Montessori?

I have 3 very mobile and active toddlers. They are all extremely busy and life can be very chaotic. Most of our meals involved them asking for 8000 things and me running around trying to meet their needs. I would feed Logan a bite or two, give Mika more milk, get Kai some more cheerios, give Logan another bit to eat, get frustrated when an inevitable spill happened, clean it up, and then get something for someone else. Once breakfast was over, I would throw clothes on them and our day would begin. I would often run to the bathroom and hastily throw on some makeup worrying about what they were getting into during my absence.  I would swallow my coffee and a protein bar once we were all in the car. Just the beginning of my day had me frazzled. 

All day I would be putting out fires and taking care of their every need. I would get a break when all 3 went down for their afternoon nap and to be honest, I sometimes took a nap as well. 

I was walking through the mall last week and saw a book on display on having a Montessori-like home for toddlers. This books grabbed my attention immediately in the first chapter. Montessori encourages having a calm and simple home. Those are things my home desperately needed. Instead of trying to work around my kids and serve them, I would work with my kids. The goal is to teach them to be responsible and independent so they can take part in daily life. I was fascinated and decided to buy the book, and within a day I was shocked.

Montessori style meals alone made me a believer. This is life changing for me. Kai and Mika set the table and help me bring over the food to the table. I haven't mastered them preparing meals with me yet, which would be the Montessori way and I know they would love to. The thought of that still overwhelms me, but I will get there. Once we all sit down, they pour themselves milk from a pitcher and serve themselves with minimal help from me. I help Mika more than I help Kai and, of course, I still do a lot for Logan. They each have a wet rag at their seat for cleaning up little messes that occur with every meal.  It amazes me how willing they are to do this and how stress free meal time is for me now. After we are all done eating, they ask permission and then scrape any food scraps into the garbage and drop their dishes in the sink. 

WHAT! Are these my kids????? I'm literally blown away by this. I never ever would have thought that my kids could do that much during a meal. And happily. 

I am utterly amazed at what a 2 and a 3 year old are happy to do. I now have the bottom shelf of the refrigerator set up with water cups so they can go grab a sip whenever they want, and then put the cup back in the refrigerator. This might seem obvious and simple, but for the last few years I have had around 900000 cups spread around my house every day because they would ask me for water, couldn't find the cup they had been using, so I would grab them another one instead of taking the time to find their last cup. 

Before we started this, I would usually turn the TV on every evening to get the kids out of my hair just so I could clean the house. Now every evening we all do chores together. Mika and Kai take turns vacuuming. I have a lovely lightweight cordless vacuum and the kids LOVE to vacuum with it. They also enjoy washing the windows and wiping the table down. I usually still have to follow behind and finish up but as crazy as it sounds, it doesn’t feel like I'm just their mom slave cleaning up after them anymore. And since we are all participating in taking care of our home, everyone tries a little harder to keep it nice.

I have put away most of their toys and set out just a few activities and toys for them to play with at once. The rule is that they cannot start playing with a new toy until they have put away the current one. We are struggling a little bit with that, but I'm sure with consistency they will very much improve. I am still learning about what activities best encourage learning and fun. My goal is to rotate activities weekly so they never get boring, and the kids get excited seeing toys they haven't played with in a couple weeks. If they ask for a particular toy, I do bring it, but we have to put the other toys away. I'm sure my activities and play room will evolve a ton as I learn more about having a Montessori home. 

Less is more in the Montessori approach. I have always loved the idea of a minimalist type home where we don't own a huge amount of belongings. I truly believe that the more stuff you have, the more stress is built into your life. No matter how hard we try, we always accumulate more than we need. I'm excited at the prospect of paring down again.

I have gone kind of crazy trying to learn everything. I'm taking an online course, I've joined every facebook group I can find on the subject and I am pinteresting like a mad woman. The Montessori homes on pinterest are seriously goal homes. They are so beautiful and simple. I am intending to slowly go through my house and turn each room into a beautiful, simple space that my kids can participate in and help take care of.