GiuGiu babysitting

Power and Control
This is a basic issue in every relationship, and it tests the social-maturity of every adult. As adults, are our people skills sufficient to work alongside children allowing their autonomy to blossom? Are our people skills elegant and accomplished enough so that the child is able to experience a working partnership of equals? Or do we opt out and "pull rank" (as they say in the military)? Real partnership and genuine respect are always built by two individuals working together, not out of being made to respect and obey another.

Personal Power - The Power to Choose
As grown ups, we can choose to step up and use our personal power - or not. Sometimes the ‘not’ rests with us because we lack the courage, but sometimes it is because the people we live (and work) with ‘won’t let us'. When a woman or man says, “My partner won’t let me …” they are disclosing that their relationship is probably heavily based in the Dynamic of Domination - especially if they cannot have a conversation around that, or if they are too scared to even raise the subject for conversation. This is not great for our relationships, and it is not a great model for our children. This is how the ’not-good-stuff’ gets passed down the line.

When it comes to babies and children, unless we parents have made a CONSCIOUS effort to learn and apply the skills of Partnering, we’ll default in the Dynamic of Domination. For most of us The Dynamic of Partnering, true partnering, is very new territory. Yet deep down, we know in our gut that partnership is what works. We know this when we remember the times we weren’t allowed a say, when our choices were ignored, when what we wanted to do was dismissed out of hand. I invite you to take the quiz on the meme.

Freedom of Movement Freedom to Learn
"What is the Hurry?
Propping babies to sit, supporting them to stand, and holding them to walk is more than helplessness training. Physically, it forces babies to use muscles and skeletal structure not yet ready for the task. As Magda Ge**er so succinctly put it, "How must it affect infants when what they can do is not appreciated, and what they cannot do is expected?" Is this the beginning of that all too pervasive story, 'I do not measure up'?"
From "Dance with me in the Heart: the adults' guide to great infant-parent partnerships" by Pennie Brownlee - available on-line at www.goodeggbooks.co.nz

The First Thousand Days
"There is no single effort more radical in its potential for saving the world than the way we bring up our children."
Marianne Williamson

The First Thousand Days
“What’s Wrong With You?” Don't you hate it when people ask you that in that accusing tone? Probably the most truthful answer is, “Actually nothing’s ‘wrong’ with me besides being 100% human”. As 100% human babies we found ways to survive in the environment we were marinated in. As 100% human adults some of these survival mechanisms (that served us brilliantly when we were kids) might be ready for review if they aren’t working for us now. Let’s go about the review with curiosity and kindness, and with gratitude to our younger selves. We’re still here!

One of the things children need most is connection with the Earth. Think about it when you buy plastic, colorful toys. They look nice to your eyes but can also be an overstimulation for your child. Let your children explore the beauty of the world and connect with the Earth and they will not get bored 🥰

An Exercise in Ecoliteracy for Parents and Teachers
Human babies/children are designed to learn about their world by downloading the sensory information that is IN their world. Stating the obvious, they cannot get to know what is not in their world. Their world is limited to what we have seen fit to place in it for them.

• If you are a parent, gather up the toys* you have for your baby or child and put them in one pile - or if there are too many**, visualise them in a pile.
• If you are a teacher of under two’s, gather up the toys and ‘educational’ equipment from your space.
• Now just notice what sort of world your child is imprinting as her world, the world she will grow to consider as her ‘home’.
Will your child’s extraordinary brain imprint and place her in an artificial world of plastic and stuffed toys - or will her brain imprint and place her in the real natural world?

*Toys are HUGE business (figures for Mattel alone in 2018 - $4.51 billion) and our indiscriminate buying is damaging both to our children’s wellbeing, to their learning, to their ecoliteracy - and to the Earth.
** "Too many" and clutter are big stress factors in children's lives, and therefore, influences on their behaviour - they contribute to stress behaviour. See Kim John Payne's wonderfully helpful book, "Simplicity Parenting".

The Great Tummy Time Debate… – Helen Armstong The Great Tummy Time Debate… August 14, 2019 By Helen Armstrong In Articles No Comments Flat head syndrome, or plagiocephaly as the condition is medically known, occurs when a flat spot develops on the back or side of a baby’s head. The condition can cause the baby’s head to look mis-shapen or...

Babysitting night! Lots of activities and lots of fun together! 🙂 Coastal Babysitters

How I Helped My Baby Learn to Sleep (Guest Post by Alice Callahan, PhD) Sleep topics tend to be a hotbed for firmly held opinions and blanket judgments. Even experts make pronouncements like: “Babies can’t ____,” “All infants need _