May 04, 2024 – A

I observe the 1 year old Great Granddaughter
at lunch in local restaurants twice a week.
She is incredibly attentive and curious,
looking intently at everything and everyone,
lifting the table cloth
to see what is underneath,
trying everything that is offered 
to her to eat,
and reaching a hand into her mouth
to retrieve and hurl to the floor
anything that doesn't meet her idea
of tasty.

That is who she is.
We are all who we are.
From the womb! 

No one comes into the world
as an empty slate!
No one needs to be "taught" 
who/how to be!

The Montessori approach
regarding assisting the coming forth
of what is there
instead of trying to force into being
that which truly ought not be,
is so to be preferred
over what has long passed
for "training the child
in the way they should to"--
as though we know what that is!

Let them take the lead!
They come into the world
knowing more about who they are
and how they are built to be
than we know about them.

Keep them safe and let them live their life!
And allow ourselves to live OUR life,
while we are at it!

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