Today we’re doing something a bit new — hearing from a Montessori Dad! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had readers asking me how to get their husbands interested in Montessori, and I can only give advice from my own perspective. So I thought we should go straight to the source! Kevin from Montessori Method wrote the following piece to share what he loves about the Montessori philosophy as well as how to get other dads involved:

Montessori From a Dad’s Perspective

It’s not often you see men blogging or posting on Instagram or Pinterest about Montessori, but I’ve fallen in love with practicing Montessori with our little one and have really enjoyed having some outlets to learn from others and share our Montessori journey.

In this article, I’m going to talk about the Montessori journey from a dad’s perspective (including how to get your husband more interested in Montessori).

How We Got Started With Montessori

When looking for daycares in our area, we came across a local Montessori school that was offering a toddler program.

At the time we thought Montessori was just a private school system in our city, but later learned it was an entire approach to raising a child that could be used at home as well.

My wife did a bit of research on Montessori online. She introduced me to an Instagram account of a Montessori mom documenting her at-home Montessori journey (@MontessoriInRealLife).

After seeing how smart, capable, and independent her little one was at under 2 years old, I was amazed. This is where my interest in Montessori really started.

I started doing some research online looking into what Montessori was all about and found some fantastic websites created by moms practicing Montessori – including Momtessori Life!

We started to learn more about how Montessori isn’t just an education system, rather an entire approach to raising a child that you can start implementing at home from birth.

This led to us starting to incorporate Montessori in our home and, more recently, enrolling our daughter in the local Montessori Toddler Class.

Why I Fell In Love With Montessori (And How To Get Your Husband To Fall In Love With It Too!)

There are so many aspects of Montessori that I fell in love with, and I will share my favorites below along with some advice for the moms reading this who want their husband to fall in love with Montessori as well (I know how stubborn us men can be with learning something new)!

Independence

As a new parent, I was absolutely amazed at some of the things I saw young toddlers who were practicing Montessori at home doing.

Toddlers were preparing food, helping set the table for dinner, washing their dishes, getting their own clothes on, and doing self-care tasks.

Before learning about Montessori, I pictured parenting being busy and having to do every little task for my daughter. I had no idea just how capable children can be at such a young age.

If you want your husband to be more interested in Montessori, show him how it can help your child become more independent. And explain how that will free up time and make life with a toddler less stressful.

Beautiful Spaces

I used to picture our house turning into a messy, loud, unorganized play area, but was amazed when I saw some of the beautiful Montessori play spaces.

Show your husband how Montessori encourages less clutter and noisy toys, with simple and inviting playrooms that are just as enjoyable for the adult.

If you want to share pictures and a video with your husband I shared our Montessori playroom on my blog here: Montessori Style Playroom

Encourages Curiosity

Like most parents, leading into parenthood I had hopes that I would raise a smart and curious child.

And I’ve since learned that Montessori creates the perfect environment to do so.

When watching a child who has grown up in a Montessori environment, you can often quickly see how intelligent and curious they are.

Through the types of activities and learning children go through with the Montessori approach, to the inclusion of nature, and the self-regulation style of learning, it makes sense that a Montessori child would become an intelligent and curious kid.

If you have a local Montessori school see if you can bring your husband in for a tour during school hours and he will be amazed (as I was on our visit).

Makes Learning Enjoyable

I had mixed feelings about school as a kid.

I remember really enjoying my early years, and I was thriving too.

But around 3rd or 4th grade, we went from less hands-on work to more of a “sit in your desk and listen/work” environment, and I started to enjoy school less and less (and my grades lowered as I got into the later years).

With our little one only being 19 months currently, I haven’t looked too far ahead into the older levels of Montessori education, but from what I’ve seen the education seems to stay very hands-on and seems much more enjoyable for children.

Personally, we aren’t sure if we will be able to enroll our kids in Montessori schooling throughout their elementary years (as it can be expensive depending on where you live), but even just including some of the Montessori learning styles at home can make learning more enjoyable for your kids.

If you are pushing for your husband to be on board with enrolling with a Montessori school (or possibly homeschooling), simply talk to him about how enjoyable the learning experience is for the kids. We all want our kids to be happy, and I’m sure that will help move the needle!

Cultivates a Respectful Child

The last aspect I’m going to touch on for today’s article is how the Montessori approach was designed to create a respectful and loving child.

Maria Montessori wanted Montessori parents and teachers to create an environment of respect.

This is done in a number of ways, including respecting their concentration and allowing them to work uninterrupted, respect for nature, respecting the child’s feelings and needs, or providing observations instead of judgments.

By modeling respect ourselves, our children will become respectful.

Your husband (just like all parents) will be all for a child who is respectful, so there’s another great point to bring up to him to get him on board with the Montessori parenting method.

Why I’m Looking Forward To Our Montessori Journey

Whether we continue Montessori schooling or just end up implementing the Montessori parenting approach at home, I am confident it is the perfect approach for us in raising our children.

We only started our Montessori journey about 10 months ago, but have already seen how it can have an incredible impact on a child.

Our 19-month-old daughter is curious, determined, shows great concentration, is loving and respectful, and all-around seems to be loving life 🙂

I knew I would love being a dad, but the Montessori approach to parenting has made everything about it just that much better.