A Healthy Relationship with Work

Explore how Montessori values work for child development, highlighting the differences between adult and child work & the importance of self-construction.

As adults, our relationship with work is rather complicated. We pay others with more expertise, time, or willingness to do work that we don’t know or want to do. We invent machines to work for us. We often aim for expediency and efficiency. We value our non-working time, like vacations, personal time, and leisure. We dream of retiring early. Recently, in history, there has also been a notion that we should find work that is the most fulfilling, make use of our gifts, and follow through on our passions. 

 
 

The Value of Work

However, the truth is that humans need to work to thrive. Often, we find a sense of purpose, meaning, and connection through work. Those who have retired know how it feels to drop out of the social organization of productive human activity and perhaps wonder about contributing to the community, group, or society. 

We establish our identity through work and, in the process, contribute to a complex web of interdependent activities we share with others. We provide service to others, giving us a sense of belonging. What we do to accomplish our purpose in life is our work.

“Joy, feeling one's own value, being appreciated and loved by others, feeling useful and capable of production are all factors of enormous value for the human soul.”

– Dr. Maria Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence

Purposeful Work

Appreciating the varied types of “work” we do in our lives to care for ourselves, others, and our environment is not something we are not always conscious of in our modern culture. Montessori values prioritize these three pillars: care of self, care of others, and care of our surroundings. We recognize that children gain deep satisfaction through work that has a purpose. They want to feel and be useful! 

Purposeful or meaningful work comes from an internal drive while also being connected to the environment and others, leading to a sense of responsibility. For our youngest children, this can be as simple as noticing that laundry needs to be folded or that snacks need to be prepared and then wanting to play a role in getting that work done. Older children may feel compelled to share their research or discoveries with classmates. 

 
 

Adult Work vs. Children’s Work

In her observations of children, Dr. Maria Montessori began to see how the work of adults differs from that of children. While adults work to minimize effort and make our external environment better meet our needs, children use their environment to develop their internal capacities. Because children’s work is part of their development and self-construction, they don’t follow the same patterns, look the same, or have the same outward manifestations as adult work.

Adults do not often recognize children’s work for what it is, which can result in conflict between adults and children. Often, adults try to keep children away from any adult work because they can seem to get in the way.

According to Dr. Montessori, this is primarily due to the complexities created by modern life. There was a time in human history when children’s need to self-construct through their own activities was more naturally and easily met by just being around as adults worked to secure food, build shelters, or make tools. This work was more immediate, concrete, and apparent. Children could observe, explore, imitate, and, little by little, participate in adult work. 

However, the work of modern humans is more complex and abstract, making adults’ work more inaccessible to children and thus making the presence of children often an interruption, distraction, or nuisance. As a result, children are often separated from the everyday work of adult life.

 
 

The Importance of Self-Construction

By nature, children are compelled to do work that ensures their development. Children’s work is self-construction. Often, this work even feels like play! 

In Montessori, we recognize the fact that children are forming who they will become as adults. Thus, to fully support children’s work of self-construction, we offer children purposeful activities so they can learn how to contribute meaningfully to their communities. Our youngest children slice fruits and vegetables that are served for snacks. They arrange flowers to make the classroom more beautiful. They sweep the floor and wipe the tables. As children get older, they take on more responsibilities, from taking care of dishes to answering the phone, running class meetings, and organizing trips. 

Beyond caring for themselves, each other, and the environment, we also help children develop healthy relationships with intellectual challenges. Children love to lean into learning because the purpose is self-construction rather than external rewards. They see mistakes as opportunities for growth. They want to gain mastery. They delight in self-improvement. Montessori children grow into adults who understand the value of work in its many forms.