The adult, Maria Montessori tells us, must be a guide and a stimulus capable of promoting and orienting the growth of the child, allowing that all his innate potential take place
There is no born parents, but you become it. The birth of a child coincides with that of two new figures, a father and a mother. No longer just a couple but parents, they are called to carry out one of the most difficult tasks: Educating tomorrow’s adult. They will have to help that child blossom, to offer him the necessary fertile ground so that he can fully achieve all his potential.
A change of perspective
Education, Maria Montessori tells us, is such when it is configured as “help to life that takes place”: not imposition from the outside, but beacon that illuminates the path. The figure of adult described by the pedagogist is therefore very different from that typical of the previous educational tradition. The authoritarian and board adult disappears, replaced by an undoubtedly authoritative figure, but capable of being “in the background”. The educator thought by Maria Montessori resembles a director, with the task of organizing the “set” (the environment) and observing the actor at work, offering only the feedback necessary for the best success of the “performance”.
The adult therefore acts as a conscious guide would do: observe carefully the child in front of him, he examines the peculiarities and specific needs of growth, facilitates the processes and media the interactions between these and the environment, which is the “true” master. Doing all this, of course, is not trivial or automatic. The adult who intends to educate, tells us Montessori, needs first of all a long and profound work on himself. A real cathartic processof purification and liberation from a whole series of preconceptions and old schemes of thought that prevents you from seeing the real nature of the child and which makes our action often is more an obstacle than an effective help to growth.
Maria Montessori, in her book The child in the familyrecognizes that “it is not easy to induce adult to a constant attitude of liabilities towards the child. And it is also necessary that the adult individual tries to buy an intelligence of childhood needs and know how to curb his pride of plasma. Self -education of one’s inner life is required. (The adult must be able) not to become an obstacle to the development of the child. Fundamental and difficult is not to know what we need to do, but understanding what presumption, of which foolish prejudices we must undress to make ourselves acting the education of the child ». So if theLove It is the essential base of starting, the adult will have to commit to supporting a preparation that is at the same time theoretical, technical and even “spiritual”.
Know, knowing how to do, knowing how to be
According to the Montessorian approach, in order to educate (according to the original meaning of the term, from Latin ex-ducäre“Draw out”, “bring out what is inside”) the adult must:
- Know: a Theoretical knowledge of development processes constitutes the foundations for each educational work. In order to adequately support the child, it is important that the adult knows the extraordinary potential of his absorbent mind and periods of sensitivity that will guide his acquisitions in the early years, in order to be able to guide in an appropriate way, on the basis of these awareness, his own action.
- Knowing how to do: In addition to conceptual knowledge, some practical skills will be essential. Above all, the ability to observe. Observing is much more than looking; It means being able to scrutinize the child in depth, to read their behaviors to understand his intimate needs and development needs. It is almost an art, which is learned not through the reading of books, but with a rigorous daily exerciseplacing himself on the sidelines and letting the “intelligent doing” of the child freely unfolds. Observing is essential, since it directs to do, think and the relationship itself. Equally important will be the punctual knowledge of the materials to be offered to the child, of the needs to which they respond and the way they must be presented in their correct use. They will complete the picture correct communication techniques: A respectful, proactive, authentic language, possibly inspired by the dictates of non-violent communication contributes to the establishment of a climate of trust, empathic and fertile.
- Knowing how to be: this means working daily with commitment for empty your mind and get rid of harmful and false beliefs (First of all, Montessori tells us, from the idea that the adult “forms” the child, as if he were soft wax in his hands). The “spiritual formation” of the adult calls into question his way of life, the way of relating to others and, last but not least, important virtues such as humility and patience, fundamental qualities of the educator.
Trust in the child
From the observation of the child to the preparation and care of the environment, from the preparation of the materials to the presentation of the activities: the role of the adult is multifaceted and complex. At the base there is an essential component: the trust. It is the main ingredient of the educational relationship. Trust in the child, in the fact that he has a natural push to learn and grow, so as to allow him to fully free his potential and to allow that it will take place what is destined to be: “a work of art of nature”. There is once for everythingand if we know how to wait (and, in doing so, teaching the value of waiting!) It will be the child himself to show us the “miracle of creation”. If we are able to accompany him instead of replacing us to him, listening to him instead of imposing choices, to offer him punctual answers to his needs rather than continuous arbitrary stimulations, we can truly achieve “education as a help to life” And to make our contribution to the training of adults of tomorrow, in the hope that they can really be manufacturers of peace and fraternity.
