Grocery One On One

Months back I would dread to go the grocery store with my daughter as that would mean spending double the time and coming home mentally and physically exhausted! But last few trips have turned out to be such learning opportunities for both me and her. Hmmm, I am looking for red round apples, blue berries that are so little, yellow long bananas, orange oval looking apricots,green triangular pears, plum round plums, hey mamma that's so funny plum plums. Can you find a cauliflower for me honey? Oh yes, the white big flower with green stems, I got it ma! Where else can you find so much material to learn Colors, Shapes and Sizes! While bagging the fruit she does her counting 1, 2, 3, 4.... Walking down the aisles she understands the categories in which things are classified throughout the store. It's such a great place to grasp the concept of temperature and how different food items need to be stored in varying conditions. On our last trip while going through the dairy section she pointed out ,"Mamma Milk and butter section is always cold, do you know why?" unhun "Because butter melts when it becomes warm and then it disappears. Just like when you put butter on my warm toast it just melts away mamma."
On our previous trip, while picking up bread from the shelf, she used her age appropriate enthusiasm that smashed the whole packet. I got upset with her because no matter how embarrassed I was with what we did I couldn't bring myself to buy that smashed packet and that meant being the crappy customer. But I restrained myself from lecturing her. The expression on her face told me that no words are required. And this time when we reached the bread aisle, to avoid any embarrassments I was itching to just grab a packet and move quickly but I was also anxious to see if my restraint and the experience left any mark on her. "Mamma, we pick the bread packet very gently or it gets smashed, remember what happened last time?" Yes!! People around me must be thinking I have hit the jackpot coz I was smiling and grinning ear to ear and Dr. Maria Montessori's words came to my mind yet again "Education is a natural process carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words, but by experiences in the environment"