I know not everyone agrees with the Montessori method, but hear me out.
The book begins with the author expressing how much she loves toddlers and how ages 1-3 are her favorite age! Everyone talks about the “terrible two’s” and how difficult toddler years are. As a new mom, you don’t want to hear that! You want to hear about the beautiful, magical, amazing, SHORT years that are to come. This book immediately caught my attention by expressing this beautiful sentiment!
Here are six reasons to love toddlers:
- They live in the present moment.
- They pick things up effortlessly.
- They are enormously capable.
- They are innocent.
- They don’t hold grudges.
- They are authentic.
I’m thinking we could learn a thing or two from our toddlers, don’t you?
The book goes on to help you understand your toddler’s (BIG) emotions. It helps you navigate how to help them feel understood, reassured, and safe. (Honestly, everything you want to do as a parent!) The tantrums aren’t to embarrass you in public, or to fight you just because… in fact, they don’t have anything to do with you! And everything to do with their development, their sense of self, their budding independence! Reading this has given me an immense amount of patience for my little. And has truly opened up a world full of magic in our everyday life.
The next few chapters gives you ideas for learning activities based on your child’s age. It offers suggestions on how to set up your home to better serve your learning toddler. And it shares ways to “raise beautiful, curious, independent, and responsible human beings.”
One section I loved talked about how to include them in your ever day life. After all, your toddler wants to feel significance and belonging in your home! This was so eye opening to me. I realized that anytime my toddler was upset was when he was wanting to be involved with something I was doing; laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. So, HELLO! Include him! He now helps me mix ingredients and turn the oven on, he helps me put the soap in the washer and transfer loads to the dryer, he helps me pick up the house, clean up his toys, and takes garbage to the trash can. He even helps me carry in the groceries and it is so cute to see how proud he is for carrying those heavy bags!!
They use a phrase in this book called “help me to help myself”. You are there to help your toddler learn how to help themselves. To create that responsibility & independence and to learn those useful life skills.
What I love about this book is the gentle parenting approach it teaches. No yelling, no hitting, no time outs, just love, patience, understanding, connection, and trust.
In my opinion, the Montessori method isn’t always realistic, but there are many beautiful things shared throughout this book that I fell in love with. A direct quote says, “It’s okay to have limits. It’s part of being aware of ourselves and our needs.” So that’s exactly how I took the methods shared in this book. I used it as a guide and began practicing what I loved, and dismissed what I felt wasn’t realistic for my life. And by doing that, this became my favorite parenting book, yet.
It’s a motherhood must-read! Shop it here!
