using natural and logical consequences to teach

Choices. Everyday we make choices. It is from making choices that we learn responsibility and how to behave. When we choose unwisely and experience the consequences of our choices, the lessons we learn are more powerful than any lecture or punishment. If we as parents are savvy, we can use natural and logical consequences as […]


Can You See the Genie in Your Child?

can you see the genie in your child?

Knowledge without experience is just information.Mark Twain “Where are your children going to college?” a mom at our pre-school meeting asked me. I didn’t think I had heard correctly. I had a hard enough time just getting the girls to put shoes on and out the door each morning. College? Let’s get through pre-school. This […]