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.

*All podcast sessions originally recorded on Instagram Live, see my IGTV @enrichingenvironments for the video with captions, also available on YouTube, Spotify, ITunes & enrichingenvironments.com

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). 

 🤔 How to intervene. (listen more, talk less 😅 - cultivating problem solving skills and emotional intelligence).  

🎈 How to handle proclamations such as "I hate the baby" or "I wish I didn't have a sister". (offering empathy, validation and compassion).

💝 How to create an environment that cultivates patience and understanding from the start; whilst honouring the individuality and needs of all children in the family.   

Part 1 of the Sibling Dynamics series was on Tuesday 8th February, the recording can be found here on IGTV (with captions), on YouTube, Spotify and ITunes. 

Thank you for joining me!  Visit enrichingenvironments.com/SHOP for my online Parent Enrichment Courses, Workshops and Meditations for children. I’ll see you there!  

 *All podcast sessions originally recorded on Instagram Live, available on IGTV with captions, Spotify, ITunes & enrichingenvironments.com   

☀️💗🌼  #montessoriathome #montessorisiblings #montessoriuae #montessoriparenting #peaceeducation

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 siblings to 'share'. 

2) Nurturing non-competition by not comparing one to another. 

3) Highlighting to each sibling the importance they have in the other sibling's life.  For example for a newborn and a toddler, we draw to the toddler's attention that baby is always watching and listening to them.🤩

  We looked at how Montessori principles underpin the values of mutual respect and understanding, and offer a framework for parents that can be beautifully applied in the home environment.  

Part 2 of this special 2 part series on Sibling Bonds will be focussed on managing sibling conflict and will be on Tuesday 22nd February at 8:30pm GST.  

Visit enrichingenvironments.com/SHOP for my online Montessori Parenting Programmes, Workshops and Meditations for children.  I’ll see you there!   *All podcast sessions originally recorded on Instagram Live, see my IGTV @enrichingenvironments for the video with captions,  YouTube, or or listen on Spotify, ITunes & enrichingenvironments.com   

😍🌈🌟  

#montessoriparenting #montessorisiblings #siblingrivalry #montessoriathome #leadfromlove

Top Tip Tuesday on Instagram Live last night on physical behaviour in toddlers.

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 emotions, problem solve, and have fun - all in the name of play.   😍 Really playing with our children fully engaging in fun, nonsense and often silly behaviour is healing, connecting and joyful.   

🙈 For the most part, parenting should be us enjoying spending time with our children, absorbing their uninhibited joy for life and their limitless capacity for fun and mischief.   

💖 Play and playfulness as a beautiful way to connect to our Toddlers (and all our children!), whilst supporting collaboration.  Playfulness dissolves power struggles and helps us move through tricky moments in the day with a greater ease (and less stress!).  We become detectives to find out what type of playfulness is most effective with our child (silly, walk, voices, dances etc).  

Thank you so much for joining me everyone!  Visit enrichingenvironments.com/SHOP for my online Montessori Parenting Programmes, Workshops and Meditations for children.  I’ll see you there!  

 *All podcast sessions originally recorded on Instagram Live, see my IGTV @enrichingenvironments for the video with captions, or or listen on Spotify, ITunes & enrichingenvironments.com 

 😍🙏🏽💐 

 #montessoriparenting #Montessoriuae #montessoriathome #parentingmentor #leadfromlove #playfulparenting

This week on Top Tip Tuesday we dove

Visit enrichingenvironments.com/SHOP for my online Montessori Parenting Programmes, Workshops and Meditations for children.  I’ll see you there!

*All podcast sessions originally recorded on Instagram Live, see my IGTV @enrichingenvironments for the video with captions, or or listen on Spotify, ITunes & enrichingenvironments.com

😍🙏🏽💐

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 communication). 

✓ Guidance on respectful communication. Supporting caregivers in guiding children in empowering ways. (alternatives to good girl, naughty girl, threats,etc). 

✓ Guidance in respectful interaction (holding by the hand rather than the wrist or arm, respectful caregiving in diapering, honouring a child’s body boundaries, getting down to their level, not interrupting/interfering with their work or play). 

Session 2: Sunday 20th March- 2:30 - 4:30pm Dubai time 

✓ Meals - eating - snacking. Supporting children in healthy eating habits from an early age, developing fine motor skills, hand/eye coordination and concentration through self-feeding and food preparation (even with babies!).   Developing a love a good food and the community of a shared family meal.

✓ Giving children the freedom and space they need to move, play and explore. How to support their curiosity whilst keeping them safe. 

✓ A simple guide on establishing a daily rhythm, and preparing the home environment in a way that promotes autonomy, exploration and joy! 

✓ Homework and reflections for Nannies to encourage the new skills and principles learnt to become part of daily home life. 

✓ Printable checksheets to display at home to support the whole family in keeping on track! 

 Here's what other families have said about the impact this Programme had for them:  

💗"Miranda has so embraced the Montessori philosophy since coming to the course on the weekend, it's been remarkable! You are a magician!" (Kate-Dubai)  

❣️"I’m so happy we sent Liza! She came home so happy, enthusiastic, informed and full of ideas for some changes we can make in our home. I can already tell you covered many things I was trying to explain and muddle my way through, and she really “gets” it. I know she is intelligent and passionate about childcare, but honestly I am relieved that you have empowered her with the knowledge about Montessori, and she seems genuinely “sold” on it, not just “doing what I say”. Really see a difference in level of engagement and her confidence with Montessori ideas and it’s only day one! Thanks Charlotte: will be recommending to all my Monti-interested friends! (Bianca-Dubai)  

Visit enrichingenvironments.com/SHOP for my Montessori Parenting Programmes, Workshops and Meditations for children.  I’ll see you there!   

*All podcast sessions originally recorded on Instagram Live, see my IGTV @enrichingenvironments for the video with captions, or or listen on Spotify, ITunes & enrichingenvironments.com  

😍🙏🏽💐  

#enrichingenvironments #montessoriathome #parentingmentor #leadfromlove #montessoriuae #montessorinanny #montessoritraining #montessoriworkshops

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, to ourselves, to our children, and all those we come into contact with, following the three key Montessori principles of respecting ourselves, others and the environment.  

🌍 Montessori offers us the gift of being able to contribute to a more peaceful and harmonious world.  

🌺 With a focus on connection, simplicity and healing; we seek to remove any barriers that we have to fully seeing and accepting our children as they are, not how we want them to be.  

💝 Within this process of accepting the lessons that our children are here to teach us, we have the opportunity for immense growth and transformation, healing generational patterns of hurt.  

🙏🏾☺️🌹  

Visit enrichingenvironments.com/SHOP for my online Montessori Parenting Programmes, Workshops and Meditations for children.  I’ll see you there!   *All podcast sessions originally recorded on Instagram Live, see my IGTV @enrichingenvironments for the video with captions, or or listen on Spotify, ITunes & enrichingenvironments.com  

#enrichingenvironments #montessoriathome #parentingmentor #montessoriparenting #leadfromlove #consciousparenting #consciousfamily #montessorimindset #montessorichild #montessoriparent #montessorisiblings

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:  

🎊 Preparing our child in advance for travelling to other's houses or receiving guests, what they can expect from Great Uncle Alfred with the very loud voice😉  

🤩 Maintaining rhythm and ritual that provide consistency throughout the season even when away from home or with other family members.  

😘'Translating' for our child and the new adults for those awkward moments where a relative may have an expectation of behaviour from your child that they are not ready for.  

🎉 Explaining our parenting approach to others in a way that is non-judgmental and easy to understand.  

Preparing ourselves with our partner by setting our intention of our hopes for the holidays and how our child can be best supported. 

 🙏🏽💖✨  

Visit enrichingenvironments.com/SHOP for my online Montessori Parenting Programmes, Workshops and Meditations for children.  I’ll see you there!   

*All podcast sessions originally recorded on Instagram Live, see my IGTV @enrichingenvironments for the video with captions, or or listen on Spotify, ITunes & enrichingenvironments.com 

#enrichingenvironments #montessoriathome #parentingmentor #leadfromlove #montessorichristmas #montessoriparenting #montessorisiblings #montessoriuae #christmasindubai

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? 

How do we maintain the magic of Santa whilst staying aligned with our principles of being honest with our children?  

I feel that we can really get ourselves unnecessarily tied up in knots about the 'right' thing to say about Santa. 🤦‍♀️  

The Christmas season is a multi sensory experience for us all, we can enjoy the magic of the sights, sounds and smells for what it is in the moment.  If we meet our child where they are, at their level of understanding then we won't go far wrong.💖 

 ✨🌲💓  

Visit enrichingenvironments.com/SHOP for my online Montessori Parenting Programmes, Workshops and Meditations for children.  I’ll see you there!   

*All podcast sessions originally recorded on Instagram Live, see my IGTV @enrichingenvironments for the video with captions, or or listen on Spotify, ITunes & enrichingenvironments.com  

#enrichingenvironments #montessoriathome #parentingmentor #leadfromlove #montessorichristmas #montessoriparenting #montessorieducation #montessoriholidays