The Joyful Child Quotes

“Reciting one, two, three, four, five, and so on, is fun for a child, but it is not really learning math.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“Swaddling should be avoided unless there is some physical or psychological reason. If we imagine ourselves in the place of the infant, excited to move beyond the confines of the womb, we can begin to imagine how confining and boring and frustrating swaddling can be. The child in the first months will be studying the home, every room, in details visually, and listening to every voice and sound. After strengthening arms and legs with baby push-ups, he will head for objects to explore further. Every child follows a unique timetable of learning to crawl to those things he has been looking at, so that he may finally handle them. This visual, followed by tactile, exploration is very important for many aspects of human development.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“General Environment Principles Here are some things to keep in mind when organizing a child's environment. (1) Participation in Family Life: from the first days on invite the child into the life of the family. In each room—the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, dining room, living room, front hall, and so forth have a space for the child to function. (2) Independence: The child's message to us at any age is "Help me to do it myself." Supporting this need shows respect for and faith in the child. Think carefully about family activities in all areas of the home, and arrange each space to support independence. A twin mattress for the child's bed; a small cupboard, coat tree, or low clothing rod or hook wherever the child dresses or undresses (front hall, bathroom, bedroom, etc.); a stool or bench for removing shoes and boots; inviting shelves for books, dishes, toys. This is a very child-friendly bathroom
in a home in Oregon where the
mother, a Montessori Assistant to
Infancy, had an infant community. 4) Belongings: This brings up a very important point. It is too much for anyone to care for or enjoy belongings when there are too many out at one time. In preparing the home environment for a child, have a place to keep clothing, toys, and books that are not being used. Rotate these when you see the child tiring of what is out on the shelf, in the book display, or toy basket. Have just a few pieces of clothing available to the child to choose what to wear each day, just a few toys that are enjoyed, and only a few favorite or new books. (5) Putting Away & The Sense of Order: "Discipline" comes from the same word as "disciple" and our children become disciplined only by imitating us; just as we teach manners such as saying "thank you" by modeling this for our children instead of reminding, we can teach them to put away their books and toys only by gracefully and cheerfully doing it over and over in their presence.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“The child, unable to filter out the unnecessary or the disturbing as the adult can, will hear and be affected by every sound and sight. It is important for the child's sense of order, his security, to keep the environment the same for the first year. Planning and preparing the environment ahead of time makes this possible.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“At this age children love to carry heavy
things. That is physics. And setting the
table with a chair, plate, fork, for each
person? That is math.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“It is not enough for the teacher to restrict herself to loving and understanding the child; she must first love and understand the universe. —Maria Montessori”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“Animal models have always been a favorite open-ended toy choice of children and can be used to match the models to pictures. But please be sure that your child's animal models are made of safe plastic such as the ones made by European companies that have high standards.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“Children embrace the life that is lived around them, take in the opportunities given, incarnate this life and these opportunities as the ‘normal’ way Life is. Because of this tremendous power, the power of the absorbent mind, we have the opportunity to give children a Life rich in all its manifestations, life in all its beauty, its challenge, its exquisiteness: physical and psychological challenges, multi-generations, various skin colors, hair color, ways of living life. This exposure allows children to grow without prejudice and bias, but with an appreciation for life in all its manifestations. —Judi Orion, Montessori Assistant to Infancy”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“It is important that we do not provide adult-made models, coloring books or sheets, or prepared "color-in" papers. Never show a child how to draw or paint something—like a flower or a house; the child will often simply repeat and repeat what you have shown. Famous artists like Paul Klee and Pablo Picasso worked for many years to achieve the originality, spontaneity, and childlike qualities that our children all possess naturally. The best we can do for our children is to prepare a beautiful environment, provide the best materials, and get out of the way.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“We can help the child's language development with listening, eye contact, speaking well in his presence, and by providing a stimulating environment, rich in sensorial experiences and in language, providing a wealth of experience, because language is meaningless if it is not based on experience.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“In the first exchange perhaps the child thought "No" meant, "I am waiting and looking and expect you to eventually pick up that statue. And I am getting mad at you." In the second exchange the message was clear. "No" meant, "stop doing what you are doing and move away to another part of the room or another activity," (and, thanks to the clear and gentle way of speaking, "I am not mad at you"). Children do not understand the language of reasoning at this age; they need clear demonstrations along with words.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“The child can only develop by means of experience in his environment. We call such experience "work." —Maria Montessori”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“There are many physical, emotional, and mental values in work. Through these activities the child learns to be independent. There can be no intelligent choice or responsibility at any age without independence in thought and action. He learns to concentrate, to control muscles, to focus, to analyze logical steps, and complete a cycle of activity.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“For a child, just a few minutes a day working with parents on important "adult" activities can have a great benefit and begin a new way of communicating and living together.