Follow the child was Maria Montessori's mantra and while I firmly believe in it, I've had to add an addendum as a fairly new parent. Follow the child and your parenting instinct.
When my husband and I first started trying for our little Molly, who is almost ten months old, I was avid that we had to be the “perfect” Montessori parents. At least, I wanted to try! Surely, two teachers (one traditional 5th grade and one primary Montessori) could pull this off.
I printed off pages from the Michael Olaf catalog, ordered more books about the Montessori philosophy in the home, and constantly kept my eye on the Montessori by hand blog (which I love!). Molly's room was equipped with a floor bed and toys at her level on shelves. I made a sensory basket of materials for her to explore. Yada yada...
Molly has not slept one wink on that floor bed. She loves to play on it and stare at herself in the mirror behind it. Her toys are most definitely not all wooden and/or made from natural materials. While she does feed herself solids sometimes, I also feed her too.
Do I ever doubt my parenting choices? Certainly! What parent doesn’t? Awhile ago my husband said that I was becoming a member of the Montessori cult (inside joke), but obviously that is not true or I wouldn’t be writing this post. I’m trying really hard to follow Molly, but I also have to follow myself and that natural parenting instinct.
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