Beautiful & Breakable...

It's a real hit....Zozie is loving his new work place.
"I go Mon-tee-so-ree Skoool," he says.

First things first, we made everything kid size, kid level, kid accessible.

It's amazing how placing everything on his level completely changed his participation in his own daily routines.

"Give children beautiful & breakable things."  ~ Maria Montessori

This always made sense to me.
We care and value things that break, things that are not permanent, things that are fragile and fleeting.  With food and with life.  The gentleness with which we treat that perfect bubble that's about to form on that wand...  How else would we learn the physics of the world and our impact on it?

We started in the kitchen, life of the home party.
Ceramic bowls, plates, mini glasses, silverware, bibs, and placemats were provided for Enzo to set his own table, which is also a miniature of our usual dining table.  Everything was placed on a low shelf with complete open access, along with his snacks.  We gambled that if he had full access to his snacks, he would cease to see them as "special" and would not always be begging for them.  True so far...knock on wood.

Self-Serve Dishes & Snack Bar!

Now back to the dishes.
The fear may be that he might break something...Everything.

But how nice is it to handle actual metal, ceramic, and glass while eating?
Just ask ourselves how we eat when we are dining in a sit down restaurant with real china versus doing take-out with a plastic fork?  We can always get sloppy later...but can also just start Zo off "proper", if there is such a thing.
We stocked up at C&B Outlet so there's no loss should there be a casualty.  Plus, seeing the cause & effect of a glass breaking when dropped is a lesson in itself to a child, right?  How weird is it to see a plastic cup bounce back when you've thrown it?  No really, that's weird.

Enzo in action: Breakfast Set Up (Video: Click Link)

We all know this...Life breaks, and it's beautiful.