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