•    If you leave a small pitcher of juice in the fridge (of a full flip-n-sip for younger ones), I can pour myself drinks.

•    If you put low hooks on the wall and create a place for my boots, I can get ready for going outside.

•    If you take away all of my toys but my favorite few, I can look after them and keep them neat (and then swap other ones in from time to time to keep it interesting)

•    If you put a stool in the bathroom, I can get on and off the toilet and brush my teeth and hair in the mirror.

•    If you give me chores to do, such as setting the table or filling and starting the dishwasher or folding clothes, I can help with housekeeping.

•    If you give me shoes, shirt, pants, and jackets that fasten easily, I can dress myself.

•    If you give me a dustpan, brush, and sponge, I can clean up my messes and other people’s too.

•    If you give me simple math problems while cooking, shopping, traveling, and any other time, I can practice my adding and subtracting.

•    If you sound out words and writing with me, I can practice my own reading and speaking.

•    If you use grown-up words for objects such as bathroom instead of potty or appaloosa instead of horsie), I can learn them just easily as the baby ones.

Help me do it myself, and I will be a happier, more competent, and more dignified young person. (And it will make your job easier too!)

Julie Webster in the Co-Director of the Misty Mountain Montessori School in Mount Airy, MD. This piece was published in the Winter 2004/2005 issue of Tomorrow’s Child Magazine.

Lakewood Montessori, Boise, Idaho