Hello, beautiful toddler families!
One of the core concepts in Montessori education is Horme. Horme is identified as "vital energy as an urge to purposive activity." For our purposes, Horme is a term used by Dr. Montessori to describe a quality of the child’s absorbent mind. The horme is within each child and is an “unconscious willpower” that drives them to develop and learn.
When we see a toddler climb on a table, dump out the whole basket of legos, or pour water right on the floor we usually wonder, “Why in the world would they do that?”. These are all great examples of Horme at work. From age 0-3, children are in a stage that we call the unconscious absorbent mind. They are learning things at an incredible rate and are doing so without even trying to do so. Almost every action that a toddler performs is in an effort to learn more about the world around them.
When we notice children dumping out baskets of work, we may redirect them to our sensory bin where they can find appropriate materials to dump and pour. Water almost always appeals to a child’s sense of horme, so we can provide them opportunities to explore this through water pouring activities, baby washing, car washing and hand washing.
Next time you find yourself wondering, “Why did they do that?” we can start to ask ourselves, “What are they trying to learn from this?”. Then you can find an appropriate activity to meet that need. Here are a couple of examples:
You find your child “playing” with their food. They are likely seeking sensory input that can be attained by allowing your child to help with the preparation of their meals, making edible play-dough and paint and giving them opportunities to both eat with their fingers and use utensils.
Your child is getting out of their bed repeatedly at bed time. This is a sign they are seeking ways to become more independent or that they need activities to help them wind down before bed. You can help them by providing clear boundaries, and also a small basket of soft toys and books that they can use only at bedtime.
Toddlers can really challenge us at times but when we start to change our perspective to look at what they are trying to learn and absorb, we can give them what they need without compromising their safety (or our sanity).
Good luck, and may Horme be with you and your beautiful little humans!
Warmly,
Morahs Megan, K and Sarah