Living Montessori Now

Montessori Inspiration for Parents and Teachers

Montessori and My Children – Theory vs. Reality

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My children are adults now, but they were raised with Montessori principles from the time they were babies. So, how did that work out? What are my thoughts now?

My Now-Adult Montessori Children

In one of my first posts at Living Montessori Now, I said that many former Montessori students are known for their initiative, creativity, and self confidence (“Famous People Influenced by Montessori”). Would I apply those terms to my children? Definitely!

Actually, I have to say that Montessori parenting in reality is better than I expected from Montessori parenting in theory. In “Why I Used Montessori Principles in My Parenting Philosophy,” I wrote about some of the qualities Montessori principles helped my children develop:

  • kindness
  • love of learning
  • competence and the ability to be successful
  • sense of order
  • ability to concentrate
  • persistence
  • independence
  • no education burn-out
  • academic success.

But, when I think about it, one of the qualities that impresses me the most (and I’m sure it comes at least in large part from Montessori principles) is the comfortableness both my kids have with being who they are. As teenagers (and adults), they didn’t feel a need to experiment with drinking or drugs to fit in with their peers. They’ve stayed lifelong vegetarians even if their peers encouraged them to eat meat.

Will and Christina are both entrepreneurs and very comfortable with running their own businesses and finding new, creative ways to improve their businesses. If you’d like to see my kids in action as adults, I’ll share a few YouTube videos.

Will decided at age 10 that he wanted to be a DJ when he first saw a DJ at a roller skating rink. At age 16, he started DJing in Colorado Springs. He built up his DJ company while competing internationally as a pairs skater and then getting his bachelor’s degree in communications with a minor in music industry studies.

Will moved his DJ business to San Diego in 2007. He’s now the owner and head DJ of Dancing DJ Productions, one of the largest and most successful DJ companies in San Diego. The best thing is that he loves his work and brings joy to people with it!

Here’s DJ Will’s Wedding Video:

Christina started adulthood as a World-level ice dancer competing for Great Britain with her Scottish partner, Mark Hanretty. Christina and Mark had the honor of competing at the 2010 World Championships before Mark retired from competitive skating.

At the same time, Christina completed her bachelor’s degree in England at age 19. Her bachelor’s dissertation is called A Study to Investigate if There is a Need for Acting Lessons for Competitive Figure Skaters. Using the results of her dissertation, Christina started a new business as a performance coach. She also performed with Mark as a professional ice dancer.

Here’s a video of one of Christina’s performance classes in England. Christina enjoyed and was successful with that business until moving to San Diego with her husband, Tom.

Christina continues to use her dance training and love of performing. She now works online with her health/fitness/fashion/beauty blog at ChristinaChitwood.com. You can read more about Christina here.

30-Day Challenges to Improve Your Life from ChristinaChitwood.com

I’m a fan of 30-day challenges, and I’ve especially loved Christina’s 30-day challenges. Here are also some fun dance workouts with Christina on YouTube (yes, dancing and performing)! Christina’s dance workouts are definitely my favorite workouts.

Christina also continues her Montessori upbringing by creating printables with me for the Living Montessori Now shop and our subscriber freebies and other free Montessori printables. And she does the main work on our YouTube channel.

Christina and Tom are expecting their first baby any day now, so Christina has been having fun researching baby products. Like me, Christina loves to do research, so you’ll be finding out about some of the best natural baby products on her blog before long! And they plan to use Montessori principles and Montessori homeschooling with their children.

Theory vs. Reality in Summary

Both Will and Christina are simply used to following their interests and doing what works for them. They are true lifelong learners. And I love all the positive character traits they’ve developed along the way. I have to say, that’s much better than I ever expected when I started this amazing parenting journey!

Montessori Resources

I have a page of Montessori Resources with lots of posts about the Montessori principles my husband and I used to raise our now-adult children.

If you’d like to use Montessori principles and wonder where to start, I have a post called “How to Start Using Montessori at Home” with links for different ages of children and different ways to use Montessori at home.