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“The availability of a special little table kept cleared off and ready for work can help the child focus on his work and stick to it until he is finished. It is a natural consequence that, if the work is not put away, the space will not be available for the next activity.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“One of the most calming experiences for a child is concentration. This does not include passive, non-participatory concentration such as watching television or videos.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“. . but I know happiness does not come with things. It can come from work and pride in what you do. —Gandhi”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“We can empathize if we think of the difference in our feelings for a dinner guest in our home that is completely served and waited on, or for one who is welcomed in our kitchen to talk and to laugh while we prepare the meal together. In the first instance the guest is apart from you, the relationship is formal. In the second we share our life, and the relationship is intimate—a true friendship.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“We accept him and respect his timetable and love him exactly the way he is.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“Considering the psychological effects of nursing, we must also keep in mind the potential effects of nursing a child in response to every negative feeling—tiredness, pain, or frustration. We should offer loving comfort in those situations but offer a child food only when he is hungry for food. This helps a child stay in touch with his own natural and healthful eating needs, growing into an adult who eats for nutrition and not out of emotional needs.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“At the same age one child will be working on eye-hand coordination, another concentrating on making sounds, another on push-ups or trying to move his whole body through space. One child will be interested in sitting up and eating at a table sometime during the first year and another content to breastfeed. One child will enjoy sitting on a potty to urinate and another will just not be interested. The best we can do is to support free movement, provide the best language model, and then watch, listen, respect, offer, and get out of the way.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“A walker wagon, which is a small wagon with a vertical, unmoving handle, will provide an opportunity for him to pull up and practice walking at will, but it will usually require the adult to turn the wagon around when the child reaches the end of the path at first.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“Walkers, and other commercially available movement aids hinder development in the same way. They make a child mobile so quickly that he sometimes just gives up on his own attempts when outside the walker. They also give the child misinformation about where his "space" or body ends, and how legs really work, confusing messages that have to be relearned later.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“When we hold the child's hands to help him walk before the optimal time for him we are giving a subtle message that we are not satisfied with his own timetable and abilities, or that we want him to hurry up. This can make a child frustrated at his own attempts. It is better just to wait, to watch, to enjoy the unfolding unique growth of the child as he follows his inner guide.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“In the first weeks and months it is good to protect him from loud sounds, and to have soft colors, and not too many objects visible.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“On a visit to a hospital nursery at the University of Rome during my Assistant to Infancy training, I watched a professora respond to the crying of infants in the following way: first she spoke gently and soothingly to the baby, reassuring him that someone was present. In many cases this was all that was necessary to comfort the child and to stop the crying. However, if this didn't work, the professora made eye contact or laid a hand gently on the child. Often this calmed the infant completely. If not, she checked to see if there was a physical discomfort, a wrinkle of the bedding, a wet diaper, the need to be in a different position. Solving this problem almost always reassured the child and eliminated his need to cry. Only very rarely was a child actually in need of food.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“For the first year, the activities of changing, nursing, bathing, picking up, holding, and dressing are the most important and impressionable times. Ask permission or tell the infant that you are going to pick him up when you are about to do so.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“An adult can engage in a conversation with even the youngest child in the following way: when the child makes a sound, imitate it—the pitch and the length of the sound: baby "maaaa ga" adult "maaaa ga," etc. One often gets an amazing response from the child the first time this happens, as if he is saying, "At last, someone understands and speaks my language!" After several of these exchanges many children will purposefully begin to make sounds for you to imitate, and eventually will try to imitate the adult’s sound. This is a very exciting first communication for both parties. It is not baby talk; it is real communication.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“In the first days, months, and year of life the infant is especially interested in the sound of the human voice and in watching the face and lips of a speaking person. It is not an accident that the focusing distance of the eyes of a newborn matches exactly the space between his face and that of the mother while nursing. Perhaps the best first communication experiences are provided while nursing the baby. We can feed the child's intense interest in language and prepare for later spoken language, by speaking clearly, by not raising our voice to the unnatural pitch often reserved for speaking to pets, and not oversimplifying language in the presence of the child. We can tell funny and interesting stories of our lives, recite favorite poems, talk about what we are doing, "Now I am washing your feet, rubbing each toe to get it really clean" and enjoy ourselves in this important communication. And we can listen: to music, to silence, and to each other.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three

“We cannot know exactly what the baby senses, feels, intuits, thinks about, and understands. But we do know that he responds to voices, to sounds, and music.”
― Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child: Montessori, Global Wisdom for Birth to Three