As soon as the child has acquired this form of independence [walking] he begins to carry heavy things and to do difficult things. We call it maximum...

Children need to carry heavy things at this age. It is necessary to their development. They are porters and like it immensely; for one and a half...

So we realise that in order to develop the individual needs to display effort, to exercise himself and not be dependent on others. Now this...

... the child always chooses something hard to do. This is something we would never have thought of.

This means that it is not enough to set the child among objects in proportion to his size and strength; the adult who is to help him must have learned...

At each age one must seek for the opportunity for the greatest effort, and the greatest social experience one can reach actively.

[The child] chooses the narrow path that we might consider hard. Yes, this little man has taken the narrow, straight path, the strong way. Thus we see...

The child does not follow the law of the least effort, but a law directly contrary. He uses an immense amount of energy over an unsubstantial end, and...

The child feels the need to repeat this exercise not in order to perfect his performance but in order to build up his own inner being, and the time...

If the adult, through a fatal misunderstanding, instead of helping the child to do things for himself, substitutes himself for the child, then that...