Living in Australia away from my homeland I’ve come to appreciate the times that my parents have travelled a very long way to be with my daughter. Now they are older and not able to travel we miss them so much and we take regular trips back to Scotland to be with them. What’s special about the time they spend together are the little things like the day she dropped her enormous ice-cream bought, with love by grandma after much time choosing of flavours. She couldn’t manage her anger (it’s always in the street isn’t it!). My father looked at her, shrugged his shoulders and said ‘Good luck, bad luck.” Now that she’s older and can manage her emotions a whole lot better, when something goes wrong, she will repeat these words to bring perspective to whatever has happened.
That’s a special learning moment. That’s why our Grandparents and Grandfriends are superheroes.
Today at Forestville Montessori School we celebrated our Superheroes and what a day it was. The children have been planning for a few weeks now with each class bringing their own special attention to the day. I knew everything was going to be awesome as the aroma from the kitchens with freshly baked scones and cakes was wafting through the school.
It was lovely sharing this time with our special elders. Inter-generational learning at its very best.
The smiles say it all….
”Our care of the child should be governed, not by the desire to make them learn things, but by the endeavour always to keep burning within them that light which is called intelligence.
Dr. Maria Montessori
