"Powerhouse Problem Solvers"

I recently viewed the following video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcgtI_bC4sY

Anna Lee is the Director of Meadow Montessori School in Maryland.  She said, 'Children are powerhouse problem solvers'.....LOVE this!  Got me thinking.....how do we know what great problem solvers our children are if we don't allow them to sit in a problem, work through a challenge, or come up with solutions to a struggle.  As parents we love our children so much...so deeply....it's almost painful at times.  Often times, our instinct is to run and rescue them, save them from themselves or their problems.  For some reason whether it's our own childhood experience or even just our culture that says, don't struggle, don't fail, or don't go through difficult times.  However, these challenges, failures and difficult times can be such wonderful learning opportunities.  As adults, we can all recall times in our lives when things were hard, we had a challenge that didn't seem could be overcome, or we were very sad or hurt.  But, I think, if we're honest, we would also say those times were wonderful times of growth, times we realized we were stronger,more capable, or better prepared than we ever thought.  What does this look like for our children?  In our classroom, we see children struggle everyday with a problem or social situation that is difficult.  I have a couple of examples from just this week:  A new puzzle came out in our geography shelf.  It's indeed a challenging puzzle.  Two children were doing the puzzle-they took out all the pieces, worked about 2 minutes, then came to me asking for help.  Knowing they hadn't worked very long, I said go back and keep trying. They once again came to me asking for help.  I went to their rug and gave them a bit of verbal encouragement w/o touching their work, and they continued working.  They began having some success so I moved away, then voila,they finished!  They were so proud.  If I would have moved in and done the puzzle for them, they wouldn't have experienced or known their ability to push through and figure it out.  

Another example is that we have a handful of newer students who just started CMS in January. They have been learning how to get their snow clothes on to go outside.  This is BIG work!  If a child needs support, typically the teacher will give very detailed verbal suggestions as to how to put on a hat or coat.  Yes, this takes a lot of time and often times, many days and even weeks for kids to become independent.  We encourage our parents to allow their children to dress themselves as much as they can.  Again, the tendency is the put things on your child rather than be patient while they dress themselves.  If we put their snow gear on each time, they will not learn to do it themselves.  It is often times a big struggle and can take a lot of trial and error.  We have had kids go outside with their coats on upside down, but they are so proud that they can do it themselves.  Sometimes, we can hinder a child's independence by doing too much for them; therefore, making them think they actually can't do those things.  The fruit that comes from allowing our children to face their challenges  take the time to problem solve will outweigh the time it takes to help our children do it themselves. 

Allow your children to show you what problem solvers they can be~they really will blow you away!

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