If you missed them, Part I is here and Part II is here. Now read on!
I'm so excited to be back for round three of this Montessori series, despite the slight delay! Since a paragraph is hardly enough space to expand on any of the four planes of development, I'm going to do so now with the first plane because I'm guessing that many of Rosie's blog readers have children primarily in that first plane of development. And what a joy that is, spending your days soaking up the sweet innocence of angelic children... right? *winks*
Young families at my parents' parish still sometimes affirm my family for how well behaved we -- the children -- are during Mass compared to their clan of rascals (their words, not mine), then they ask how my parents do it. My honest answer is that I'm in my twenties and their children are still in the preschool age range -- they must be taught how to behave during Mass and the best, most effective way to teach is by example. I presently have twenty-five students all in the first plane of development; of course I get to send them to their respective homes in the evening, but I can well relate with the angst of ensuring each child receives the utmost care, attention, and protection that they need -- not to mention their behavior when we take them to Mass (which we do, once a week), or simply sitting quietly in the school hallway (because the 'quietly' part happens... never). It's important to understand that children aren't simply going to "know" proper behavior or even respond positively to your corrections. In fact, you can't expect a young child to sit still the entire way through Mass because they just aren't capable of doing so. A child must respond to the force of their own nature; our job as educators (including parents as the primary educators) is to guide them slowly in the development of the will, including the three levels of obedience.
