“Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.”

– Maria Montessori, Italian physician and educator and founder of the Montessori educational method

Image from Flickr by Dermot O’Halloran.

Have you ever supported a young child with any of the following tasks?

• Walking
• Getting dressed
• Tying their shoelaces
• Riding a bike
• Swimming
• Making a sandwich
• Making their bed
• Feeding themselves
• Potty training
• Completing a puzzle

What was the learning process like? How much or how little assistance was necessary?

Exercise:

How can you offer others in your professional and personal life (not just young children) only the support they truly require to accomplish their goals, in order to maximize their own experiential learning opportunities?