The Montessori Toddler: A Parent's Guide to Raising a Curious and Responsible Human Being (The Parents' Guide to Montessori, 1)

I’m an early childhood educator so I have knowledge regarding child development and working with infants and toddlers. I worked at a Montessori for 5 months in 2019 and I wished I read this book while I worked there! Everything makes more sense after reading this! I felt the educators were really rigid in their ways and overall felt that the center was not the right fit for me. I like some aspects of the philosophy such as hands on learning, following the interests of the child, and encouraging the independence of the child. My baby is almost 9 months old, and I aim to use a Montessori and STEM inspired approach with her. I want to provide her a rich background of practical life skills and language (through books mainly as replicas get too expensive). Not everything has to be implemented from the book. Depending on the layout of your home, I know that not everyone can afford excessive shelving and high quality Montessori toys. However, I do like the tips that Davies provides (open ended toys, focusing on the process not product, aim to beautify your space, etc) but these are pretty standard of the Montessori philosophy. I agree with another reviewer who said that you should practice whatever tips that may work in your home or lifestyle. This is just a resource and not an absolute way to raise your children. Overall, I highly recommend this book! It’s engaging, easy to follow, has beautiful pictures, and simply inspires you to practice the Montessori philosophy at home.

Such an incredible read! What started off as a random audio book I bought on @audible ended up making its way to my book collection where I am constantly referencing and learning from! Simone Davies talks about the history and science behind Montessori and how to create a more independent environment for your toddler. The first few chapters gives you an opportunity to see things from their perspective and how to make things accessible for them. Towards the end, she gives visual examples on how to set up an independent toddler environment. I grew up with immigrant parents that were by far “gentle parents” and if you can relate, you understand how hard it is to unlearn unhealthy behaviors your parents taught you while trying to “discipline” you. I am by far a perfect parent. I loose my cool and sometimes have to be honest and real with myself about it. This book has truly been and blessing in disguise and I wish I had know about it when I had my first born. My husband and I have come a long way from where we started in our prenatal journey and this is just another amazing resource we have found along the way 🤍 Side note: I expect a lot out of my kids even when they didn’t even know how to crawl. It maybe common sense for some to know when children have certain milestones but I didn’t know anything. This book has helped me understand my child and I will continue to use it even as they grow!

This is the best parenting book I've read so far. It's not only a great one-time read, but it's used as a sort of reference book in my home whenever I'm looking for ideas on activities to do with my toddler or thoughts on how to handle various aspects of toddler development. And as a plus, it's beautifully designed and has strong, thick pages, which is very helpful when my toddler grabs it! This book offers straightforward, efficient, and well-organized information about how to apply Montessori principles to toddler life, how to guide your own thoughts on parenting a toddler, and how to involve your toddler in daily life in a way that minimizes stress for both you and them. I read some of the other reviews, a few of which mention that the book's recommendations are out of reach for some families due to income, space, or ability, and I can understand how that could be felt when reading it, because it includes imagery of beautiful (and often expensive) high-quality wooden toys, discusses buying dedicated kid-sized furniture to be set up in a serene space of their own, and invites you to give your toddler difficult tasks really early on. But, if you look to this book as suggestions and guidelines on the "complete" way to do Montessori-style playtime/kid space design/etc, then there is nothing elitist about it. This book gives the "ideal-situation" suggestions, but every kid and parent is different, so take what you like and leave what you don't. This book actually tells you to look outside the box of conventional consumerist-style parenting, to find inexpensive or natural elements or items you already own as you work with your kid's development. Of course we don't all have the time, money, or space to do the more specific suggestions perfectly all the time, but we can find helpful advice for how to slowly incorporate these principles into our kids' lives. Take as much of it as you want and use it as a guide, do Montessori imperfectly or as much as you want to, and this book will help you immensely along the way. I'm very grateful I came across it.

The Montessori Toddler is an absolute gem for parents looking to implement Montessori principles at home. The book is well-written, easy to follow, and packed with practical tips for raising a curious, independent, and responsible child. It provides clear guidance on creating a child-friendly environment and nurturing their natural desire to learn. I’ve noticed a positive change in how my toddler interacts and explores since applying the advice. Highly recommend this book to any parent eager to support their child’s growth and development!

