Gracie's Unprepared Environment

I then came to realize that everything about a child should not only be in order, but that it should be proportioned to the child's use, and that interest and concentration arise specifically from the elimination of what is confusing and superfluous.

Maria Montessori

The Secret of Childhood

The first essential for the child's development is concentration. It lays the whole basis for his character and social behavior. He must find out how to concentrate, and for this he needs things to concentrate upon. This shows the importance of his surroundings, for no one acting on the child from outside can cause him to concentrate.

Maria Montessori

 The Absorbent Mind

Once upon a time, I paid great detail to the prepared environment of Gracie's home. Life was different. I either didn't work or worked part time. I spent much time rotating Gracie's toys, (works, as we call them) attempting to keep the clutter down. If she hadn't played with it in a month or two it got rotated away to the basement to come out at another time when she may find it more appealing. I took great pride in the "works" that were on her shelves. We strove to have all natural, non-character, beautiful items in her realm of "work."   I even remember Gracie's first teacher in parent-child class discussing the line of "edu-tainment" toys and how all they really do is over stimulate and over stimulation leads to a lack of concentration.

Fast forward to now. I work full time. Gracie is in her kindergarten year in that same school. She is deeply immersed daily in the prepared environment of her school. Her sense of order has been nurtured over the years. But as I have gone back to working full time our home environment has gotten to be more and more cluttered. I no longer have the time to rotate through the toys. The last two birthdays, I found myself throwing a bunch of unused, clutter of toys into a paper bag and placing it in the storage room to be sorted and dealt with another day.

 

Everyone has their tipping point. And mine was this weekend. Gracie's room was absolutely beyond anyone's control - especially Gracie's. The fact of the matter is, she should have a room that is easy enough for her to maintain. This was not the case.  The clutter was beyond me, much less Gracie. She could not access many of her clothes, favorite toys and blankets because they were placed on shelves out of reach do to lack of space. She was so overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices that she chose none of them. Invariably she would draw. That was the easy answer to a room filled to the brim with over stimulation.

So while Gracie and Justin were at piano on Saturday morning I went to work preparing the her home environment. For the results...

The first thing on the list was her blankets. Gracie has an affinity for them. She likes lots of them - they are very useful for making her babies and herself cozy anytime, anywhere. The problem was that their home was on the top shelf of her armoire. She could never reach them to get them down or to put them away. They were always in a pile on her floor. This was an easy fix. She now has a low bin with a lid for them. 

Then came her toys - which by the number of them - were no longer objects of affection and work. They had become burdens. I sorted through all of them and came out with 8 Trader Joe's bags full of unused clutter-toys. I got the most used and some unused gems that were hiding under the piles to her shelves.  I also got Gracie some special jars for her collections of rocks, shells, acorns and seeds. I am pretty sure that was the highlight of the day for her. She sat for a good hour sorting her natural treasures into their new homes.

I reinstated her workspace. We had taken her work table out of her room because she seemed to never use it. When I think back, I would not have wanted to work in there either. There was just too much. 

  

What we strive for is a home - a prepared environment where Gracie can learn and grow and become more deeply herself. It takes a little extra time and much awareness - what works/toys are being used most? What can be put away? Is she able to manage the space that is hers or is it overwhelming?