BEAUTIFUL

I remember the exciting time when my first child was born and the nurse brought him to my bedside. He was beautiful—no matter that his head was cone shaped and his eyes crossed. He was the most beautiful sight in the whole world to me that first morning.

Why is it that all babies are beautiful? No matter bald or cone-shaped heads, or different colors or features. To a mother and to a father, the child is beautiful. You hear the phrase, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” but I think there is more to it than that.

The child is the incarnation of its parents. That is, the child gives bodily form to his parents. The child is the flesh of the parent’s love for each other. Each one giving their love to the other bares flesh, another human being. This is truly a miracle.

Much to think about this week—I best close for now.

Please read my book, Montessori—Living the Good Life. I’m blogging on my website: www.montessoritheory.com

GRADUATION

My oldest grandson graduates this week. He played the Postlude on the piano for his classes’ Baccalaureate service the night before last. You could hear a pin drop before he was finished—the music was that moving. He has been fortunate to have a loving environment with collaborative parents who understood his moods and allowed him his moments of joy and peace.

Maren Schmidt’s kids’ newsletter, www.kidstalknews.com has a special conversation on Experiencing the Moment with an enlightening understanding of the child’s realization of joy and goodness.

Music is a blessed media to escape the troubled world and find peace in the truth of beautiful sounds. I’m pleased to know my grandson will have his gift of music to share and will continue to create a life of his own, and I'm proud of his courage and dedication to his talent and willingness to listen to his own spirit.

Please read my book, Montessori—Living the Good Life. I’m blogging on my website: www.montessoritheory.com

BAPTISM

Through culture and traditions, the adult works to prepare different environments for the child working to become the adult. One of the environments the adult prepares for the young child is through the initiation of baptism where the child learns to be one with the Holy Spirit. Through the enlightened Word, the adult works to share their bread, their grace, with their child.

The child, of course, comes to share his life that is already grace-filled, already God-given; so we sing, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. I wonder sometimes, who is the lamb—the child or the adult?

Peace can happen, and will happen, if the adult can see, can be aware, can collaborate, with the grace of the child, and work toward an environment of love.

Maria Montessori's life work was for peace in our world. She understood the potential peace, joy, and hope the newborn, the young child brings. Through collaboration with the child she discovered ways to turn on the lights for parents and educators. Living the life of the Holy Spirit helps a great deal

Please read my book, Montessori—Living the Good Life. I’m blogging on my website: www.montessoritheory.com

SILVER LININGS

Hmm . . . how does that song go? . . . look for a silver lining and . . . . The young child sees the silver lining while the adult is looking for it. We can learn from the developing child by recognizing and understanding our differences. Adults can come to see the silver linings like the young child if they can uncritically watch the baby or little ones do their own work—not the work the adult is expecting them to do, or the work the adult is teaching them to do. Sometimes when I’m not looking for it, I see and experience joy and realize this is what the developing child sees most of the time.

But why does the child cry? That is where the work of the adult becomes essential—the work of changing the environment so the child’s happiness will continue. The adult’s work is to discover the cause of the distress and to collaborate with the child to restore their joy.

Maria Montessori discovered the secret of childhood over a century ago. She observed this eternal joy in the child and worked to encourage parents to see how the child sees. Through her studies and observations she created materials and a method for an environment for the developing child to know joy.

Please read my book, Montessori—Living the Good Life. I’m blogging on my website: www.montessoritheory.com

JOY

Ted and I are moving. We both felt a sense of knowingness when we stepped into our new environment but were hesitant to express it to each other. What if we couldn’t have this new environment for keeps? We kept our good feelings to ourselves, squashing our timely moment of joy, as most intelligent house-hunting individuals would do. This is the way of many adults. Their sense of knowingness is brief, like a flick of a bird in the morning’s light. Quickly the thought is clothed with learned lessons of experience. The adult has learned to be cautious with silver linings.

Not so with the young child, with the newborn. Their sense of knowingness is on-going without review. Like a rose bud becoming a flower—the learning is already perfected—the experience of joy is constant. Maria Montessori reminds us that, “The things the child sees and experiences are not just remembered—they form a part of his soul.”

For the budding child, eternity is not associated with time. Time is a learned measure created by the adult and later taught to the child. For the young child, eternity is an expression for what presently is—like a lost moment in prayer or meditation—perhaps like a Buddha in contemplation.

As best I can, because I want to learn more from the child, I’m trying to understand, as Maria Montessori understood, the connection and the differences of the work of the adult and of the child. I believe it is the responsibility of the adult rather than the child, to appreciate and collaborate their modes of work. Perhaps the silver linings of the adult and of the child can be joined to create a pathway to peace. Maria Montessori believed it so.

Please read my book, Montessori—Living the Good Life. I’m blogging on my website: www.montessoritheory.com

RESURRECTION

What is resurrection like? I know there are many songs and poems that describe it. My favorite is: Morning has broken, like the first morning. What is meant by the first morning? The experience of the first morning is what the child enjoys every morning. The young child under three years of age remembers little of the mornings before.

A new day is dawning, like the first dew. Can we as adults imagine what that must be like—awakening every morning and not remembering the days before—having a clear mind to create a new day—forgiving and being forgiven for hurts caused previous days and—having a chance to create a new environment for loved ones?

That is what resurrection is like—what a young child experiences every morning: Joy. 

Please read my book, Montessori—Living the Good Life. I’m blogging on my website: www.montessoritheory.com

TRUTH

I’ve been pondering over the ideas in my last two blogs. Maria Montessori was the environment for the children because she knew the truth of life, just as many parents, especially mothers, and a few teachers, know the truth of their child’s life. They are born with the child as he emerges and develops in the surrounding environment, becoming one with it—conquering it, swallowing it like a starving animal, ravishing missed meals of many days.

Maria Montessori knew the child was hungry and had to be fed. She spent the rest of her life doing so. Like Mother Teresa, Maria Montessori knew and lived the truth of humanity: the work of the child becoming the adult, the work of the adult becoming one with the child. I pondered this thought several evenings this week, knowing I’m not there, still out of the loop when I’m with the little ones. My experiences as a Montessori teacher were egocentric, I’m sorry to say. I’m thankful my grandchildren are blessed with exceptional parents.

One Easter morning, for a short time, my thoughts were resurrected. I realized that my problem was my perspective. I have been looking through the window of the teacher, the view of the adult working on the other side of the glass knowing where I think the child should go, what the child should be, and how the child should behave, should develop, in order to get there. For a few seconds I wanted, prayed that I could be, could experience being the child on this side of the glass not knowing my future.

My imagination allowed me a brief Easter understanding.

Please read my book, Montessori—Living the Good Life. I’m blogging on my website: www.montessoritheory.com