I really appreciated this book for its guidance on play and educational opportunities within the home. When I incorporated some of her tips, I saw immediate improvement in the way my daughter played, learned, and entertained herself. She was much more likely to stay busy with her toys and keep entertained than before. For these tips, this book is invaluable. However, I really wish the author would've stayed in her lane. I didn't appreciate the surface treatment of sleep or frankly the entirety of chapters 8 and 9. Her expertise is in the classroom and she should've stayed with how concepts within the classroom could be incorporated into educational and learning opportunities at home. Although I appreciated some tidbits of how she incorporated ideas from her classroom into her home environment with her own children, I didn't appreciate examples that she utilized outside of her expertise. For example, the section about screen time seemed very judgmental and was all based on another book. And that is the main aspect of how I wish she would've stayed in her lane. In areas where other books complemented her expertise, I really appreciated her suggestions. In areas where she was just summarizing others books, because she was not an expert on the topic, I felt that her opinions of those books were out of place. The list at the back of the book is sufficient enough for areas of further exploration. I don't really want the author's opinions on these books when they are not her expertise. It really is an uneducated opinion in these cases and could unfortunately cloud the critical thinking of these books by the reader. All in all, I recommend this book. As with any parenting book, analyze your sources, critically think about the advice, take what you feel will work for your family, and ignore the rest.

The only book you need if you are new to Montessori! From the moment I opened this book I have not been able to put it down. So nice to read, the quality of the book itself is superb, keeps me interested and lots of hands on practical tips, I also love the artwork and photo examples. This book is so spot on and modern not outdated at all! All the recommendations are wonderful. This book has also opened my eyes to view my child and motherhood in a much better and different way, I am so grateful to this Author for such a lovely book. This book also reignited my love for reading.

There is so much that I liked about this book. First, let me start by saying that my 24 month old toddler recently started attending a Montessori school and this book was recommended to me to understand this educational approach. This author is very realistic in her approach to raising toddlers the Montessori way. She provides very concrete advice on how to speak with your child when they're doing the right thing and the wrong thing. There are photos that show how a diverse array of "Montessori homes" are set up. All look very child-friendly, but serene and definitely do-able. The author offers lists of educational materials you should have on hand to enhance your child's Montessori education. I was relieved this list was comprised of things you can buy in most stores, vs. only available in super expensive Montessori retailers. I am so glad I purchased this in the hardcover edition because I have notes all over it. I think this is a must-have for not only Montessori parents, but could also really benefit parents who want to enrich kids who are in a stay-at-home parent situation or in a more traditional daycare. I just wish I had this sooner!

This book is fantastic! I bought this book looking for more ways to incorporate Montessori philosophies with my toddler at home. What I wasn't expecting was all the incredible parenting advice that came with this book. It is like an expanded version of "How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way" (Tim Seldin) specific for toddlers that meets a summarized version of "Positive Discipline: The First Three Years" (Jane Nelsen) with a layout that makes reading it fly by. Not to mention the gorgeous photography throughout. The author's charts in the back of the book are SO helpful! She has an "Instead of this, say that" section as well as a list of suggestions of activities for your child broken down by age. I will frequently be referencing back to both of these charts. I also loved all the books she referenced to throughout her book. The ones I haven't already read sounded so intriguing that I added them to my to-be-read list. Clearly my parenting style is very in line with the author's so I found it easy to love this book. And finally, the chapter on "Putting it into Practice" was a gold mine. The author tackles subjects like feeding, sleeping, toileting, pacifiers, siblings, brushing teeth, getting dressed, sharing, hiting, biting, throwing, clingy stages, screen time, and even how to help build skills for an introverted toddler. There were times when I wanted more from the author on a specific topic, but in those times she generally referenced further reading which works well for me since I enjoy reading. She gives such a great over-view of each topic! All in all, this book is excellent! I would highly recommend it for any parent or caregiver of toddlers.

I guess it’s a good book but doesn’t work for my parenting style.

Ich wünschte, ich hätte das Buch schon gehabt, als mein erstes Kind klein war! Eigentlich habe ich es nur als Anregung für die Montessori-gerechte Gestaltung der Wohnung und zum Finden von Spielanregungen/ Settings für Kind 2 gekauft. Dann war ich allerdings überrascht wie allumfassend das Thema „Leben mit Kleinkind“ aufgegriffen und dargestellt wird. Man erhält sowohl die gesuchten Spielanregungen als auch Tipps im Umgang mit Wutanfällen, zur besseren Einübung der täglichen Routine mit Kleinkind, zum Schlafen, Essen, zu wertschätzender Erziehung usw. Zusätzlich gibt es am Ende jedes Kapitels immer eine kurze und prägnante Gesamtübersicht. Die Tipps und Hinweise sind meist sofort umsetzbar. Das Kind wird wertschätzend, aber trotzdem mit der nötigen liebevollen Konsequenz behandelt. Ein allumfassendes Gesamtwerk zu Kleinkindern finde ich. Es sollte in keiner Eltern-Bibliothek fehlen. Die englische Sprache ist leicht verständlich und das Buch ist toll illustriert und übersichtlich gestaltet. 5 Sterne!!! Das Buch gibt es seit März 2020 auch auf Deutsch: "Montessori für Eltern: Wie Kleinkinder achtsam und selbstständig aufwachsen."

Very useful resource, easy read and great quality!

Great ideas and concise! I love that you can pick page/topic and find something useful to read about.

Beautifully written, well summarised know it all about setting Montessorie environment