The Enriching Environments Podcast

In the second episode in our six part series on the Montessori Sensitive Periods, we focus on movement. Essentially, movement is the foundation for all development. The young child's need for movement is critical, from birth! And coincidentally arguably the most difficult Sensitive Period to follow in Western society as the majority of "stuff" for babies and young children is designed to limit the...

The first in my six part IGLives on the Sensitive Periods for #ramadan2022 - we begin with sense of order. 🥰   The Sensitive Periods are one of the lynchpins of Montessori philosophy that help us to understand young children, their needs within the early years, and thus how we can support them.  For this year's #ramadanchallenge I am excited to be running Top Tip Tuesday on Instagram Li...

Sandtimers are essential for life with a Toddler (and older children too!) For Top Tip Tuesday on Instagram Live this week I talked through how to use sandtimers: > Setting loving boundaries - 'you can swing for ten minutes, and once the sand is finished it's time to give this other little girl a turn'. > Ease transitions - 'in five minutes, once the sand is finished we are going to put on o...

For Top Tip Tuesday on Instagram Live this week we talked about Creativity in the young child; how it develops, why it's important and how (and why) to offer child-led opportunities for creativity. ✨ Creative expression is an important part of self-expression for the young child. 💞 Creativity for the young child is process driven (not outcome driven), so they are creative for the experience, not...

Food Preparation with Young children!  During this Instagram Live we discussed food preparation with young children:   💗 What they are capable of.   ✨ What tools they need.   ☺️ Why it's so important in their daily lives.   ⭐ How to begin.   The wooden Toddler knife for fruit/vegetable preparation and playdough is available in the  enrichingenvironments.com/SH...

For this week's Top Tip Tuesday we discussed Toilet Learning; usually approached in Western culture with fear and dread, or with a controlling 'the child must not have an accident' mindset. We had a ton of fab questions from viewers and covered the following points: 😍 In the Montessori way, toilet learning is seen as a natural developmental stage, much like crawling or walking. ✨ We provide the...

Fostering an environment of respect, non-competition and peaceful resolution. ❤️   In the second of our special two part series on Sibling Dynamics, this week we focussed on conflict resolution.  During this session we covered the following:    😊 When/if to intervene. (take a deep breath, recognise what emotions we are bringing to this dynamic between our children).  &nbs...

Developing a deep bond between our children is one of the most rewarding and sometimes tricky to navigate areas in parenting.   During this Instagram Live we talked about nurturing the precious sibling bond from the start; from the language we use and the support we offer to each child as they navigate their place within the family.   We focussed on three key areas:  1) Not forcing...

Top Tip Tuesday on Instagram Live last night on physical behaviour in toddlers. It's normal, it happens! It is our response to this normal Toddler occurrence that is important ❤️🌟 Three years ago I had a biter and a hitter! It was tough at the time, playdates were stressful, my child wasn't coping and the other children involved were upset 😞 In this Live we'll discuss : Why it happens, why it's...

During this Top Tip Tuesday on Instagram Live we focussed on the value of play and playfulness for fostering connection and cooperation with our children.   We discussed the following key points:   👣 All play is valuable, vital in fact, children learn through play in the early years.     ✨ Amongst many other benefits, children practise their social skills, process their...

This week on Top Tip Tuesday we dove deep into why making young children share isn't appropriate and how we can support them in this. We covered: 💕Understanding why an adult’s view of sharing is inappropriate for young children. 🌻Creating a supportive home environment that allows qualities such as generosity and kindness to flourish. 🌸Moving away from shaming or correcting an older child when t...

During this IG Live we discussed the curriculum for our forthcoming Montessori Nanny Training Programme:   Session 1: Sunday 20th February - 2:30 - 4:30pm Dubai time  ✓ Brief introduction to the Montessori approach and the value it offers to children of all cultures around the world.  ✓ Child development needs in the context of Montessori (movement, free exploration, respectful comm...

