Mentioning the first day of school conjures images of 5-year-olds crying at the kindergarten door. But in the Montessori School of Lake Forest’s parent-infant program, children are starting at 5 weeks old–or younger.
On the surface, it may appear to serve parents trying to give their child a jump on that application to Harvard. But teachers say the program, which runs four days a week, brings the parents and children into the same classroom to look for ways to make the best use of the child’s most formative years.
“If we can help a child from the very beginning of life through the education of the parent, then we are truly educating for a better world,” said Patti Hoskins, director of the parent-infant program, which has been growing at the school for 15 years.
With its tiny chairs and ankle-level shelves, a recently added classroom at the Montessori School is clearly designed for tiny children. But parents find room on the floor as they learn their own lessons.
“I’ve learned how to treat him and talk to him and encourage his growth,” Marilyn Rozsypal of Long Grove said about the nearly two years she has spent with her son, James, in the parent-infant program. “I really think we learn as much as they do.”
During class, infants and toddlers use puzzles, small dust mops, mobiles, picture books and a set of stairs in order to develop movement, fine motor skills and self-esteem. Parents watch what their children are absorbing and help them with their tasks.
Andrew Douvlis, a 17-month-old pupil, spent most of the time during a recent class working with a small green dustpan and carrying it around the room.
“This is the first time he has ever picked it up, but today it is all he wants to work with,” said his father, Pete Douvlis, trying to analyze Andrew’s activities. “This school has really guided me. It has shown me how children grow on a daily basis. . . . I never would have had this kind of understanding.”
“Adults call it `play,’ but the children are very serious. . . . They don’t want to play, they are working at mimicking our behavior,” said Hoskins, adding that she emphasizes that parents should be active, encouraging observers, but should allow children to do for themselves whenever possible. “It isn’t a curriculum. It’s a way of being with children.”
If it sounds like Hoskins is teaching parenting, that’s because she is. Calling it the only profession for which there is no formal training, Hoskins said new parents today tend to be disconnected from larger family units and need a new avenue of support.
“In a way, I take care of them the way they take care of their kids,” Hoskins said, adding that as trust develops she is consulted on matters ranging from breast-feeding to discipline. “I feel honored to have this relationship where they can ask these intimate types of questions.”
Parents attend the hour-and-a-half sessions once or twice a week with their children. They also go to adult-only lectures Wednesday nights to learn about fostering independence, language development, discipline, nutrition and toilet “learning.” (Montessori doesn’t use the word “training.”) Hoskins also makes visits to homes to help parents create an atmosphere in which children feel like they belong.
“It’s a big commitment,” Hoskins said, adding that she wouldn’t mind getting involved even earlier in the process. “I’d like to get more into the prenatal area.”
