A reporter had been assigned the story by his editor. Human interest story. Kids, dolphins. You know, are they intelligent, aren’t they cute. But this guy really wasn’t interested in the story and resented having to do it. He was someone to whom the concept of intelligence in dolphins was…
A well know family therapist, Virginia Satir, goes as far as to say that, “Hugging is healthy. It helps the body’s immune system, keeps you healthier, cures depression, reduces stress, and induces sleep. It is invigorating and rejuvenating. Hugging significantly increases your body’s production of endorphins.” She simplifies it in…
One of the most important skills we teach in Whanau Marama Parenting is the skill of being able to stop what we are doing, turn towards our child or teen and then and focus 100% on what they are either asking us, showing us or telling us. This could be…
Words can be creative. They can build, restore, liberate, soothe, heal, teach, instruct, empower and bring into being what was not there before. Words can be destructive, rip down, hurt, upset, and cause despair and damage to relationships as well as a whole lot more. As parents, what we say…
One of the most valuable things we can do for our tamariki is to engage them in activities that will create wonderful memories for them. It is not just the memories of those times but their feelings experienced during those times that are so precious. It is the wonder of…
It may not be widely known that some parents like to attend multiple parenting courses or even return to the same parenting course. It is not uncommon for parents to return again to exactly the same course they attended a previous term or even a previous year. Approximately 75% of…
When our children’s behaviour appears to be heading towards hitting or hurtful words we first need to capture their attention by saying such statements as “Stop” or “It’s not OK for you to …” Secondly, we can ask a question, for instance: “What else do you think you can do…
This is a true story of a young child’s effort to survive in the first few months of her life and the resulting lifelong impact it has had on her struggle to not over- eat during the tough times in her life. The Brain Wave Trust organization state that the…
One of the most useful skills to have as parents is the ability to be able to calm down or de-stress. Staying calm with our tamariki is perhaps more important than many of us realize. Certainly there is enough evidence that parental stress can negatively affect the brain development of…
Prevent them if we can We can look out for tantrum triggers and head them off before they happen. Be alert. Are they tired? Hungry? Bored? Or is it certain situations or places? eg. Taking our child to the supermarket when they are already tired and hungry after being at…