Here are some of my main home environment posts:

See “How to Create a Montessori-Friendly Home” for ideas for a number of levels. Here are some of my main home environment posts here:

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Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shannon says

    My son just turned three; and I’ve recently been researching more about Montessori homeschooling. I found your website and want to thank you so much for sharing your heart and mind with us all. What an excellent resource!
    In regards to this specific entry, I’d like to ask the following question. How do you feel your Montessori approach to parenting has affected the relationship you have with your now adult children?

  2. Sarah Scherrer says

    I love how your list of qualities includes–but does NOT lead with–academic success. The holistic development of the child’s soul is what has drawn me to Montessori. Thanks for the videos–what fun! Makes the Montessori community proud! 🙂

  3. chrisyt says

    What an inspiration you are as a mother and educator! Thanks for sharing the videos of your grown children. I appreciate your positive perspective on this theme, when most of us talked about how the challenges we faced made us re-evaluate what we were doing.

  5. Racheous says

    Great post! It seems like forever away for me (a mama of a 3yo and 1yo) but this is a good reminder that all the work put in to a Montessori home has lifelong benefits!

  7. Lauren says

    I love how self-confident and self-aware your children are! They really do just seem comfortable in their own skins. That really is quite the testimony for the Montessori way of raising them.

    • Deb says

      Thanks so much, Lauren! I always wished I could have been so self-confident. I’m glad my kids were able to gain more self-confidence than I ever had. 🙂

  8. Seemi says

    I continue to be inspired by all you’ve done Deb. Thank you for sharing the story of your children. They are indeed a testament to the Montessori approach, and your skill in implementing it!

    • Deb says

      Thanks so much for your kind words, Seemi! I love how you’re such a positive influence on so many young children’s lives! 🙂

  9. Dionna says

    What an awesome list of qualities! Did you intentionally set out to foster those? There is a chapter in the Respectful Parents, Respectful Kids book that encourages parents to envision the qualities they want their children to have as adults, and then to be mindful about encouraging activities that would build them.

    • Deb says

      Thanks for your thought-provoking question, Dionna! I didn’t intentionally have a list of qualities, although I know I always wanted my children to grow up to be kind as well as successful. I knew the parts of education that were difficult for me as a perfectionist. I didn’t want my kids to have that sort of stress, so I intentionally went with the Montessori principles of not testing or grading my children. Homeschooling was also a good way to do that for us.

      Since I was already a trained Montessori teacher and had seen the benefits of Montessori education in my students, I wanted those same traits for my kids. I just wasn’t sure exactly how well Montessori principles would work during the teenage years. That was a pleasant surprise! 🙂

  10. Lucy says

    I hope one day I can look back with such assurance about my kids’ childhood… I’m not so sure I will… but I hope!

  12. Kellie says

    I love reading about Montessori methods, especially at home. We practice Waldorf, but I’ve always been interested in Montessori as well. Thanks for sharing!

  13. Kate (Here Now Brown Cow) says

    It certainly sounds like your children have had a wonderful upbringing with such inspiring parents to nurture their creative spirits. So nice to hear that all that love and nurturing leads to secure and confident young adults!

    • Deb says

      Thanks, Kate! Love and nurturing are definitely key parts (and natural parts) of parenting. I was lucky that parenting doesn’t require perfection. 🙂

  14. Lisa Nelson says

    Thanks for sharing! Your children are certainly successful. I think that has a lot to do with their parents (you and your hubby) and the way your encouraged them, fostered their growth and nurtured their talents.

    All children are made for greatness. I firmly believe that at the beginning, all of them have the same possibilities for greatness. It’s the way the parents seek out, develop and nurture the talents that they possess.

    • Deb says

      Thanks for your kind comment, Lisa! I love your statement that “All children are made for greatness.” 🙂

  15. mrs green says

    I love your experience of how parenting in such a way exceeded your expectations. I feel this is going to be a different and positive slant to many of us and how proud you are of your amazing children. Kudos to you mama for following your heart and path and for trusting the outcome 🙂

    • Deb says

      Thanks so much, Mrs. Green! I really didn’t expect to have such an easy time of it … especially during the teenage years. 😉