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Montessori: between Freedom Education and product Design

The Montessori Method is practiced in over 60,000 schools around the world and an increasing number of parents are organizing themselves to apply it even at house. What is special about this educational approach and why did we choose it as our main source of inspiration?

At the beginning of the 1900s an Italian woman, Maria Montessori, laid the foundations for an innovative pedagogy, that nowadays is more relevant than ever before. We like to call it a Freedom Education, because it is based on respect for the child, his unique identity and his personal growth rate: physical, psychological and social.

From Maria Montessori we learn that every child gives his best and learns better when he perceives a sense of harmony between himself and his surroundings. Otherwise, when he is not forced, but gently stimulated to learn, according to his nature and to the extent of his capacity. In this way the child learns to act correctly not by imposition, but by choice, matured in his own experience and when he grows up, he will be able to exercise his freedom in a responsible way.

Otherwise, being submerged in rules whose meaning they do not recognize, or being forced to do things against their will, as soon as they have the opportunity, they transgress uncritically, without caring about the consequences…and often mistaking this for “freedom”. And once they become adults, they will hardly be able to really free themselves.

The sense of freedom is built inside all of us from an early age and in this process our parents, our teachers and in general all the adult figures we find on our way, can give an hand … or create obstacles.

According to the Montessori method, there are 2 things an adult should never do:

– transferring his expectations onto a child, inducing him to do something he doesn’t feel like doing or forcing him into something too hard for him. This attitude in fact, will only generate in the child a sense of frustration: a negative emotion that he will internalize, with a negative impact on his self-esteem.

– acting in place of a child in what he is able to do on his own. Also in this case, his opportunity to learn, to become self-reliant and to strengthen his self-perception (self-esteem) will be affected.

Montessori Method: so what should we do?

Our (super important!) role as adults, is to stay next to the child, without occupying his space, obviously worrying about his safety, but with discretion, and giving him example and encouragement, guiding him in compliance with the rules for a healthy coexistence and helping him conquer even greater spaces of autonomy.

The magical keyword for every parent wishing to follow the Montessori Method is “respect”. Respect for the uniqueness of our child, his rhythms and emotions, his tastes and his very particular point of view. If as parents we make ourselves capable of observing our child without presuming that we already know everything about him, our baby will grow up more independent and responsible, determined and self-confident.

Furthermore, a wonderful world will open up for us, in which our experience as a mum or dad will be infinitely enriched by what we can learn from our little one.

At NewFairy we believe in the power of this educational approach, for the beneficial effects it has not only on children and their growth, but also on parents.

The Montessori method is much more than a set of rules or exercises to be applied in educational work with children: it is a real approach to life based on respect and freedom, one’s own and that of others.

Living according to the Montessori method requires energy, a lot of patience, organization and the willing to always get involved, because we never stop growing, not even at 90. Indeed, with the Montessori method, adults and children grow up together.

The value of the context: the care of the space according to the Montessori Method

In Maria Montessori’s educational approach, particular importance is played by the environment in which children grow up. For children, everything is a source of inspiration and learning: the space welcomes them and the objects they find stimulate them in the most varied ways.

Especially in the early childwood, the fisic, intellectual and emotional growth of children is strongly conditioned by their interaction with space, which they can perceive as a resource or as an obstacle, limit or stimulation. The feedback they will receive when interacting with the environment, whether it’s for gratification or frustration, it will forever leave a mark on their self perception and their attitude towards the world.

For this reason, it is important that the context where children live has some “child-friendly” characteristics:

spaces designed in proportion to the children and their real needs,
safety and accessibility of the furnishings,
cleanliness and order
beauty and harmony.

Let’s think about our homes, or our children’s rooms: are they like this? Are they designed, furnished and set up to be lived like this every day? Are the objects functional in accompanying our child in his growth… and our family with him?

Often, due to our crazy society with its frenetic rhythms, in family we chase other priorities.

Freedom Education and Product Design according to Montessori Method

Being inspired by the Montessori Method in our products’ development, means taking all of this into account and translating it into products designed to help families raise children within this perspective, in their everyday life, in the heart of their homes.

For the Topponcino, we choose to remain scrupulously faithful to the instructions given by Maria Montessori herself for making what she called the “safety cushion for the newborn”. It is a very simple but infinitely useful accessory, able to increase the safety of the little ones in any kind of situation, making them always feel at ease, free to move and encouraged to explore the world.

More: the Topponcino helps all family members, even the youngest, to interact with newborn with less stress: without the anxiety that he could get hurt if he’s held in an appropriate way: in this way, relationships inside the family benefit from the very first days.

As often happens, simple things are difficult to make well: in the case of Topponcino our research has focused on high-performance materials, to which allow optimal flexibility and adaptability of the Topponcino to the daily situations of children modern life.

Zip&Dream is the result of two years of research and development. We have been working together with children and parents, to create a bedding system that could really address the needs of both.

Once the first prototype was done, Zip&Dream evolved several times, thanks to our Customers: their feedback was the most precious resource for improving the product and making it what it is today. We have achieved the most important progress by working with parents of children and young people with special needs: the most demanding and often also the most aware of how much a small detail can make the difference.

The result is Zip&Dream as you see it today: a truly child-friendly bedding system because it helps children sleep peacefully, well protected and free to move under the sheets.

Being 100% natural, Zip&Dream prevents allergies or skin irritations and avoids any risk of falling from the bed or of suffocation, in case the little one ends up under the sheets while tossing around in bed.

More: with Zip&Dream the bed is made up effortlessly, in a nano second! Even the little ones can make their bed, after airing it out, in complete autonomy, with no need of exaggerated and frustrating efforts: just open and close a zip! In doing so, children also help their parents: they feel proud of it and perceive they can play an important role in the home life.

The feedback on Zip&Dream has been so enthusiastic that we have begun to receive requests for Zip&Dream for adults as well. In fact, everybody likes to see a tidy room, but this is not easy for all: let’s think of bunk beds, chest of drawers, foldaway beds at home. Also, in perfect coherence with the emphasis given by the Montessori Method to the relationship with nature, Zip&Dream can make the difference for caravan and boat lovers.

D’altro canto, l’adulto che comincia la sua giornata, che sia di lavoro o di vacanza, dopo una notte di buon sonno e con la certezza di poter avere tutti i letti in ordine prima di uscire, ne trae un sano benessere che riverserà su tutta la famiglia.

Here are two examples of products created to help us practice the Montessori Method by giving quality to small daily gestures: simplifying home life, educating all family members to responsibility, improving the quality of relationships and giving us more quality time to spend together.

Do you want to know why we have chosen the Montessori Method to create our products? Find out by reading our story.