The Prepared Adult in the Prepared Environment

A prepared environment includes both the people and the physical surroundings. The prepared environment will include family, friends, order, and materials that foster optimal developmental growth with independent learning and interdependent living.

His or her environment affects everyone at every age: especially the developing child. All human beings, from conception to maturity, form themselves through their environment. Adults and children with the habits of organizing and being in an organized environment will often enjoy better mental health, efficiency, creative thought, and peace.

We live in a world made for adults. If we, the adults, had to live just one day in an environment we traditionally give our children, we would find it painfully uncomfortable. We would tire greatly, as we would expend all of our energy defending ourselves. Children do this. Children should never have to do this!

One of the most important elements of the prepared environment is that of respecting the concentration of the child. When the child is engaged in an activity that is safe and purposeful, requiring the effort of both their mind and body, it is the adult’s role to respect and protect it. Gradually, children in a prepared environment reveal qualities for which they are not usually given credit, such as, intense concentration and a surprisingly long attention span, exact and precise movements, a sense of order, peaceful, maximum effort, self-discipline, a love for work, and respect for others.

The adult model is always the most important element in the environment, as we are the keepers of the environment, the tone setters. Children learn by observing and interacting in their environment, including that which the adult does.