A Decalogue, by Maria Montessori

1. Never touch the child unless invited by them (in some form or another).
   

2. Never speak ill of the child in their presence or absence.
   

3. Concentrate on strengthening and helping the development of what is good in the child so that their presence may leave less and less space for evil.
   

4. Be active in preparing the environment, take meticulous and constant care of it. Help the child establish constructive relations with it. Show the proper place where the means of development are kept and demonstrate it.
   

5. Be ever ready to answer the call of the child who stands in need of you and ever listen and respond to the child who appeals to you.
   

6. Respect the child who makes a mistake and can then or later correct it themselves, but stop firmly and immediately any misuse of the environment and any actions which endanger the child, their development or others.
   

7. Respect the child who takes a rest or watches others working or ponders over what they themselves have done or will do. Neither call them, nor force them to other forms of activity.
   

8. Help those who are in search of activity and cannot find it.
   

9. Be untiring in repeating presentations to the child who refused them earlier, in helping the child acquiring what is not yet their own and overcome imperfections. Do this by animating the environment, with care, with purposive restraint and silence, with mild words and loving presence. Make your ready presence felt to the child who searches, and hide from the child who has found.
   

10. Ever treat the child with the best of good manners, and offer them the best you have in yourself and at your disposal.
    

*Decalogue = 10 Commandments

All pronouns have been changed from he/him to they/them in an effort to bring about inclusive change in our communication.