Montebebe

In a Montessori home “Toilet learning” or potty training “officially” starts from the moment your child can stand by themselves. It might sound early but back before disposables were invented that’s when children started the process. Does it mean that your child has been scarred for life if you waited until the more conventional 2.5/3 years old? Not at all. Does it mean you’ve missed the boat if your little one is 2? Not at all. One of the goal of starting then is to help our child be in control of the whole process- because it is a process. It’s not just eliminating on the potty but also being able to get undressed and get changed if wet and getting dressed again and washing our hands and more. As soon as babies can stand they can be introduced to some elements of the process and as they grow we introduce more and more elements. I know that there are some unicorn children out there who will get the process in 3 days once they turn 3- (how wonderful!) those children are rare. What I see mainly is children who are taking a normal amount of time to relearn this skill (babies communicate from birth about their elimination needs but in this busy world of parenthood the signs are very often missed and our child learns to be comfortable with eliminating in their nappy) and parents who are anxious because it’s taking too long. And then that anxiety is transferred to the child who now really doesn’t want anything to do with it. So if you’d like put your child at the centre of the process and approach this period in your life with calm and little anxiety come to the workshop at Nook cafe, Knowle, Bristol next Saturday 26th March. Link in Bio to book

Part 1. As parents we’re amazing at joining in with our children’s happy feelings. We’re experts at getting giggles and smiles. However we get stuck when our children (and other adults around us) experience what society has defined as “bad feelings” such as sadness, anger, jealousy, fear, disappointment… We know all too well what those feel like and it hurts to see our children experience them. Because most of us don’t know how to experience those feelings ourselves (more on that in another post) we are lost as to how to help our children with theirs and we just want to make the feelings stop by any means necessary. It might look like “I know it feels disappointing but…”, “don’t be silly”, “don’t be such a baby/girl”, “you should feel lucky you still get to”, “those people don’t know what they’re missing you are amazing”…. Anything to squash the feelings and/or cheer the children up. But what we need as human beings is to be heard. To be listened to and we need to learn to feel all the feelings. There is no bad feelings. They’re just feelings.

The Montessori way of learning to use the toilet is the same as learning to : it takes many months. So what exactly is the difference? Babies are involved in the unrushed process of nappy changing from birth- telling them what we are doing and naming body parts. Then once they are able to stand we give them the opportunity to change standing up (no more fighting on the changing mat!). As soon as children start walking they can start their potty learning journey (and it is a journey for the parents as well!).
If you'd like to know more come and join us at the next workshop at Nook cafe, Knowle, Bristol on Saturday March 26th.

We are back!! After an unintended 2 year break I am back with workshops and one-to-one sessions. So what’s happened in the last 2 years? I’m now a mama to two wonderful children, we moved house (twice!?!), I trained as a Beyond Birth practitioner and I finished my Montessori Birth to Three training. I have been very busy preparing new workshops and the first one will take place on Tuesday March 15th at the Skyboat Café in Redland, Bristol. Check the updated website for more information. https://www.montebebe.co.uk/

Home Montebebe Montessori and Hypnobirthing in Bristol Montebebe offers Montessori workshops for parents and Hypnobirthing courses in Bristol. Run by a qualified Montessori teacher and KGH Hypnobirthing teacher.