Regarding Montessori, I believe that parents are no strangers. Her educational method is called "Montessori early childhood education law", which has been greatly respected in kindergartens and early education institutions. Montessori is the first female doctor of medicine in Italy. After finishing her studies, she began to devote herself to the diagnosis and treatment of children's physical and mental defects, and founded the "Children's Home", which put forward revolutionary views such as "sensitive period", "mental embryo" and "attracting the mind", which opened the mystery of children's development for us. I think her greatest advantage is that she points out that many children's problems are caused by the wrong way adults treat children and the oppression they cause.
On the basis of experiments, observation and research, this great early childhood educator has written several books about early education, among which "Montessori Handbook of Children's Sensitive Period" takes children's sensitive period as a clue, which is easy to understand and easy for parents to know more about "sensitive period".
This book is divided into three parts: the basic concept of sensitive period, family education strategies, and the development characteristics of sensitive period for children aged 0-6.
Maybe parents don't understand the word "sensitive period" very well. Simply put, the baby is particularly keen to learn a skill at a certain time. He is very sensitive to this skill and has amazing absorption and learning ability. After mastering this skill, he reached the sensitive period of other skills and continued to learn other skills. In short, after one enthusiasm is exhausted, another enthusiasm is ignited. Under the control of this rhythm, children constantly conquer the world. Let's take a look at several typical sensitive periods!
First, the sensitive period of hands-on (sensitive period for children aged 0-2)
In the circle of friends, I often see some mothers say that children are quiet and must be demons. Then the picture shows that the child turned out everything he could find in the cupboard and drawer and scattered it all over the floor. Poor mothers want to cry and hit their babies, but when they see the innocent face of the baby, they can only silently take the baby out and put things back in place.
In fact, this is the baby's "hands-on sensitive period". They are doing sports, and they didn't deliberately mess up things at home.
The development of children's psychology is combined with the activities of hands, because hands are controlled by the brain. Hand and brain are closely connected, and the activity of hand is the best representation of brain activity. Without the help of hands, children's intelligence can reach a certain level, but with the help of hands, children's intelligence can develop to a higher level and their personality will be stronger. If children can't use their hands, their personality formation will be at a very low level, showing disobedience, no passion, laziness and depression.
What should parents do in their children's "hands-on sensitive period"?
1. Don't disturb children to do some repetitive actions: for example, children move their mother's folded clothes from one end of the sofa to the other, and then move back. At this time, parents must not disturb their children. He is doing sports.
2. Help children create an environment for them to work: For example, children especially want to move a kettle, but the kettle is too heavy. At this time, if you help him move the kettle, it will only be thankless. The best way is to change the kettle into a cup and let the child move to the place he wants to move, so that he will feel more fulfilled.
Don't always say "don't touch", "don't move" and "be quiet" to children: children always want to touch here and there during the sensitive period of hands-on, and even want to help adults wash dishes. Usually adults will refuse their help at this time. In fact, children are imitating the world of adults, and they have a strong desire to work. At this time, parents can help their children finish what they want to do instead of yelling at them loudly.
Mothers have seen that in fact, children instinctively like to work, and it is very important to realize this. If parents still keep their children away from the things around them as they do now, it will hinder their growth as if they don't let their children talk. Of course, when children learn to speak, we don't need to make any special preparations for them, but when they need to move with their little hands, they need some corresponding items to cooperate, such as various daily necessities suitable for children. Family and social environment will have a direct impact on children's activities, so for the healthy development of children, mothers should change their concepts and never think that children are "doing ghosts." When their little hands make movements full of spirituality and wisdom, they send a signal of yearning and longing to the world.
Second, the sensitive period of walking (sensitive period of children aged 0-2)
There seems to be an alarm clock in the child's body, which awakens his ability to keep his body balanced and tells the child: it's time for you to learn to walk!
Psychologists say that human beings can stand up in four steps:
The first stage: doing.
The second stage: turn over and crawl. If you let him hold your two fingers at this stage, he will walk with his feet, but only touch the ground with his toes.
