The ability to will, or choose to do something with conscious intent, develops gradually during the first phase of life and is strengthened through practice. The Montessori environment offers many opportunities for the child to choose. Willpower, or self-control, results from the many little choices of daily life in a Montessori school. (Boehnlein, Haines)

“..the fundamental character of the will consists in the possibility of persisting with actions, considering persistence to be a fundamental fact, a fundamental characteristic of the will…The planned activity, the choice between desires, the choice of action, and the capacity for inhibition are all voluntary phenomena that have value because of the existence of this foundation… If this is recognized, the first step in education of the will should be that of urging the individual to persist in a piece of work, of aiding the accomplishment of a piece of work completely and the ability to persist. This is a fundament characteristic, without which the basis of the will does not exist.” (Montessori, Maria, The 1913 Rome Lectures, p. 249)