Wednesday, August 06, 2008

hoodwinked by maria montessori

One day at Ikea I became enamoured with this fabulous stool! I had other step stools, but they were always to small to do any good. I philosophically believe in creating an child friendly environment and involving children in lots of daily tasks to create a sense of joy in mastery and achievement. Self help skills are critical life skills. Maria Montessori would be proud and defintiely would have given my ikea purchase 2 thumbs up.
I have, however, in my pursuit of developmental progress and Eriksonian toddler conflict mastery (autonomy vs shame and doubt) caused myself some trouble.
I had great visions of the stool enabling great handwashing in the bathroom, and also getting my sons up to the perfect height to help wash dishes and prepare dinners.
This stool is an enabler all right, only for all the wrong things. Brazen autonomy is what it inspires! It is an accomplice to cookie thievery, an accessory to cleaning out the candy stash in the name of a "potty treat", and a cohort in crime for getting down the golf club you used to whack your brother earlier in the day which got stashed on top of the fridge to prevent further violence. So Maria, I think you led me astray.

Todays 3: 1.a good step stool 2. ingenuity 3. vacation as a family

11 comments:

Smilin' sunshine said...

I always love your posts, although I must say that some of your words are a little big for me!!!

Have fun on your vacation and I hope you are still able to blog!

Anonymous said...

LOL that is great!! And one reason the stool we had got thrown out (that and it was trashed).

Misty said...

ROFL. My kids use the kitchen chairs for all those same things. :)

Company EIGHT said...

LOL! At our house, our fabulous stool is used in aiding and abetting pantry raiding, so I'm right there with you!

Anonymous said...

Ha! yeah, the Montessori method can backfire occasionally, I suppose. We have that stool too:)

Lei said...

This is why we've banned stools... I got tired of finding high places for them when not is use!

Trueman twins said...

Hey I am all for whatever object helps me get closer to the cookie jar! Can you blame them?

Arlyn said...

I just want to know...is your kitchen always that clean?

smart mama said...

arlyn- are you crazy- no it was a good day of pre vaca clean up, i stategically shot the pic.

Arlyn said...

You don't know HOW GLAD I am to know that! :)

Unknown said...

Got that step too!
Maria *would* be proud of us! I like yours painted - ours is still raw but will hopefully be painted white sometime this millenium ;)