If your children attend Montessori schools and you see the benefits it’s providing, you might want to replicate some of its ideals in your home life. As a parent, incorporating Montessori teaching principles doesn’t have to feel like an impossible task. The experts from a successful Montessori in Miami Lakes, FL, have some techniques you can use at home to continue to nurture your child’s strengths.
Modeling the Behavior You Want Your Children To Exhibit
One of the most important Montessori teaching principles is helping children develop appropriate social skills to manage behavioral issues. Mirroring these principles at home helps children learn to respect their parents, siblings, and friends.
Rather than correcting behavior in the moment when emotions are high, parents should work on the desired behaviors during calm moments. Role-playing at home works nicely. For example, teaching children to touch your elbow when they want to ask you something while you’re on the phone instead of verbally interrupting you is a popular role-playing activity parents can use.
Additionally, parents should model the behaviors they want their children to exhibit. When you avoid yelling, interrupting, and lashing out, children will learn to do the same.
Self-discipline regarding behavior is one of the desired outcomes from using this principle at home. Rather than yelling or throwing a tantrum, children naturally learn to default to appropriate behaviors when facing conflict.
Using Organization To Encourage Activity Choices
The teachers at Montessori schools (called guides) spend time before each school day starts organizing the room. Organizing at a Montessori school means setting up a series of activities that the guide believes will encourage and appeal to the students. When the students arrive, they can then choose which of these activities to engage in.
Parents can follow the same principles at home. Pay attention to your children’s interests and organize a series of activities they may enjoy when they return home from school or on a weekend morning. Rather than listening to children complain about being bored, parents who use Montessori organizational techniques help them stay busy with activities they enjoy.
Using Real Items and Tools Instead of “Play” Items (With Supervision)
Among the most important Montessori teaching principles is teaching children to use real items instead of toys. They use these items with supervision, but they can develop a sense of accomplishment by doing so. This technique also helps enhance fine-motor skills.
When a child helps you with chores at home, encourage them to use actual tools and cooking utensils. Supervision is key for keeping them safe, but they’ll become more confident and willing to help you as they gain experience with these items.
When preparing snacks, allow the kids to use real dishes and silverware. They can cut fruit and vegetables with knives at home, enhancing the skills they’re learning at the Montessori school.
Showing the Natural Consequences of Actions
Part of helping children develop discipline is showing them the consequences of their actions without resorting to yelling.
When children make choices that aren’t the best ones for them, the natural reaction for a parent is to correct the choice immediately. However, Montessori teaching principles allow the child to experience the results of the choice (while remaining safe). The child then realizes that the choice or action was not beneficial and will learn to make a better choice the next time.
At home, parents could let a child decide whether to wear a jacket outside on a cool day. The child might choose to skip the jacket, but will realize that this choice results in feeling cold. Eventually, the child will voluntarily select the jacket.
For a child who refuses to clean up toys, the parent might tell the child that the toys will be locked away for the rest of the day if the child doesn’t pick them up. When the parent follows through, the child learns that their actions have consequences. The child will eventually choose to put toys away when asked.
Setting Boundaries Regarding Behavior While Offering Validation
Using positive guidance while establishing boundaries is a key role the Montessori guide plays in the school setting. The guide emphasizes that the child is allowed to feel a certain way, but any reactions to those feelings must be done with respect.
While at home, parents can model these behaviors by treating others with respect, even in stressful situations.
Parents should listen to the child’s feelings and even validate them. They can be empathetic while ensuring boundaries are set. This doesn’t mean that children will always get their way, as parents can still say no when necessary. However, the Montessori philosophy encourages parents to let children explore different activities and say yes to new experiences, as long as they can be done safely and with the proper behaviors in place.
Redirect Through Refocusing the Child’s Attention by Staying Close
Another useful Montessori teaching principle is redirecting children when they exhibit undesirable behavior. The Montessori teacher might encourage a child who is acting rambunctiously inside to play outside.
At home, parents can use redirection in a few different ways. When an unwanted behavior is happening, encourage the child to start a new activity.
The parent helps with redirection in a technique called gluing. It simply means the parent remains close by while redirecting the unwanted behavior. If you’re cooking or folding laundry, ask the child to help you. Work together to do the chore. If the child is struggling to remain calm and listen, stop what you’re doing and break out a board game or card game you can play together.
Redirecting the child’s behavior and keeping the child close to you is an option that works nearly every time, but you might only want to use it when other ideas aren’t working.
Developing a Sense of Responsibility and Independence
Independence development is one of the key Montessori teaching principles. The school’s setup allows children the freedom and independence to select their own activities. At the same time, they’re expected to be responsible for cleaning up after themselves and helping with preparing and serving snacks, which helps with behavior and discipline.
Matching responsibility with fostering a sense of independence keeps students busy and motivated. They develop new interests and feel more engaged when they can select their own activities.
At home, parents can work with their children on chores. The two of you can do this a few times before allowing the children to try some parts of the chores on their own. Let them figure out how to complete tasks by themselves whenever possible. Discipline and focusing on a specific task are a natural extension of children learning to do chores that benefit the entire family, just like when they’re helping their Montessori classmates prepare snacks.
Practicing Empathy While Trying To See the Situation From the Child’s Perspective
In Montessori schools, showing empathy and respect for the child’s feelings is a key aspect of developing discipline and desirable behavior in the classroom environment.
When managing these situations at home, parents should work on helping children balance their emotional reactions while being respectful to others. Parents don’t have to give in and let children have their own way all the time, but they should use empathy when children are frustrated. A parent should try to understand why the children are feeling the way they are and attempt to see things from their perspective.
Observing How the Montessori Teacher Interacts With the Children
For success with Montessori teaching principles, it’s vital to have an attentive Montessori guide managing the process. The importance of teachers’ care in the Montessori system is almost impossible to overstate. The guide has training and skills that help every student develop desirable behaviors and discipline.
As a parent who wants to mirror the benefits of Montessori’s principles at home, spend some time observing the guide in the classroom. Watch how the guide interacts with the children and creates a nurturing environment that doesn’t compromise discipline. Pay attention to how the guide balances empathy with establishing boundaries. Take notes!
You can then try to mimic those behaviors at home. You might not have the same level of training and experience as the Montessori guide, but you can borrow some of the basic classroom principles. Such efforts will improve your children’s well-being both at home and at school.
Give Your Children a Desirable Behavioral Environment at Home and School With the Help of Montessori Children’s House
If you see value in the way our Montessori guide interacts with your children and the way your kids respond, it’s natural to want to replicate those dynamics at home. You can incorporate Montessori teaching principles into your daily life with consistent routines and by taking time to establish boundaries. Following the principles and ideas listed here gives you a great starting point for better discipline at home.
Our guides are always available to discuss other steps you can take. To investigate the benefits Montessori principles can provide, call Montessori Children’s House of Miami Lakes today at (305) 823-5632.