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The Montessori Toddler: A Parent's Guide to Raising a Curious and Responsible Human Being Paperback – March 19 2019
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It’s time to change the way we see toddlers. Using the principles developed by the educator Dr. Maria Montessori, Simone Davies shows how to turn life with a “terrible two” into a mutually rich and rewarding time of curiosity, learning, respect, and discovery.
With hundreds of practical ideas for every aspect of living with a toddler, here are five principles for feeding your child’s natural curiosity, from “Trust in the child” to “Fostering a sense of wonder.” Step-by-step ways to cultivate daily routines with ease, like brushing teeth, toilet-training, dealing with siblings, losing the pacifier. Plus learn how to:
- Stay composed when your toddler is not and set limits with love and respect—without resorting to bribes or punishment
- Set up your home and get rid of the chaos
- Create Montessori activities that are just right for your one-to-three-year-old
- Raise an inquisitive learner who loves exploring the world around them
- See the world through your toddler’s eyes and be surprised and delighted by their perspective
- Be your child’s guide—and truly celebrate every stage
- Print length256 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherWorkman Publishing Company
- Publication dateMarch 19 2019
- Dimensions16.99 x 2.22 x 23.81 cm
- ISBN-10152350689X
- ISBN-13978-1523506897
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From the Publisher

Unlike traditional parenting how-to, this is a beautiful book to hold and read, with lovely collage illustrations, and photos of homes that illustrate the Montessori ideals.

Every technique, activity, and thoughtful design element Simone Davies proposes in The Montessori Toddler has at its heart a message of mindfulness, of joy, and of acceptance of one's child and his or her natural curiosity and desire to learn about the world. Her ideas are firmly based in the child-centered principles of Montessori education including respect for the child, the belief that children are natural learners, and that children learn best in an environment where they can do things for themselves.
Product description
Review
“With every page chock-full of plans for how to make one’s home a haven for a youngster’s intellectual and emotional growth, this valuable manual fills a gap on a topic not as frequently addressed in the literature on toddler development.” —Library Journal
" This is a down-to-earth, accessible book that makes Montessori at home doable. She provides clear ideas for discipline and parenting, and it’s written in a friendly, parent-to-parent way." —Book Riot
About the Author
Simone Davies is an AMI (Association Montessori Internationale) Montessori teacher, as well as the author of The Montessori Notebook, the popular blog and Instagram where shes gives tips, answers questions, and provides online workshops to parents around the world. A native Australian, she and her family live in Amsterdam, where she runs parent-child classes at the Jacaranda Tree Montessori school.
Hiyoko Imai is a Tokyo-born illustrator, graphic designer, and paper composer based in Amsterdam. Her minimalistic, playful, and delicate art is carefully executed by hand and can be found at hiyokoimai.com.
Product details
- Publisher : Workman Publishing Company (March 19 2019)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 256 pages
- ISBN-10 : 152350689X
- ISBN-13 : 978-1523506897
- Item weight : 658 g
- Dimensions : 16.99 x 2.22 x 23.81 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
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Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more
Customer reviews

Reviewed in Canada on October 26, 2020
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Top reviews
Top reviews from Canada
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I took a photo of the table of contents so you can see what I mean.
Honestly I have read 5 Montessori books and this one is my favourite so far. I would buy this for friends too. If you’re curious, the author has an Instagram account too.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on October 26, 2020
I took a photo of the table of contents so you can see what I mean.
Honestly I have read 5 Montessori books and this one is my favourite so far. I would buy this for friends too. If you’re curious, the author has an Instagram account too.








Top reviews from other countries

Positives: Book is well laid out, easy to dip in and out and to read small sections at a time. Beautiful illustrations. Following some big Montessori Instagram accounts had left me feeling a bit overwhelmed but Simone makes incorporating the approach simple and achievable. I also feel that her age appropriateness suggestions for activities were reasonable. Simple suggestions on how to make little tweaks to your home to set a child up for success and independence. I like the emphasis put on spending time outdoors. Strategies for respectful parenting with limits have really helped me (and I particularly like the ‘instead of this, say that’ page).
Negatives: language work suggestions with flashcards etc seem tedious and time consuming to set up and unnecessary, I don’t think language acquisition needs to be forced like that. Book advises against playpens but doesn’t take into account different houses have different layouts where a child’s playspace can’t always be in your eyeline or that they can be made a cosy and comforting space. Advice re stand up diapering doesn’t really work for cloth nappies which I find impossible to fit properly unless lying down. Book assumes a certain level of income and privilege (ie, if you live in a city, take trips to lake or mountains) and even what the author suggests as simple and cheap modifications to your home aren’t in reality especially if you change a lot at one time. Book also assumes children are all able bodied. My daughter is deaf and a very late walker. Surely she has encountered a wide variety of children with additional needs in her work as a Montessori teacher? Some perspective on applying the approach with children who fall outside the normal range of developmental milestones might have been helpful and more inclusive. The biggest disappointment however was the advice on sleep. I don’t know what qualifications the author has to make sleep suggestions but I was very surprised to find advice against feeding to sleep and encouraging self settling from birth. Whilst the author advises against cry-it-out alone, she does advocate a crying to sleep approach whilst you are in the room. This seems the opposite of the Montessori approach of ‘follow the child’. Forcing a child that wants to be cuddled to sleep to fall asleep alone seems the opposite of this and I for one doubt that I will look back on my child’s babyhood and wish I had sat on a chair and read in their room whilst they cried instead of rocking them to sleep.

I assumed I bought a new book but I guess it wasn’t?


Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 20, 2020
I assumed I bought a new book but I guess it wasn’t?




Positives:
Main things I like so far are the tips for setting up an environment that is accessible for toddlers and their learning; understanding sensitive learning periods; and respecting and being there for your toddler through all emotions. It's beautifully set out too.
Criticisms:
However, the chapter on sleep I didn't think was very good - firstly, the author advocates a form of sleep training ("disappearing chair") if the child is having sleep issues or not going to sleep alone and this is causing issues. This advice seems at odds with advice saying to be present with your child during tantrums or emotional upsets, and research has shown that withholding connection or comfort in the name of sleep training is not respectful (when the book talks about the importance of this a lot) and can also cause emotional harm. She also advises an eat-play-sleep routine for babies from birth, which is ridiculous, especially for breastfed babies. Much evidence shows that feeding on demand and feeding to sleep is very important for milk production and bonding, and that this is the biological norm. Strict feeding and sleep routines for a baby can really derail breastfeeding. She neglects the fact that temperament has a LOT to do with how a child sleeps and usually it's nothing to do with what the parent does. Sleep is developmental.
I also didn't like the emphasis on not giving 'praise'. This feels like a form of withholding/not following our parental instincts - any advice like this I am wary of. It's natural to want to praise our babies and kids when they do or learn something new. It feels prescriptive and unrealistic to try to withhold this natural instinct - and I feel a child would miss out on that spontaneous, loving reaction. Of course it's helpful to provide detail with the praise e.g. 'I love the way you used red for that flower', rather than just saying 'lovely picture' or 'good job/good girl' - but there is also no harm in giving simple praise at times, in my opinion.
A useful book in some ways, but don't feel you need to follow it word for word! Ultimately little kids just need us to be present and loving and responsive to their needs.