Freedom Within Limits
Once again, the children and the teachers amaze me. We had our first Fire Drill of the school year, and it went so smoothly. Can you imagine randomly and without warning telling 15 toddlers and 18 primary students to STOP what they are doing. Then be expected to line up as quickly and quietly as possible, leading them out the door through the parking lot (right by the distraction of the playground) to sit, then patiently waiting while we call each child's name. And then line up again, walk right past the playground again, to be expected to go back to work? I can feel the anticipated chaos, can you?
How do the teachers do it? Magic.
No, not real magic. It is done the same way as every other aspect of the classroom, and adult-child interactions happen through clear communication of expectations, boundaries, and consequences.
Every aspect of the Montessori environment and the interactions within it revolves around Freedom within Limits.
What does that mean exactly?
Well, it means that you have the freedom to choose ANY work you would like as long as (limit) you have had a lesson on it. You may sit with and chat with anyone in the classroom as long as you are safe, kind, and respectful. It means you may move around the classroom freely with the limit of being safe, kind, and respectful (inside, it is safe to walk).
What that means for us as the adult is that we must be clear within our selves first of our boundaries. What are our expectations? Once we are clear within ourselves, we can communicate those expectations with authority to the children.
We must also be clear on what the limit or consequence is to not following those expectations. It is vital to keep consequences as natural or logical as possible. For instance, in the classroom, if a child is unable to follow the expectation of staying in the line, that child is asked to hold an adult's hand so we a) know they are safe and b) can practice the expectation. At home, that may look something like, if a child can not stay seated at the dinner table as expected and has been reminded and redirected several times, the consequence is they have shown they finished with dinner, and their meal is put away. "We will try again next time."
Here is where the super important CONSISTENCY part comes in. We must be consistent with the expectations and consequences; otherwise, they can not trust us.
Imagine driving down a street day after day knowing that you can rely on the stoplight to dictate and give you a limit on when it is safe to move through the intersection and when it is not. You rely on that to know when to stop and when to go. Your freedom is to drive down this road whenever you would like in whatever vehicle you desire. The limit is you must be safe, kind, and respectful (follow the road rules). Now, imagine, after several times driving on this street and feeling confident you know the freedoms and limits. You feel secure when all of a sudden the rules change and the light is no longer reliable, flickering from green to yellow to red to who knows, maybe even purple (that's new. What in the world does that mean?). So you no longer feel safe, you no longer trust the system, you no longer follow the other expectations because apparently rules no longer apply. And chaos ensues.
It is no different for our children. And this is how the magic happens in the Montessori environment. We work diligently to prepare the environment each day to ensure clear communication (verbal and non-verbal, overt and implied) of expectations, that the freedoms and limits are clear and consistent, and that the consequences are natural or logical.
Because of this consistency, the children know they can rely on and trust the adults here at Wild Fern. Because of the work the adults have put into clear communication, not just with the children but also among each other, we are all consistent. It doesn't happen overnight. But I think it is safe to say we all agree helping to grow an adult is about the long-term outcome!
Keep at it! Keep going!! They are learning and growing, and so are we all!
