is not depending on another‚ but able to act and live by one’s own effort. Normal developmental milestones such as weaning, walking, talking, etc. can be seen as a series of events which enable the child to achieve increased individuation, autonomy, self-regulation, and independence. Throughout development, a vital urge causes the child and young adult to continuously seek to become more independent and self-reliant. (Haines)

“Independence is revealed as not a static thing but a continuous conquest, the acquisition by untiring work, not only of freedom, but of strength and self-perfection. In giving freedom and independence to the child, we free a worker who is impelled to act and who cannot live except by his activity, because this is the form of existence of all living beings. Life is activity, and it is only through activity that perfection of life can be sought and found.” (Montessori, Maria, Education for a New World, p. 27) Independence is “The exalting feeling of being sufficient to oneself…” (Montessori, Maria, From Childhood to Adolescence, p. 83)