What We Read

In her writing Maria Montessori speaks very strongly of the importance of Reality in the growth and education of the young child.

Silvia Dubovoy, an AMI trainer and directress, wrote this paper http://www.montessori-ami.org/congress/2005Sydney/papersd.htm on the importance of reality and the great harm that current day preoccupation with fantasy for children can do to their developing brains.

In this paper she writes that "an education based on reality prepares the child to perceive his environment in a precise and accurate manner," and "the assimilation of reality constructs an internal structure based on order." The child, aged birth to six years, "is constructing his personality and his post-natal embryonic state, and knowledge about the world is necessary to adapt to his own time, culture, and family."
Thus, a core Montessori principle: No exposure to fantasy till after age six. No Disney, no pink stuffed teddy bears, no Bernstein Bears, or Curious George or Finding Nemo. No fairy tales and Aesop's fables. No Dr. Seuss or Beatrix Potter. No Sesame Street and Veggie Tales. Not until after age six.

Many people balk at this. This is understandable. I balk too. We adults are attached to our fantasy. My precious "Goodnight Moon" must wait. And I love Curious George and Peter Rabbit. But Silvia Dubovoy writes,
"The mind of the child matures by means of knowledge of the external world, through REAL experiences with the environment. This means that he can acquire this knowledge ONLY in contact with reality. He has a mind that explores everything in order to develop a healthy ordered intellect. he needs to orient himself [in these first six years] and make sense of the external world to construct a frame of reference that can allow him to trust the world and dare act on it. . . . When the experiences the child has are based on fantasy and make believe the mind wanders without a purpose and does not find any satisfaction in real life."
(Emphasis mine)

After the child passes the age of six, they are able to think more abstractly, understand that some things are true and others false and thus the fantasy or fictions that they come into contact with will no longer disrupt their understanding of their world (which was previously completely literal, soaked up without discernment or differentiation).

And lest one wonder where creativity or imagination have their place in this completely REAL world of Montessori, Dubovoy writes "Imagination has a sensory basis, and its construction in the mind has to be firmly established by reality. The more it is connected with the reality of the external world, the higher will be the value of its internal creations." There is more in the article as well.

And as my mother often quotes: "Reality is so much more beautiful than fantasy!"