The Montessori Toddler: A Parent's Guide to Raising a Curious and Responsible Human Being (The Parents' Guide to Montessori, 1)

As a first-time mom to a 17-month-old little boy, I bought The Montessori Toddler because I wanted to learn more about the Montessori approach and find new ways to encourage my son’s curiosity and independence. I was already somewhat familiar with Montessori principles and liked what I knew, but this book helped me understand the philosophy on a much deeper level. My son is very curious and seems to be a little ahead for his age, so I was running out of ideas to keep him engaged and challenged. I also wanted to prepare myself for the toddler years and all that comes with them—especially as we get closer to the “terrible twos.” This book gave me practical ideas for encouraging learning, fostering independence, and handling common toddler behaviors in a calm, respectful way. What I appreciated most is that the book is easy to read, well organized, and written in a way that’s simple to understand. The advice feels realistic and encouraging rather than overwhelming. We’ve already started using several of the activities and techniques from the book, and I’ve noticed that they’ve helped me approach parenting with more patience and confidence. More than anything, this book reminded me that I don’t have to be a perfect parent—I just need to be a thoughtful one who’s willing to learn alongside my child. It has given me a newfound confidence in myself as a mom and has provided tools that I know we’ll continue to use as my son grows. I would highly recommend this book to first-time parents or anyone raising young children who wants practical guidance, fresh ideas, and reassurance that they’re on the right track. It’s a wonderful resource that I know I’ll be referring back to again and again.

This book has been a an excellent resource for me. The concepts are clear and practical.

This is the best parenting book I've read so far. It's not only a great one-time read, but it's used as a sort of reference book in my home whenever I'm looking for ideas on activities to do with my toddler or thoughts on how to handle various aspects of toddler development. And as a plus, it's beautifully designed and has strong, thick pages, which is very helpful when my toddler grabs it! This book offers straightforward, efficient, and well-organized information about how to apply Montessori principles to toddler life, how to guide your own thoughts on parenting a toddler, and how to involve your toddler in daily life in a way that minimizes stress for both you and them. I read some of the other reviews, a few of which mention that the book's recommendations are out of reach for some families due to income, space, or ability, and I can understand how that could be felt when reading it, because it includes imagery of beautiful (and often expensive) high-quality wooden toys, discusses buying dedicated kid-sized furniture to be set up in a serene space of their own, and invites you to give your toddler difficult tasks really early on. But, if you look to this book as suggestions and guidelines on the "complete" way to do Montessori-style playtime/kid space design/etc, then there is nothing elitist about it. This book gives the "ideal-situation" suggestions, but every kid and parent is different, so take what you like and leave what you don't. This book actually tells you to look outside the box of conventional consumerist-style parenting, to find inexpensive or natural elements or items you already own as you work with your kid's development. Of course we don't all have the time, money, or space to do the more specific suggestions perfectly all the time, but we can find helpful advice for how to slowly incorporate these principles into our kids' lives. Take as much of it as you want and use it as a guide, do Montessori imperfectly or as much as you want to, and this book will help you immensely along the way. I'm very grateful I came across it.

I’m an early childhood educator so I have knowledge regarding child development and working with infants and toddlers. I worked at a Montessori for 5 months in 2019 and I wished I read this book while I worked there! Everything makes more sense after reading this! I felt the educators were really rigid in their ways and overall felt that the center was not the right fit for me. I like some aspects of the philosophy such as hands on learning, following the interests of the child, and encouraging the independence of the child. My baby is almost 9 months old, and I aim to use a Montessori and STEM inspired approach with her. I want to provide her a rich background of practical life skills and language (through books mainly as replicas get too expensive). Not everything has to be implemented from the book. Depending on the layout of your home, I know that not everyone can afford excessive shelving and high quality Montessori toys. However, I do like the tips that Davies provides (open ended toys, focusing on the process not product, aim to beautify your space, etc) but these are pretty standard of the Montessori philosophy. I agree with another reviewer who said that you should practice whatever tips that may work in your home or lifestyle. This is just a resource and not an absolute way to raise your children. Overall, I highly recommend this book! It’s engaging, easy to follow, has beautiful pictures, and simply inspires you to practice the Montessori philosophy at home.

I am excited to read this book! As an elementary school teacher of 10 years that is in the process of opening a brand new childcare facility, the quality of this book encourages me to read and learn more about these practices. The pages are very nice quality and there are colorful, helpful illustrations throughout. There was a small strip of discoloration on the front cover down the middle, but it is not very noticeable. Overall I am happy with the purchase. It will be helpful to parents of young children and all those that work with them.

Such an incredible read! What started off as a random audio book I bought on @audible ended up making its way to my book collection where I am constantly referencing and learning from! Simone Davies talks about the history and science behind Montessori and how to create a more independent environment for your toddler. The first few chapters gives you an opportunity to see things from their perspective and how to make things accessible for them. Towards the end, she gives visual examples on how to set up an independent toddler environment. I grew up with immigrant parents that were by far “gentle parents” and if you can relate, you understand how hard it is to unlearn unhealthy behaviors your parents taught you while trying to “discipline” you. I am by far a perfect parent. I loose my cool and sometimes have to be honest and real with myself about it. This book has truly been and blessing in disguise and I wish I had know about it when I had my first born. My husband and I have come a long way from where we started in our prenatal journey and this is just another amazing resource we have found along the way 🤍 Side note: I expect a lot out of my kids even when they didn’t even know how to crawl. It maybe common sense for some to know when children have certain milestones but I didn’t know anything. This book has helped me understand my child and I will continue to use it even as they grow!

Very simple to understand, gives great ideas for activities

This book is fantastic! I bought this book looking for more ways to incorporate Montessori philosophies with my toddler at home. What I wasn't expecting was all the incredible parenting advice that came with this book. It is like an expanded version of "How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way" (Tim Seldin) specific for toddlers that meets a summarized version of "Positive Discipline: The First Three Years" (Jane Nelsen) with a layout that makes reading it fly by. Not to mention the gorgeous photography throughout. The author's charts in the back of the book are SO helpful! She has an "Instead of this, say that" section as well as a list of suggestions of activities for your child broken down by age. I will frequently be referencing back to both of these charts. I also loved all the books she referenced to throughout her book. The ones I haven't already read sounded so intriguing that I added them to my to-be-read list. Clearly my parenting style is very in line with the author's so I found it easy to love this book. And finally, the chapter on "Putting it into Practice" was a gold mine. The author tackles subjects like feeding, sleeping, toileting, pacifiers, siblings, brushing teeth, getting dressed, sharing, hiting, biting, throwing, clingy stages, screen time, and even how to help build skills for an introverted toddler. There were times when I wanted more from the author on a specific topic, but in those times she generally referenced further reading which works well for me since I enjoy reading. She gives such a great over-view of each topic! All in all, this book is excellent! I would highly recommend it for any parent or caregiver of toddlers.

I guess it’s a good book but doesn’t work for my parenting style.

Great ideas and concise! I love that you can pick page/topic and find something useful to read about.

Beautifully written, well summarised know it all about setting Montessorie environment

Finished reading the book. Me and my husband loves it. Helps us understand our toddler. Fast delivery. Good quality Book it has a thick cover and pages you don't have to worry your toddler will tear the pages so easy.. It comes with one free paper book marks too! Amazon delivery guys are very professional doing social distance in dropping items by the door. Thank you amazon!

Como viene con imágenes esta muy práctico, me dan ganas de volverlo a leer, si habla sobre la metodología Montessori como filosofía pero no tan a profundidad, tal vez te den ganas de leer otros libros mas específicos, este es mas sobre cómo acondicionar tu casa y da ejemplos