The third stage: being able to stand independently and land on the ground with the sole of your foot can already complete a person's normal standing posture. Of course, he also needs to hold other things, such as his mother's clothes.
Stage 4: Walking without the help of others.
However, all these can be attributed to the child's internal maturity process, rather than our adults teaching children to walk. But how do adults do it? When children begin to learn to walk according to the laws of nature, adults are always impatient, like to hold their children, or push them around in wheelbarrows, and some families even buy toddlers for their children. In fact, these are obstacles for children to practice walking and hinder their natural development.
The correct way is:
1. Don't set obstacles for children to walk. He should leave if he wants. Don't force your child to sit in a stroller or use a walker. Believe in the power of children.
2. Cooperate with the speed of children's walking, because children have short legs and are not as strong as adults, and adults must cooperate with children instead of letting children cooperate with adults.
3. Take the children outdoors to see what they like, such as leaves and insects, so as to arouse their interest. When their interest increases, they can walk outdoors for a longer time.
We adults must realize that children learning to walk is an internal strength, not that they can learn to walk very early after advanced training. What we have to do is to satisfy the child's desire to walk as much as possible. For example, if they insist on climbing stairs, parents should not feel bored. When he is tired, he will ask for a rest. Adults walk to reach a destination, while children's walking is just a kind of walking, a kind of training, an exploration of the world, and an effort made by children to adapt to the world.
Third, the sensitive period of painting (sensitive period for children aged 3-4)
When it comes to painting, it is estimated that all mothers speak the same language. Since the little cute people at home began to like painting, their "masterpieces" have been everywhere on the walls at home. Many mothers were very angry, and some even patted their babies' hands to tell them not to scribble on the walls at home, but the effect was not obvious. When the mothers began to do housework, the children began to act again.
Then why do children suddenly fall in love with painting? It turns out that children have reached the "sensitive period of painting". In this sensitive period, how should parents educate?
The correct way:
1. Guide children to draw freely: Generally speaking, children draw for the first time without shape, which is very messy. Parents can ask their children what they want to draw and guide them to draw. Slowly, the child's paintings become clearer and clearer, and we can see his progress in graphic observation.
2. Guide children to make up the painting: This kind of painting is very important for children because it is "preparing for writing". Because the graphics have been decided, children need to draw them. Different things have different colors. At first, children will draw at sixes and sevens, but with the enhancement of observation, children will draw better and better, which is also an exercise of children's observation.
3. Guide children to make clay sculptures: plasticine and ultra-light clay are very popular teaching AIDS. Children often make works that surprise us, which shows that children are actually small observers, and they even make details that adults will not notice at all.
If mothers find that their children have reached the "sensitive period of painting", don't stop them from creating, because this is also a process of their growth and development. The best way is to help and guide the child in the above way, so that the child can start writing from easy to difficult, so that she will not stay in the stage of "free painting" where she scribbles everywhere, and he will have higher and higher requirements for himself, which is conducive to training his observation and practical ability and laying a solid foundation for future writing.
The above three sensitive periods are very typical, but they are also easily overlooked by parents. For example, children are not allowed to turn things over during the "hands-on sensitive period", they have no patience to walk with their children during the "walking sensitive period", and they will only reprimand their children for drawing on the wall during the "painting sensitive period". Mothers get together and complain about their babies. However, if children encounter obstacles in the sensitive period and cannot develop normally, their psychological development may be disordered or even distorted. Therefore, parents must pay attention to the guidance of their children during the sensitive period.
There are three principles that parents must abide by if they want to grasp the sensitive period of their children for education.
First: respect all children's reasonable activities and try to understand the purpose of their activities.
Second, we must fully support children's desire for activities, cultivate their independent personality, and prevent them from forming the habit of dependence.
Third: we must always pay attention to getting along with children. Because children's emotions, especially the influence from the outside world, are more delicate than we thought.
? Why should we abide by the above three principles? In Montessori's Handbook of Children's Sensitive Period, the author also made a detailed explanation, because we adults always use our own rhythm to demand children and suppress them everywhere. The above three principles are to be alert to the rhythm of education that we adults must pay attention to, to conform to the development of nature, and to let children grow up freely in a free environment.