Review of DVD published in
Tomorrow’s Child Magazine

Bringing Out the Brilliance in Your Infant: A Guide to Conscious Parenting

Reviewed by Matthew Rich

Balis’ DVD possesses the same qualities of purity and clarity as the works cited by (Paula Polk) Lillard and (Silvano Quattrocchi) Montanaro; however, unlike these encyclopedic works it has a simplicity and accessibility, which makes it immediately applicable to the lives of any new parent, whether they are Montessorians or not.  I am still surprised by the scope that Balis manages to cover; in the space of two hours she has managed to distill enough wisdom to equip new parents with the basic knowledge to begin parenting in new, aware, and connected ways (which she constantly links back to the writings of Montessori, in a way which is at once both scholarly and inspiring).  If I were to share the concept of Montessori with any unsuspecting, expecting parent this would be my tool of choice!

Balis begins with an easy to understand yet extremely authoritative exposition of some of the essential principles of Dr. Montessori’s educational philosophy.  She looks at concepts such as ‘the unconscious absorbent mind’ – which are often baffling to the ‘uninitiated’ – and makes them completely understandable, while still maintaining a purist Montessori outlook.  From this firm foundation, she shares useful information with parents on diverse topics, including tools for honoring your child’s innate potential, characteristics of toys and materials that enhance infant learning, comprehensive design for each room in a Montessori home, and methods to immediately begin developing the infant’s self-awareness and self-confidence.  Throughout this diverse, penetrating and yet surprising accessible training she refers constantly both to authorities and new parents.  I believe this to be one of the most intelligent and authoritative introductions to Montessori parenting available at the moment, and I am convinced that if this disk could find its way into the hands 0f one-tenth of all new parents, we would be well on our way to producing the new world that Montessori envisioned.

For a full copy of the review please see Complete Tomorrow's Child Review

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Customer Review

I thought the video was great!  It showed how to set up a Montessori environment at home, and addressed many early parenting issues and concerns.  I feel that it would be a wonderful tool for any infant parenting class or child development course, especially since it is rather long for one sitting and there is a good amount of information to absorb. The segments are easily divided into subtopics that would be great for new parents, and could easily be separated into important pre-natal info and info to have before bringing your new baby home, and ideas and practices to incorporate as your baby ages.  I could really see value in using it in a community setting, either at infant play-groups or new parent 'support groups' because it invites discussion.  I think it is important to note that this exemplifies the ideal environment for raising a child.  I have a feeling it might become a gift that I like to give at baby showers, etc. to new moms because it is really full of incredibly useful information.  It is also very helpful to show to grandparents to give them a little insight into why we make many of the choices we do in regards to child-rearing.