“It is often we who obstruct the child, and so become responsible for anomalies that last a lifetime. Always must our treatment be gentle as possible, avoiding violence, for we easily fail to realize how violent and hard we are being. We have to watch ourselves most carefully. The real preparation for education is a study of one’s self. The training of the teacher who is to help life is something far more than a learning of ideas. It includes the training of character; it is a preparation of the spirit.”
Maria Montessori. The Absorbent Mind. Ch.12,p131.
This quote was shared in one of our Philosophy lectures and it’s worth posting up here because of all the inner work, unlearning, reparenting, etc. that I feel like I still need to do, aside from the acquisition of early childhood education knowledge. I spent 6 years of my life studying business administration, which will always be useful to me and has trained my mind to think within certain frameworks, but it’s still a little early to be teaching Joule about balance sheets and accounting. At least my culinary and yoga training is easily transferred to practical life and movement lessons for my 3 year old. She already knows to say, “Take a deep breath! Calm down!”, when I’m feeling upset. Emotional regulation is one of the skills many adults still struggle with, so getting comfortable with dealing with strong emotions and working towards cultivating self-awareness is one way I can become a better teacher.