Play Day

I knew that the place I grew up would be the same place that I bring up my own babies.  I wanted to travel, to see the world, to experience different cities, but I had always known that when it came to starting a family, this place is home.

My family live here, and everywhere I look, I have memories of growing up.  There are so many beaches on our doorstep, so many parks, schools and small communities.  Sure it has its issues, there are bad parts of town as there always are, and it does boast an incredibly high teenage pregnancy rate, but this was my home, and this is my children's home.

Bringing them up here, we have spent a lot of time at the Children's Centres, from antenatal classes, breastfeeding support groups and the health visitor to messy rock'n'roll toddler groups and courses.  The Children's Centre organises a 'Play Day' every summer for the community, a completely free event for families, and this year's theme was healthy.

All children received free water and fruit, there was bouncy castles and characters to meet, information about local services and healthy start incentives and the chance to make a smoothie on a pedal bike.  The mobile farm was there, letting the children get close to the sheep and pigs and there were displays from local groups like Judo and majorettes. The weather was sadly not what was hoped for in early August, but it was only the parents stood under umbrellas, whilst the children ran free, reminding us that being outdoors whatever the weather is completely healthy.

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Sensory for Toddlers

My local children's centre is a fantastic place and Dylan and I are familiar faces as we have been attending various groups there since he was only a few weeks old.  I have recently signed up for a free course there which explores sensory learning in children.  I won't lie - the initial draw was the free creche for 2.5 hours twice a week and a chance to sit down with some adults, have a chat and a cup of tea in peace.  Dylan is a sociable child and loves the creche room which is full of toys, messy play and snacks and he is more than happy to be left with the other children to do his own thing.

Meanwhile, I am really enjoying learning about his sensory journey, and how best to encourage him to learn. Humans are a unique species in that our young are born utterly helpless but with so much potential.  Some animal babies can walk within hours of being born and have to learn to defend themselves from the start.  Human babies however have millions of neurons and although not all the connections are there, with a little help they can grow into amazing young people.

Before a child is three, they develop most of these connections and it is up to us as parents to stimulate all their senses to ensure their brains develop as healthily as possible and to their maximum capabilities. We help them develop through touch, taste, smell, sound and sight and the course is designed to teach you more about why this is important and ways to do it.

I like to think that I encourage Dylan already.  We read books together do a lot of puzzles,  attempt messy play and go for walks to explore.  We expose him to all sorts of music and try to let him develop as much as we can.  Having some guidance though has been great and being able to drink a hot cup of tea as I learn has been even better!

For the first session we discussed some of the neuroscience behind their development and then set about with our own arts and crafts session.  I cannot wait for Dylan to be that bit older that we can do these things together and for some of the other parents, the idea is that they go home and try the ideas with their own children.  For those of us with small toddlers however, the finger puppets we made are a tool for stories, songs and exploring textures.  My monkey and lion (It is probably safer to tell you than let you guess- I may need a bit of practice still) have glitter, pipe cleaners, pom poms and felt on and Dylan loved turning them over and touching all the bits.  He also liked rawwr-ing at the lion and saying ooh ooh aah aah to the monkey.  I feel creative making up my highly out of tune and un-rhyming songs and he sways, dances and giggles as I sing them.

Today's session focused on auditory learning and how early a baby learns the art of conversation.  We made drums out of carpet rolls and balloons and got to decorate them with paper and stickers - It felt like a toddler group for adults but as Dylan is not really old enough to get involved with the making he just gets to enjoy playing with it! He has been busy bashing it and shaking it (I popped a few sewing machine bobbins in there which give it a great noise when you shake it)  and trying to pull off the fish and boat stickers.  I learnt a lot as we crafted and have always been fascinated by the fact babies prefer their native tongue from only 6 weeks old and wish I spoke another language as children seem to adjust to being bi-lingual so easily if they are brought up that way.

I am loving learning more about Dylan and Squish's sensory journey and feel more equipped to nurture Squish to grow up into the genius he could be.  I still have two more weeks left of the course and can't wait to build up my craft collection whilst also learning (and drinking tea in peace!)

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Mummy Friends

Don't get me wrong, before having a baby, I had friends.  I had work friends, friends from school, friends from uni, travelling pals, drinking buddies, friends of friends.  I had plenty of friends.  Since having a baby I have created a new sub-category of friends - the mummy friends.

Maternity leave leaves you with a lot of free time, and with the majority of friends working during the day, not much to do with it.  Making new friends is the perfect solution to this, and Children's centres are the way forward.  

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