Trusting the child leads to inner success for the Child and for the Guide doing the trusting.

Have you ever heard of people saying you shouldn't praise your children? Well if you can find it in yourself to unschool the social norms of parenting, then my guess is you'll be able to trust your child. When you really trust your child they get their own praise from the inside. Can you think of a better gift?

This weekend, we had breakfast at a cafe. My 22 month old requested water from the same glasses my husband and I were drinking from. Of course, naturally, she wanted her own.

I gritted my teeth and thought to myself “here we go.” Will all of that practicing, "holding glass with two hands," that we do at home pay off or are we going to have a mess to clean up and I'm totally going to be judged for being "that Mom."

Not only did she have to get outside (because we were sitting on the patio) but she had to walk about 30 yards because we were at the end of the...

You may have noticed your child's desire to do things for themselves (possibly even repeat the same things over and over and over some more).These moments of opportunity are open windows for learning experiences and for the child to learn "how to" be independent. It's during these times of an open window also referred to as sensitive periods that science has shown the circuitry of the brain is most primed to create new neuro patterns that will aid the child for the rest of their life. If you don't want to take my word for it, check out what Harvard has to say about this topic. This doesn't mean we can never help them again nor does it mean we shouldn't help them to begin with. The opinion here is that the Montessori parent or adult mentoring a child in their self formation should rather guide the child with the appropriate modeling and breaking down of steps so the child can eventually become independent. The tricky part here is resisting the urge to either do it for them or rush...