Montessori Was: Peet Responds

July 18, 2008

My kids attend a great Montessori. Yesterday, the

Montessori upper-classes (K – 6) and the Autism Social Skills Camp took a

field trip to the zoo (an hour away). Well, I was supposed to cater

(lunch for 50) and due to a power-outage ended up about half an hour late.

The kids had been waiting at the picnic area for nearly 45 minutes by the time

lunch was ready for serving. They all lined-up, and waited patiently

while each chose from the buffet. Because it started pouring rain as we

started to serve, we were forced to stand and sit under the building’s

overhang (very small space). The kids sat tush-to-tush, shoulder-to-shoulder,

on the concrete and ate without complaint. They ate fruits, veggies, gf/cf/sf

natural hot dogs, gf/cf/sf chicken nuggets (I used rice flour), home-made

fries, gf/cf/sf sugar cookies, fruit popsicles, and rice-cream; many had

seconds and thirds. This was kind of a test-run to see if the kids (other

than the kids with Autism, who were already on the diet) would eat gf/cf/sf…

Anyhow, some other zoo-guests came up to me, as I cleaned-up,

and told me how impressed they were at the kids’ good manners, healthy

eating habits, and courtesy to each other and their fellow zoo guests.

Although a large percentage have been vaccinated, many of their younger

siblings are being spared…I often joke that our Montessori is the school

of choice for local wealthy families and the school of last resort for a large

number of families of children with learning disabilities in our community; our

Directress, teachers, and assistants welcome our CBA with open arms and embrace

her experience as their own – it helps every kid in the school!

Unfortunately, there is a goodly number of families that send

their freshly vaccinated kids to school. And to make matters worse, these

are the parents that also send their sick kids to school with Benedryl, cough

medicine, and Tylenol/ibuprofen. I work to educate as many as I can, but

it sometimes feels like an uphill battle…

On the bright side, our Montessori encourages diversity and

acceptance – bullies are sent the message that their behavior is

unacceptable in no uncertain terms…

Just my $0.02…

Liz P

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