A Montessori Mother

by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

And then will be completed the process which has been going on so long, of forcing all women into labor suitable to their varying temperaments. The last one of the so-called “natural,” “domestic” occupations will be taken away from us, and very shame at our enforced idleness will drive us to follow men into doing, each the work for which we are really fitted. Those of us who are born teachers and mothers (for the two words ought to mean about the same thing) will train ourselves expertly to care for the children of the world, collected for many hours a day in school-homes of various sorts. Those of us who have not this natural capacity for wise and beneficent association with the young (and many who love children dearly are not gifted with wisdom in their treatment) will do other parts of the necessary work of the world.

But that time is still in the future. At present our teachers can no more adopt the utter freedom and the reverence for individual differences, which constitute the essence of the “Montessori method,” than a cog in a great machine can, of its own volition, begin to turn backwards. And here is the opportunity for us, the mothers, perhaps among the last of the race who will be allowed the inestimable delight and joy of caring for our own little children, a delight and joy of which society, sooner or later, will consider us unworthy on account of our inexpertness, our carelessness, our absorption in other things, our lack of wise preparation, our lack of abstract good judgment.

Our part, during this period of transition, is to seize upon regenerating influences coming from any source, and shape them with care into instruments which will help us in the great task of training little children, a complicated and awful responsibility, our pathetically inadequate training for which is offset somewhat by our passionate desire to do our best.

We can collaborate in our small way with the scientific founder of the Montessori method, and can help her to go on with her system (discovered before its completion) by assimilating profoundly her master-idea, and applying it in directions which she has not yet had time finally and carefully to explore, such as its application to the dramatic and æsthetic instincts of children.

Above all, we can apply it to ourselves, to our own tense and troubled lives. We can absorb some of Dr. Montessori’s reverence for vital processes. Indeed, possibly nothing could more benefit our children than a whole-hearted conversion on our part to her great and calm trust in life itself.

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INDEX

Adult analysis of children’s problems, [143], [147], [154].
Animal training different from child training, [155].
Apparatus:
Big stair, [72], [100].
Broad stair, [100].
Buttoning-frames, [13], [15], [55], [134].
Color spools, [73].
Explanation of, [99] ff.
Geometric insets, flat, [76].
Geometric insets, solid, [70].
How to use, [67] ff., [91], [92], [99].
Long stair, [100], [192].
The Tower, [71], [100].
Age of children in Montessori schools, [8].
Apathetic child, the, [41] ff.
Arithmetic, beginnings of, [16], [100].
“Bad child,” the, treatment of, [32].
Big stair, the. See Apparatus.
Buttoning-frames. See Apparatus.
Democracy, basis of Montessori system, [118], [187].
Discipline, [31], [141] ff.
Exercises, gymnastic, [146], [148];
for legs, [112];
for balance, [113], [115], [149].
Exercises, sensory:
Baric, [65], [101].
Blindfolded, [17].
Color games, [74].
Color matching, [73].
Hearth-side seed-game, [110].
In dimension, [16].
In folding up, [107] ff.
Instinctive desire for, [52]-[54].
Not entire occupation of children, [68].
Simplicity of, [54].
In smelling, [64].
Tactile, [59], [60], [100], [115].
In tasting, [64].
By use of water, [150], [151].
By use of weights, [65], [101].
Family life, how affected by Montessori system, [121].
Freedom, [31], [103], [118], [119], [123], [131].
Gardens, value of, in child-training, [201], [204].
Geometric insets. See Apparatus.
Individuality, respect for, of Montessori system, [40], [93].
Interest, a prerequisite to education, [30], [94] ff., [190].
Kindergarten compared with Montessori system, [20], [173], [179];
as to self-annihilation of teacher, [180];
as to absence of supervision, [180];
as to social life of children, [184];
as to overstimulation, [188], [189].
Lesson of silence, [43] ff.
Long stair. See Apparatus.
Mental concentration, [143], [145].
Music, [19].
New pupils, [37] ff.
Number of pupils in Montessori school, [8].
Obedience, [155], [159], [161].
Observation of children, necessity for, [92].
Overstimulation, [188], [189].
Patience of children, [137], [138], [190].
Plants, care of, for children, [202], [204].
Reading, [89].
Responsibility, inculcation of, [34], [35], [69], [70], [136], [201].
School day, length of, [37].
School-equipment, [8], [59].
Self-control of children, [142], [144], [145].
Self-dependence of children, [23], [102], [110], [133], [137], [156], [186].
Slowness of children, [21], [135].
Social life of children, [184], [206], [207].
Supervision, absence of, [10], [102], [103], [180], [191], [193].
Theoretic basis of Montessori system, [vi], [49], [56], [103], [120], [123],—see also under Democracy, Freedom, Interest, Individuality, Responsibility, Self-dependence.
Touch, sense of, [57], [58];
exercises for,—see Exercises, Sensory.
Tower, the. See Apparatus.
Writing, training for, beginnings of, [59];
theory underlying, [79] ff.;
alphabet, [82];
spontaneous writing, [84];
time required to learn, [87].

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