Category Archive:
Children’s basic needs

The Transformation of the Possessive Instinct

Transformation of the possessive

For the child under the age of seven years another indicator of on-track development is the sublimation of the possessive instinct. This transformation of the possessive instinct occurs when the child is given an environment where he or she has the right to use the materials as long as he or she wishes, while respecting […]


Love Of Silence And Working Alone

love of silence

The nature of the young child following natural and normal development is one that loves silence and working alone. Until children enter into a different stage of development, around the time that they lose their first tooth, this love of silence and working alone remains. The desire to be out in the community and working […]


Attachment To Reality

curing the gimmees

The almost four-year-old boy visiting my classroom was wonderfully verbal. He had just given me a detailed explanation about his family’s move into their new home. “What’s your name?” I asked. “Batman,” he answered. “And what is your name when you’re not Batman?” I asked. “Bruce Wayne,” he said. His mother chuckled. “Isn’t that cute? […]


The Child’s Spontaneous Concentration

spontaneous concentration

In the young child there are observable characteristics of behavior that help us know that a child is following normal development.  These characteristics follow: love of order, love of work, deep spontaneous concentration, attachment to reality, love of silence and working alone, sublimation of the possessive instinct, power to act from real choice not just […]


The Child’s Love Of Work

Love of Work

The young child’s love of work, or being involved in meaningful activity, is an inborn trait.  With proper nourishment this love survives a lifetime.  Even in utero the child is involved what can only be classified as work—growing and moving in a confined environment. Movement defines a child’s activity from the first kick in the […]


Learning the Gift of Gab

Learning the gift of gab

Language occurs in two basic ways. Receptive language is what we understand. Expressive language is what we can say. For most of us our receptive language is larger than our expressive language. A twelve-month-old can follow simple directions but can’t talk. At the doctor’s office, we can understand the doctor’s explanation of our diagnosis and […]


Profanity: A Sign of Limited Ability

profanity a sign of limited ability

A visit to an elementary school opened my eyes to something that would never have happened a few years ago at a “good” school. Profanity from the children. This R-rated classroom wouldn’t have been allowed even a PG-13 rating. I’m amazed as a classroom observer how the children act as if I’m invisible. The children […]


Where Do the Night Owls Play?

where do the night owls play

After reading John Medina’s book, Brain Rules, I started thinking about the implications of Medina’s brain rule and other information about sleep. Medina tells us that people fall into three kinds of sleepers: Larks, Hummingbirds and Night Owls. Larks often get up before 6 am and report feeling more alert and productive before lunch. Breakfast […]


What Social Style Is Your Child?

what social style is your child

In ancient Greece Hippocrates defined four personality types: sanguine, melancholic, choleric, phlegmatic. These were based on body fluids, or humors. Today we simply use questionnaires such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®, MBTI, to define sixteen basic personality types. In Nurture by Nature, Paul Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger explain the sixteen basic Myers-Briggs types and how […]


Eat, Drink, Breathe, Think

eat drink breathe think

A newspaper article written by a physician summarized a discussion on health with these words: It’s about what you eat and what you drink,What you breathe and what you think. What you eat. Putting the right food into our bodies is essential to good health, as well as physical and mental development. Today we understand […]