The Hero’s Journey Begins
The Adolescent Hero’s Journey
“For our burgeoning young adults, the first twelve years of life formed the foundation for who they are and how they approach the world. Dr. Montessori understood that development was best viewed in four distinct planes of development, each taking approximately 6 years.”
Once upon a time…
A hero’s journey begins well before the first pages of a novel. The Hobbit‘s Bilbo Baggins, according to the wizard Gandalf, was a “fool of a Took,” a reference to Bilbo’s adventuring ancestors; Harry Potter was “the boy who lived,” a reference to the fateful events that caused his landing on the doorstep of Number Four, Privet Drive; and Liesel Meminger from The Book Thief, carried the weight of a nation with her as she arrived by train, Death in tow, to take up residence with Hans and Rosa Hubermann.
If we look at “the adolescent” as the hero of a narrative adventure – the main character whose development draws our attention – we are hard-pressed to appreciate and respect our protagonist or their journey if we do not attend to the back-story. For our burgeoning young adults, the first twelve years of life formed the foundation for who they are and how they approach the world. Dr. Montessori understood that development was best viewed in four distinct planes of development, each taking approximately 6 years.
A hero’s journey begins well before the first pages of a novel. The Hobbit‘s Bilbo Baggins, according to the wizard Gandalf, was a “fool of a Took,” a reference to Bilbo’s adventuring ancestors; Harry Potter was “the boy who lived,” a reference to the fateful events that caused his landing on the doorstep of Number Four, Privet Drive; and Liesel Meminger from The Book Thief, carried the weight of a nation with her as she arrived by train, Death in tow, to take up residence with Hans and Rosa Hubermann.
If we look at “the adolescent” as the hero of a narrative adventure – the main character whose development draws our attention – we are hard-pressed to appreciate and respect our protagonist or their journey if we do not attend to the back-story. For our burgeoning young adults, the first twelve years of life formed the foundation for who they are and how they approach the world. Dr. Montessori understood that development was best viewed in four distinct planes of development, each taking approximately 6 years.
The Call to Adventure: The First Plane of Development
The First Plane Of Development
“During the first plane of development, from birth through age 6, growth is explosive.”
During the first plane of development, from birth through age 6, growth is explosive. Children absorb, first unintentionally and then with concentrated intention, the world around them. During the first three years, children learn to care for their own basic fundamental needs at a micro level. For example, they learn to dress themselves and to feed themselves. They learn hygiene. They learn to crawl, walk, and run. They learn language to be able to communicate. They learn fine motor skills which contribute to meeting their needs. During this time, each of these skills comes more readily than at any other time in life. Young children’s bodies and minds are particularly open to this learning, and thus are said to be within a sensitive period for these skills and abilities. Children will focus intently on activities that develop these skills, demonstrating concentration and repetition, and displaying distress when restricted from engagement. After the unconscious absorption of the first three years comes a three-year period of consolidation and refinement, where the learning is integrated into the child’s personality. The primary request of the first plane child is “Help me to do it myself.”
The first plane child needs to feel loved and protected. Attachment is of utmost importance in the first plane. The environment that best meets the first-plane child’s developmental needs will include furnishings and apparatus that are appropriately sized to allow the child to naturally develop skills to meet the basic needs of independent self-care, care of the environment, and practical and intellectual work. Dr. Montessori writes, “If we just put out the tiny furniture children require, we see immediately that they order their activity in an extraordinary fashion. Everything they do is willed…everything depends on this.” (The Child in the Family 27). She also encouraged the use of delicate objects that the children will cherish, that they would mourn if broken. This helps them to learn control of bodily movements and motor control. They exhibit a need for physical order.
The first plane child thrives when given ample time for freely chosen, uninterrupted, purposeful activity. When a child experiences just the right amount of freedom tempered by responsibility, they are able to experience a calmness that translates into the ability to care for their small social group, and they create a microcosm of society grounded in respect and love. When children eat together, for example, they learn the grace and courtesy associated with time at the table together, but they also learn the societal joy of being included in the group.
As the first plane of development comes to a close and the early backstory of our adolescent hero has been written, the child will be poised to greet the greater world with confidence. We can glimpse the hero within and the adventure continues to unfold in the second plane. Ages 6 to 12, here we come!
“If we just put out the tiny furniture children require, we see immediately that they order their activity in an extraordinary fashion. Everything they do is willed…everything depends on this.” -Dr. Maria Montessori, The Child in the Family