During this session I talked through the main topics of the the forthcoming Programme and how beautifully Montessori aligns with Conscious Parenting and vice versa.   💞 Montessori Conscious Parenting offers us the opportunity to see our children as our teachers, not the other way round.   ☀️ Montessori Conscious Parenting invites us to speak, to think and to act in a different way,...

This week's Top Tip Tuesday was on how to enjoy the holiday season without becoming frazzled and fed up! 🎄✨  ❣️ We looked at how we can approach Christmas (or any other festival) in a way that allows each family member a little, space, time or rhythm (whatever they need according to their age!) to enjoy this busy and sometimes overstimulating time, in fullness.   We talked about: &nbsp...

For Top Tip Tuesday  this week we spoke about the holiday season!  Inspired by our conversation on the Montessori Show last Friday with @jeannemariepaynel and @themontessorinotebook; this week for Top Tip Tuesday let's discuss simple holiday traditions that we can start with our children from the early years.   We discussed Santa, do we pretend he's real, do we say he's not?  H...

In this session we discussed an approach we can take to handle difficult questions to ensure that our interactions stay child-led. (i.e we don't overwhelm them with too much information the first time they ask a question!) and we take things step by step, answering only the question that they have asked - then stop and let them come to us with a follow up, which may be minutes, days or hours later...

During this session we focused on three main areas in order to understand and best support our boys:  * expressing emotions  * aggression  * purposefulness   The book I recommended is called Raising Boys by Steve Biddulph (he also wrote Raising Girls - both are brilliant!).  Misunderstood and mislabelled, Western society is in general critical of boys behaviour, their natu...

During this Instalive we discussed one of the key concepts of Montessori Living/Parenting and Education - developing autonomy from a young age so as to support our children in becoming capable, compassionate and contributing members of society. We answered the following questions: 🌞 So how do we develop autonomy from birth? Through the #preparedenvironment and having a #montessorimindset . 🌹 How...

Thank you for joining me! In this IG Live we discussed how puppets, teddies, stuffed animals are a fun and effective way for parents and caregivers to cultivate emotional intelligence in children. Here are the main points that we covered: ✓ Children love hearing stories! ✓They offer a child an opportunity to experience the world from another's perspective. ✓ Challenging behaviour (from our child o...

This week I talked through my Montessori At Home Online Mentoring Programme. I welcome my next batch of students on Sunday 7th November!  My 6 week Online Programme is your foundation for Montessori at Home and Montessori Parenting.  We cover: Preparing our space in alignment with our core values, free play and exploration, simple choices and self-discipline, rich language and communicat...

In this Instalive we discussed trust, affirming that all of parenting is about trusting our children and trusting ourselves:   To quote Dr Montessori "When the child is ready she will do it properly".  Having a deep level of trust in our children and their unique path invites us to trust ourselves...  😎 We started with the simple premise that each of us have out own unique journey,...

In Top Tip Tuesday this evening we discussed that it is interesting that we hold our children to standards of behaviour that we may not practise ourselves.🤔 🤩 This self reflection came from being with clients who were discussing whether their almost two year old son 'should' be able to consistently replace his toys on the shelf where they belong. We decided that as adults we often don't return t...

For this week's Top Tip Tuesday we discussed anger. Our own anger and where it comes from, our children's anger, and how accepting all parts of ourselves with radical self-compassion is part of our healing process.  It was pretty uncomfortable and vulnerable talking about this!   And so, we delved our relationship with anger.  We discussed that our response to anger as adults would...

In this Instagram Live we discussed the 'reserved' child, those who are: slow to 'warm up' in social situations, stay glued to their parent in the playground, at a playdate or a birthday party. Reluctant to make eye contact with unfamiliar people. 😊 We spoke about how we often have unconscious expectations of how children 'should' behave; and that society's expectations of a child's emotional cap...

✨What value is there in extra curricular activities for young children?💕 Inspired by a vulnerable and honest conversation with a client last week; for Top Tip Tuesday this week I invited you for a lively discussion about extra curricular activities/classes for young children. 🌳 What value do extra curricular activities bring? ✨ What are the benefits of structured classes versus free play? 🌼 I...