The Montessori Environment: Children's House (Casa dei Bambini)
The underlying experience for children in the intergenerational environment of The Terrace is that elderly people are familiar, a comfortable and expected part of one's experience of the world. In addition to that we have Carol Johnson on staff, our Montessori-trained Intergenerational Liaison who plans activities for the elderly with the children. Carol interviews the residents to see who is interested enough in the children to opt to be part of our Intergenerational Program, she works with the classroom Guide to schedule their visits to the classroom, and provides books, music, or whatever else they need to engage with the children. The elderly are never left alone with the children; they participate alongside of our regular staff.
A resident who is not intimidated by a large group of children may come to see us at the end of our morning work period once a week to read a book. Another plays music while the children sing; another has come to make paper or do another craft with the children; and another is our local garden expert and participates in planting the garden beds at the turn of the seasons.
We have several events throughout the school year to invite these or all residents to join us. Several times a year we go down to the dining room to sing. For Thanksgiving, we invite a few residents to join us for our Thanksgiving celebration – the food all prepared by the children. During our winter festival celebration, we have the attending families each invite one of the residents to come to our potluck and sing holiday carols. In February, we celebrate Chinese New Year by parading through the hallways and passing out fortunes and gifts to the residents in the dining room. In the spring, we have our special tea party in the Community Room and invite the residents as our guests. In June we have a Rose Bud parade and invite all the residents, employees, and parents to watch and cheer, followed by a barbecue. The children make a special birthday gift for participating residents.
We are a community within a community. It is important that you and your child respect the proximity of our school to the residents’ homes. We stress to the children to walk in the hallways (because residents often have wheelchairs or walkers and have difficulty getting around) and to be quiet in the hallways (because we never know if a resident is listening to music, talking on the phone or trying to get some rest). Please be a role model to your child by doing the same.
Our conversations often gravitate towards why Rhoda can’t see very well or why Maxine can’t come read to us because she had to go to the hospital. We talk about how their bodies just don’t work as well as they used to. We discuss the importance of respect to the residents and how to be pleasant in the hallway, etc.
We have had several residents die. When this happens, we talk about the process of living things, that death is natural. We all put our energy into making things for the family and being sure that something of the resident is in our memory garden. The children seem to take this in stride and no one has been traumatized by this awareness of the end of life. We will always inform you of an event like this.
When Childpeace started this Children’s House here in 1999, after participating in the building renovation plans to include an intergenerational component, we were hopeful that it would be a benefit to both the children and to the elderly residents. We are satisfied that it has been a simple yet rich experience, and look forward to securing more grants for its continued health.