Do you have special Christmas traditions in your family, perhaps they are traditions passed down through your family or religious/cultural traditions explored at home and with your community? Christmas is a time for giving, where acts of kindness are quintessentially ‘The spirit of Christmas.’ A meaningful way to give of yourself through handmade gifts, services and support. It is the process of unconditionally caring for another without expectation of something in return, and there are many ways we can explore this concept and share it with our children, building authentic human connecti ..read more

Expectations around Christmas are varied and personal to every family, or may not be explored at all, depending on cultural traditions and beliefs. Preparing for and celebrating Christmas can be overwhelming and Christmas gifting can create its own challenges and budget concerns. Christmas is ultimately about coming together, sharing food, stories, memories and feeling connected. These are the true gifts. If you do buy for adults in your life, keep it simple and consider instead a ‘donation to charity’ or a handmade gift. You could also choose to support only local independent makers and eth ..read more

It’s been a big couple of years and many of us are left feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and uncertain about what lies ahead. Our children’s lives have been deeply affected as they have had to navigate many twists and turns through school life, home life, family and friendships. It’s been a lot to ask of them and the residue of this experience may take a long time for some children to process. It seems especially significant, this Christmas, to consider the gifts you buy/make for your family. Care and creativity should be high on your list, so consider gifts that inspire as they have the power ..read more

One of my most enlightening resources I had as a young mum was a couple of self-published simple books by author Susan Perrow, filled with ‘Healing stories for children’. They transformed my early parenting and they will no doubt enjoy another innings when my grandchildren come along.  Susan’s work has now been commercially published and she has four wonderful books  – ‘Healing stories for challenging behaviour, ‘An A-Z collection of behaviour tales, ‘Therapeutic storytelling and more recently ‘Stories to light the night’. The discussion of this blog is an exploration of Stories as ..read more

Continuing our theme of deepening family connections inspired by Lou Harvey-Zahra, here are some more simple fun ways to keep connecting! I’m Bored! The dreaded catch-cry too often spoken on holidays and weekends. No such thing with a creative mind! is the best response. To help tackle the will of boredom, there should always be on hand: *Good books to read *Craft project/materials available *Movement games on hand such as table tennis, basketball, bikes and scooters, chalk drawing, skipping, yoyo’s, tree climbing ….. *Board and card games – snap, bingo, uno, pick up stix, monopoly, conn ..read more

Continuing our theme of deepening family connections, inspired by Lou Harvey-Zahra, here are some more simple fun ways to keep connecting! 7 tips for getting young ones to bed with a smile: *Giant steps – Have your child stand on your feet as you make your way to the bathroom and bedroom with a ‘heave-ho’ toss into bed. *A magic carpet ride – use an old towel or sheet to pull along with child sitting down………all the way to bed and the land of Nod. *Piggy back ride with a jiggety-jig around the house and off to bed. *Follow the leader – You take turns making your way to bed, copying the lead ..read more

Image from Unboxed by Eleanor Ford Continuing our theme of deepening family connections, inspired by Lou Harvey-Zahra, here are some more simple fun ways to keep connecting! Nimble fingers make for nimble minds and happy hearts. When we are engaged in activities that require hand work, we switch of the overthinking monkey mind and engage our tactile creative senses instead. This is a really significant concept to consider with older children 7 – 12 years, when intellect and emotional well-being starts to be influenced more directly by peers, social media, popular fads, TV and fashion ..read more

Holiday time should not cost a small fortune, with a little planning, simple resources and a commitment to staying local, you can re-ignite your children’s investigative nature to explore, create and imagine, turning boredom into wonder! Of course, it’s nice to plan some activities outside of home but making time at home, a positive focus too, teaches our children to be resourceful and not always look outside themselves for entertainment……to re-connect to their imagination and curiosity. Here are some wonderfully creative and resourceful activities guaranteed to spark imagination, that will ..read more

Over the next few blogs, I want to share with you, some of the ‘gold’ from the wonderful parenting series of books by our good friend Lou Harvey-Zahra at www.happychildhappyhome.com and @nurturethechild Lou is an author, educator and workshop facilitator, helping parents and children connect and thrive. Creative parenting, deepening family connections and feeling close to your children are all outcomes you can expect, when you explore and implement the tried and tested simple concepts Lou shares. Many inspiring tools for the many and varied challenging moments of parenting and family life ..read more

It is through simple opportunities to connect, that we can create simple family rhythms that nourish our children and our relationships. Mindfulness matters and is visible by example through the care we demonstrate and the language we use, in our every-day interactions and activities. Our children are incredible observers and so our actions speak volumes. Making time for ’time together’ is fundamental to cultivating a sense of connection in all healthy relationships, when we feel valued and safe, we can be ourselves. Children are constantly ‘feeling’ their way inside and outside of themselves ..read more