More on What Children Need
“Children […] like to have the same story repeated over and over again, rather than hearing new ones. This corresponds to the repetition of the exercise on the physical plane – when children, constructing the coordination of their movements, repeat the same exercise again and again. Therefore, during this initial period we see the same phenomenon of repetition; they want to hear the same story over and over again” - Maria Montessori
Full disclosure - Dr Montessori was specifically speaking of children aged 3 and 4 in this quote, and she is speaking of “hearing” stories, rather than reading books, in the construction of their imagination.
This desire for repetition, Dr Montessori called it a human tendency, begins from birth, and even from 18 months (and dare I say even earlier) we see toddlers bringing us the same book to be read over and over. Parents and educators can get tired of reading the same books but the children do not and we need to be curious about what might be happening for them through this repetition.
Reading books is one of the ways we lay a foundation of oral language for young children (along with conversations, songs, telling stories, poems/rhymes etc). Hearing the same story/book etc allows for absorption of vocabulary, grammar and syntax in meaningful ways which are crucial for the child’s later self-expression.
Books often contain more vocabulary than what we might use in everyday life, especially for those who get stuck in using mostly directive language with children (“it’s time to put on your shoes” or “you need to put away your tray” etc).
When we offer not only repetition of the story but take time to notice what is happening in illustrations and talk about them, we are giving children opportunities to make sense of the story and find ways to connect it to their own experiences.
I love seeing how our toddlers will point to “relationships” as happens in the end of our video below - they are not yet seeing gender/hair/skin/eye colours they see themselves running to their mothers arms - “That’s me, running into Mum’s arms” says Miss L (27 months).
I am so grateful I kept filming and didn’t assume Miss L was finished with the story when she started turning the pages back in the book - she had an important point to make - this page meant more to her than just being part of the story - and she does live near a beach, and she is skilled at throwing herself into the arms of her parents - it is part of her own experience.
“Mother: the most beautiful word on the lips of mankind.” – Kahlil Gibran
This brings me to taking time to really thinking about the books on our shelves or in our book baskets. We need to be choosing books that do allow children these important moments. The books we choose for our infants and toddlers at Aroha Nui Montessori are all “real”. They connect back to real life experiences the children may have. These kinds of books can be harder to find nowadays and we spend a lot of time scouring thrift shops and libraries. Early reader books are often fantastic for real life stories that are simple and illustrated with realistic images or photos. And of course we can create our own books too with photos (or illustrations) of everyday life.
We need to remember that while we may love to disappear into the latest fantastic and far fetched novel our toddlers relish their real life.
Aroha Nui
Carli