CMC programme at HIPPY, Henderson

On Tuesday I presented the Children Massaging Children (CMC) programme to HIPPY, Henderson branch.

The response of mums and children was excellent. It was a real pleasure to listen to the mum's comments regarding secure attachment and it's connection with sensory stimulation.It allowed them to understand what bonding with a child 

is all about

Even though it was a short time that I spent with the students, I got the feeling that CMC would fit very well into what HIPPY is doing - helping children, young people and families to flourish.

Anna Public Speaking

One of the objectives of Anna’s internship was to practice public speaking.

At the finish of her internship, she took the opportunity to deliver a lecture on Child Development at the YMCA in Mt. Albert, Auckland. This is a serious task and demonstrated much that Anna had learned during her stay in Auckland. 
The audience was not big, but very demanding, and included a member of the board of trustees of Child connection Trust, Christine Clark, teacher and author.

Anna was excellently prepared.  After 15 weeks of internship in our organisation, Anna was well versed on the topic of “why secure attachment is number one for children’s upbringing”.

 The practical demonstration also went perfectly. We all wish Anna to continue her training in public speaking

Parenting Skills

It was great meeting with Stephanie and Ladies from her group at the Mahurangi Presbyterian Church in Wa rkworth. Our friendship and trust had been growing since our last meeting, and this time Anna was given a real baby to play with on her knee. Sharing practical information between mums really impressed our Swedish student. Her conclusion was " You can be really relaxed and play freely with your baby - no stress". We are sure these parenting tips can be helpful for Anna in the future. We feel it is just the beginning of our friendship and mutual sharing. 

Howick Museum – A special place

After looking through the one room/bedroom cottages made of soil and grass with a fireplace in the middle, you really must admire the stamina and courage of the people who formed the foundations of contemporary New Zealand.

Volunteers, including children dressed in costumes from the time, explained and demonstrated how life 170 years ago looked like – and it was not easy!

Despite the heavy rain, we enjoyed our trip to Howick.

A Day with families and children

Anna, our intern from Sweden, had an opportunity to look closer into family life within a natural environment  at Warkworth,  a small town north of Auckland . It was made possible thanks to supervisor  Stephanie Manuel,  Counsellor and  Community & Family Support Worker in Mahurangi Presbyterian Church.

It was a special day.
Using grass root social work with new  Islander  settlers  and learning about  their everyday problems and ways of helping them to solve issues.  A day of learning new skills and building friendships beyond culture and language.  It was the first such visit an initiation of our cooperation

.

Korean/Asian Motherhood

14 March - Waitemata DHB meeting.  This time we listened to a lecture by Dr Aram Kim, Psychiatry registrar, talking about Korean and Asian way of pregnancy, childbirth and childrearing.

Until this lecture I only knew about the tradition of co-sleeping of parents and their children. I am a big fan of it but westernised Asian families avoid it. There is a law in China that children age 3 must attend fulltime Childcare. I have seen often in Auckland‘s parks, elderly Asians beautifully caring for their grandchildren. I have also been asking myself why young pregnant woman come back home to give birth. After this lecture, the puzzle was solved. Asian people respect and support the Universal Law of Attachment.  It was a very uplifting lecture.

PORSE HELO

10 March - meeting with PORSE team          
Similar to our Child Connection Trust, PORSE In Home Childcare and Training (NZ) primary value is to respect and fulfil the needs of children for secure attachment.
It can be easily achieved in small home based settlements
Home-based ECE currently represents 9% of the ECE sector but has been marginalised by the bigger players, at the expense of not having our babies and young children educated in home and community learning environments,
The Home Education Learning Organisation (HELO) l represents and advocate for home-based early childhood education (ECE) in the teacher-led sector. Child Connection Trust  supports HELO