Admittedly, the concept of children having so much more freedom in a Montessori setting is one that is often misunderstood and even gives the philosophy a bit of a bad rap. 

When we talk about "freedom" in the Montessori context, we are not talking about doing whatever you want without thought, we are talking about the inner freedom to be able to choose what is right and good even in a difficult situation.

When we say “discipline”, we are not referring to punishment of the child by the adult, we are talking about an inner ability to regulate oneself in the service of growth or improvement; the ability to use constraint and control of the will.

Maria Montessori writes in The Absorbent Mind that, “To let the child do as he likes when he has not yet developed any powers of control is to betray the idea of freedom.” Join us in this week's episode as we discuss how to accomplish providing your child with freedom, but always within a framework of limits that lend to internal discipline.