What advice can we give to new mothers? Their children need to work at an interesting occupation: they should not be helped unnecessarily, nor interrupted, once they have begun to do something intelligent.
Childhood constitutes the most important element in an adult’s life, for it is in his early years that a man is made.
The child is the spiritual builder of mankind, and obstacles to his free development are the stones in the wall by which the soul of man has become imprisoned.
The development of the child during the first three years after birth is unequaled in intensity and importance by any period that precedes or follows in the whole life of the child.
We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry.
To have a vision of the cosmic plan, in which every form of life depends on directed movements which have effects beyond their conscious aim, is to understand the child’s work and be able to guide it better.
Great tact and delicacy is necessary for the care of the mind of a child from three to six years, and an adult can have very little of it.
Happiness is not the whole aim of education. A man must be independent in his powers and character; able to work and assert his mastery over all that depends on him.
When we want to infuse new ideas, to modify or better the habits and customs of a people, to breathe new vigor into its national traits, we must use the children as our vehicle; for little can be accomplished with adults.
An adult who does not understand that a child needs to use his hands and does not recognize this as the first manifestation of an instinct for work can be an obstacle to the child’s development.
The adult works to improve his environment while the child works to improve himself.
But an adult if he is to provide proper guidance, must always be calm and act slowly so that the child who is watching him can clearly see his actions in all their particulars.
There should be music in the child’s environment, just as spoken speech exists in the child’s environment. In the social environment, the child should be considered and music should be provided.
The first duty of the educator, whether he is involved with the newborn infant or the older child, is to recognize the human personality of the young being and respect it.
It is exactly in the repetition of the exercises that the education of the senses exists; not that the child shall know colors, forms or qualities, but that he refine his senses through an exercise of attention, comparison and judgment.
When a child is given a little leeway, he will at once shout, “I want to do it!” But in our schools, which have an environment adapted to children’s needs, they say, “Help me to do it alone.” And these words reveal their inner needs.
This is the treasure we need today – helping the child become independent of us and make his way by himself, receiving in return his gifts of hope and light.
The secret of good teaching is to regard the child’s intelligence as a fertile field in which seeds may be sown, to grow under the heat of flaming imagination.
Joy, feeling one’s own value, being appreciated and loved by others, feeling useful and capable of production are all factors of enormous value for the human soul.
Watching a child makes it obvious that the development of his mind comes through his movements.