This is my current non-fiction read and I'm really enjoying it! I read little sections and think "yes! Exactly!" And I'm reminded, once again, why the Montessori philosophy resonates with me and why i originally trained as a Montessori practitioner.

One area I particularly like is talking about respect and dignity:

"Respect the process the new-born has to go through to find his or her individual rhythms. As he has never eaten before or slept before outside the womb, he needs a period of time to establish his own rhythms that are going to come out from the inside of his being".

And:

"Treating a new born with dignity...Would you like to be handled by others, say, during a hospital stay, as if you weren't there, moved about and touched without being addressed, without being told what was happening? Dignity is offered simply by taking into consideration what the other person is needing or feeling, and acting accordingly. How often do we really take into consideration the real and urgent needs of the newborn to be able to process all the new stimuli and feel safe throughout this transitional period of adaptation, being newly outside the womb, a reality that is 100 percent different from the world in which he has lived during his entire life" p48.

As someone who's spent her fair share of time in hospital, I particularly like this comparison being used. How would you and I like to be treated when in a particularly vulnerable and dependent state so let's treat our babies the same!