Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Montessori at Home: Nutrition


We found a very useful write-up by Jan-Katzen-Luchenta, "The Making of Great Little People – A Diet For Little Learners: Food balancing, fats, and focusing"

Hopefully, we will include an interview with her soon! In the meantime, here is an excerpt of her article:

"Very early learners also wear what they have eaten or not eaten into their classroom or life's experience.

I have stumbled into this awareness after many years of observing uncharacteristic behavioral changes in some children from one day, sometimes one minute to the next!

Why did Wyatt who normally is well mannered at the lunch table suddenly become a loud, kick your neighbor kind of a child? And how could good natured, Maxie transform into a grumpy, aggressive bully twenty minutes after arriving to school?

The coup de grace unfolded one day when exceptionally focused, even-tempered Ellen came to school portraying an easily distractible, hysterical child who couldn't follow the simplest of directions. I began to ask myself, Are little children just naturally moody and unreasonable? Is their educability just a crapshoot dependent on the barometric pressure or the day of the week? Thoroughly confused and exhausted I decided to do a little investigating. Through lunchbox analysis, persistent cross examinations of parents, and consults with local nutritional gurus it became evident that diet could be playing a significant role in this inexplicable emotional drama playing out before my tired eyes and body. My grandmother was right. As trite as it seemed at the time, we truly are what we eat"


Read the rest of her article on the Montessori.org site

No comments: