Cleaning Obession Discussion with Teacher

Before the discussion with the teacher, I consulted a number of 'expert Montessorians' across the world who are on various relevant yahoo groups. The feedback I got was unanimous and everyone explained that there should not be expectations and that the cleaning obsession should not be curbed, instead, it should be further encouraged.

So I arranged a number of meetings at the school and these were all useful and productive... I met the Head of Junior School and the Nursery Head before the meeting with the teacher to get their viewpoint as well... They were quite surprised about the 'classroom expectations' and convinced me that overall the school sticks to the Montessori dictum of self-directed work. They were convinced that there was a misunderstanding and that they would look into the matter (speaking to the teacher, observing the class and so on). They advised me to speak to the teacher and were quite sure that the meeting would go well...

My meeting with the teacher was quite productive. She was completely open to all of my suggestions and completely understood my point of view. She knew that this is Shariq's sensitive period for order and movement and had already started getting him to window clean, table wash and so on. I gave her a long list of ideas on incorporating more cleaning activities in the classroom and on channeling this current fixation into more academic stuff slowly. I let her know that I would provide support in making activities and materials and she was appreciative of that. Also, she had not removed the cleaning stuff from the class, but had put it in a different place since she wanted to expand the activities to include cloth washing and so on as well.

The problem was that she has had bad experiences in the past with parents who themselves do not know anything about the Montessori system and expected that their kid must do all the academic stuff. As such, they react negatively when they learn at the end of the term that their kid has only been cleaning all term and does not yet know his colors!!! She has tried to educate parents about the Montessori system, and though this works most times, it does not work all the time. This is her way of sounding the alarm much before the end of the term so that parents do not get at her neck at the end of the term or year.

The problem here in Dubai is that there is very stiff competition for the top schools and everyone wants the kids to go there at 4 years!!! Some of these schools hold their assessment tests at around 2.5 years and the children are expected to know their numbers, alphabets, colors and shapes by then. This is why parents tend to pressurize teachers in the nurseries to train up the children.

Horrible system I know!!! This is why I plan to keep DS (dear son) in the Montessori system for as long as possible, before he has to subject himself to exams and assessments.

Anyway my problem did get solved, I have started making up activities for school and will be sending these across to the teacher at the beginning of every week. I have also brought a lot of new and shining cleaning equipment for DS at home so that he can clean as much as he likes at home as well. I set up a separate cleaning area for him with tray activities for glass cleaning, sunglasses polishing, dish washing and so on. I have also made some printables such as a cleaning equipment 3 part cards set, a cleaning equipment half puzzle, a cleaning color matching, a vacuum size matching and so on. I will be writing a blog including all of my cleaning 'themed' ideas alongwith the ideas presented here, with pictures and so on. I will also soon put up the printables for download... I am sure someone somewhere has a son just like mine!!!

My Son's Cleaning Obsession

I can’t believe it has been almost 5 months since my last post. At that time I had promised to myself to start writing regularly… Well… promises are meant to be broken!!! Anyway, a lot has happened in the last few months, and I might come back to some issues at a later stage, however, in this post I wanted to write about my LO’s obsession with cleaning…

Before I start, I would like to update that my 2 year old son has been going to a Montessori nursery since the beginning of September. As indicated in previous posts, he had been going to a non-Montessori nursery cum day care for around 3 months. He still goes there in the afternoon (2pm-5pm) since I work full time. I used to do some Montessori activities with him previously, but have reduced it now since he is going to a Montessori nursery. At home I am concentrating more on practical life. He is mostly a pleasant guy and does not generally fuss too much. The teachers at the non-Montessori nursery were happy with him and the teacher at the Montessori nursery was also happy with him since he settled in much quicker than the other kids and she even said he is ready to work!!!

As such I was really surprised when she told me one morning during drop off that we need to talk and that I should set up an appointment. I just could not wait for such an appointment, so insisted that she should atleast tell me briefly what the problem was, else I would die worrying!!! In short what she has told me is that DS gets upset often during the day. In the mornings he is a little sad when I leave, but becomes alright during the Circle Time. After that he goes around doing things in the class, but mostly (80%) of the time he gravitates only towards the brooms and other cleaning equipment!!! Whenever the teacher tries to distract him and encourages him to try his hands at something else, he makes a really sad face and is completely not interested. She said that there were 'classroom expectations' and that she would like him to do more sensorial and maybe a little of language.

Well... I was a little relieved. First, because this is not news to me and second because I do not think it is such a big issue.

DS has always loved to clean, since he was 9-10 months old. I know a lot of children like to clean, but DS is completely OBSESSED with it. He can just clean all day long, at home he has his own cleaning caddy which has a duster, water spray, sponge and cloth; he has a little broom and we have recently brought him a Philips hand vacuum. We have a cleaner who comes everyday for an hour to clean the house and DS is sooooo excited to see him, he will run to the door screaming 'Uncle, Uncle'... And then he was say - 'Now, Clean Clean', he will then lead the cleaner to the place where the big vacuum is kept, and give directions... For a whole hour he will just be around the cleaner giving directions, showing him where the floor is still dirty, he will switch on and switch off the vacuum as required when it has to be moved from one room to another... As soon as the cleaner puts down the vacuum, even for a minute, he will pick up the vacuum and start cleaning... When the cleaner finally finishes and the vacuum has to be put back, he will cry (this is probably the only time in the day that he cries)... It takes us a good half an hour to distract him away from the vacuum... This is why we brought him a little hand vacuum, but he prefers the bigger one... We are thinking of just hiding away the vacuum and using a broom for the cleaning...

Apart from this, he will sometimes wash the table with his cleaning caddy, and also wipe the furniture with a baby wipe. He will sometimes help me put the laundry in the washing machine, switch it on, help to hang the clothes to dry and so on... As such, I am not surprised that he gravitates towards the cleaning activities and does not want to do anything else.

He is only 2 years old and I think 'classroom expectations' just should not be there... That is the reason I put him in a Montessori set up!!! I think it is fine for him to continue doing what is doing as long as he is happy... I don’t want him to be forced into doing other things... This will completely defeat the purpose... Having said that it would be nice if he worked on the sensorial and language activities... I just think the teacher needs to think out of the box and get creative. With the Montessori philosophy of following the child, I am sure this cleaning obsession could be channeled towards the other areas.

I did meet the teacher for a discussion later and explained my point of view. That will come in my next post…