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I listen to deep grunting sounds and watch two small hands, one on top of the other, pushing into the knife handle, and I realize that the desire (and muscle) of the two-year-old child will create a way to cut through a carrot, no matter how hard it seems. All the child needs is opportunity. Moments like this convince me that the prepared environment is just as critical to integration of the toddler’s development as it is to the three-year-olds.
A 17-month-old-boy needs to be at home. He’s too little to go to school. But what if both parents work or don’t have the inclination to home school? Where can the child go to find himself?
A day-care center, perhaps, strewn with plastic dollhouses and Tonka trucks. Here sits a teacher who may have little applicable education and the responsibility of transforming 300 square feet into a pre-educational cornucopia for 18 toddlers.
This mecca of opportunity often becomes a battleground for freedom of movement and expression. Toddlers scream, bite, push and hit, and everybody assumes it’s the terrible twos-but maybe it’s the result of the terrible misconception that toddlers just need a place to socialize and play. Perhaps these frustrated toddlers are trying to communicate their thwarted need to self-actualize through purposeful tasks.
In Phoenix there are not a lot of opportunities outside of home schooling where toddlers can go to find themselves. Although the advent of Montessori charter schools in Arizona has enriched the public educational climate, most of them start at the primary level, and a child must be five years old to bring charter funding.
There is an “at-risk” Montessori public school subsidized by the city; it will fund a four-year-old child’s entrance into pre-school. Yet how can we dictate which child is at a greater risk? Is it the one who is socio-economically disadvantaged, or the one whose creative spirit is stifled by lack of opportunity?
The handful of Montessori schools that do have toddler programs have a one-year waiting list. To add insult to injury, many of them will not accept a child who is not bathroom independent-perhaps a form of discrimination.
So what happens now?
Now we educate and write articles like this one to call attention to the plight of the toddler who might need something more than play and socialization.
What is this enigmatic “something more?” The essential element in the formation of any human being is the opportunity to adapt, integrate, experience and understand.
As soon as an infant begins to walk, he’s a toddler. Talk about adaptation: he gets from here to there despite all sorts of barriers, including the incomprehensible challenge of his own little body and legs, which are not quite strong enough. Oh, but the universe provides – a chair here, a table leg there – and finally, he makes it to the other side. He stand tall and proud and says to himself, “I am master of my own (shaky and unsure) body. And best of all, I’m doing what I’ve been watching mother, father, sister and brother do for the past twelve months. I’m not such a misfit after all!”
Using every opportunity available, the toddler adapts his physiological awkwardness to the physical environment and moves forward to accomplish his goal. Pretty soon the toddler is getting from here to there very well and has become a mobile being who wants to experience everything he sees.
The toddler goes after his sister’s puzzle, which she’s been working on for the past 20 minutes. “Go away,” she says. Hmmm, this is not an easy situation for him to adapt to, let alone integrate into. “I don’t want to understand anything,” he thinks. “Just give me one of those puzzle pieces!”
Thus begins the adaptation phase of development, when the toddler learns through his actions that certain boundaries define other people’s space, and his own. If he is lucky, these boundaries will be explained and modeled for him in a loving, respectful manner. This kind of emotionally supportive environment surely will help him integrate into the family setting and eventually learn that this is mine and that is yours.
Respectful boundary setting is a continual practical life lesson in the Montessori toddler classroom. It’s wonderful when these boundaries can be built into the classroom using individual worktables and shelves. A side benefit of this arrangement is that it minimizes distractions and helps support the toddler’s expanding concentration skills. Work rugs are another tangible boundary, not only for the child working on a project, but also for the wandering child looking for something to do.
We teach the simple phrase, “May I have this when you’re done?” (or, modified for the younger child, “May I?”), which respects and honors another’s space.
When a child first enters into the toddler community, he begins to adapt to the prepared environment through exploration. When his is comfortable with the feel of the classroom, he communicates that he’s ready to integrate into the rhythm of the workplace.
There are baskets to carry; trays to hold and balance while walking; work rugs to put down; teacher’s hands to watch demonstrating; water to pour and to clean up; stairs to climb; dress-up hats to put on; shoes to put on and take off; bottles to open and close; salt to shake into a bowl and clean up with a dustpan; easels to paint; friends to paint; friends to clean up; animals to line up on a work rug/ potatoes to transfer; tissues to wipe his own nose with; tables to scrub; beans to spoon and pick up; sounds, words and concepts to learn; feelings to identify and communicate; objects to feel and match to corresponding pictures; circular puzzle pieces to trace. There is music, singing, and other toddlers to observe. Everyone is doing something.
“Where do I go to find myself?” the toddler persists.
Integrating into the classroom, he finds his way back to the food preparation table. Grunting and groaning, he finally pushes the knife through the carrot into the cutting board. Holding the fallen piece of carrot in his hand, he is intoxicated by experience. “I did it!” he exclaims. Two little eyes beam with delight and self-esteem. Through understanding, he finds himself.
Any place can be a wonderland of opportunity for the toddler. If he can see himself as a contributing member of the community, he will be happy. If there is a place where he can get messy and grungy while perfecting a new skill such as feeding himself, measuring flour or making a sandwich, he is sure to become someone great.
But most of all, when he can see his reflection in the eyes of a loving teacher who will take the time to know him and awaken his love of learning, he will not only find himself, he will be truly blessed.
Jan Katzen-Luchenta is a teacher in a toddler program, consultant, author, and moderator of two on-line forums on toddler education
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