“The teacher becomes the keeper and custodian of the environment. She attends to this instead of being distracted by the children’s restlessness. From this will come healing, and the attraction that captures and polarizes the child’s will. In our countries, where each wife has her own home, the wife tries to make the home as attractive as possible for herself and her husband. Instead of giving her whole attention to him, she gives much also to the house, so as to make surroundings in which a normal and constructive life can flourish. She tries to make the home a place of comfort and peace, with full and varied interests. The essential charm of a house is its cleanliness and order, with everything in its place, dusted, bright and cheerful. She makes this her first consideration. The teacher in the school must not do otherwise. All the apparatus is to be kept meticulously in order, beautiful and shining, in perfect condition. Nothing may be missing, so that to the child it always seems new, complete and ready for use. This means that the teacher also must be attractive, pleasing in appearance, tidy and clean, calm and dignified. These are ideals that each can realize in her own way, but let us always remember, when we present ourselves before children, that they are “of the company of the elect.” The teacher’s appearance is the first step to gaining the child’s confidence and respect. The teacher should study her own movements, to make them as gentle and graceful as possible. The child of this age idealizes his mother. We may not know what kind of woman she is, but we often hear a child say when he sees a pretty woman, “How lovely she is–just like my mummy!” Quite possibly, the mother is not at all beautiful, but she is so to the child, and everyone he admires is, to him, as beautiful as she. So, care for one’s own person must form part of the environment in which the child lives; the teacher herself is the most vital part of his world.”
Maria Montessori. The Absorbent Mind. p. 276
This passage from “The Absorbent Mind” is one that I reread often because she mentions the expectations for the teacher’s appearance and demeanor. I’m also reminded of how gender roles were set during her time. It’s not surprising that today, decades after she wrote this book, expectations of women have stayed mostly the same. My Montessori teacher training cohort is 100% female.
My most important takeaway from this passage is that self-care is the foundation of being a teacher and a parent, and without regular check-ins with myself, it is so easy to go on auto-pilot and slide into zombie mode. Raising a young child is difficult enough, add Covid-19 into the mix and it just feels like parents are under constant stress. Cleaning and tidying up is endless and reframing it as meditation helps me feel better about having to do it all the time.