Saturday 20 February 2016

New crawlers playgroup

Wow! What a great playgroup today!  The space was perfect! A huge thanks to Crisel and Carsten for the use of Baumhaus! My big kids had a blast in the tree house, and the clean and clear room was just right for our playgroup. 

As always, in first classes, the quiet observation was hard! It really does take time, and practice to get into a good habit during a playgroup to learn to slow down. The kids are good at it though! Just goes to show how much we are used to action and information, that when it comes time to really be still, it can be very hard! Sensitive observation is an art, and with practice, we can get there. 

My baby really enjoyed herself. I really had not anticipated she would be as excited to see other infants! She is around her siblings day in, day out, so I didn't think she would be quite as alert to the other infants’ presence as she was! It is some kind of unspoken understanding that they are “friends” and kindred spirits perhaps. 

My little girl was extremely fascinated with baby S! My little one kept trying to touch baby S’s face. Was it the blue eyes? At first I let my girl touch baby S, but it got a bit on the scratchy side of touching, so I had to intervene a bit more, and block the touching.Baby S’s  mum also handled it beautifully, “sportscasting” calmly and gently blocking my eager girls hands.  It may have made a difference had baby S been able to roll away, out of harm's way (she is not yet rolling with intention). Either way, the adults were there for support. 
A link to a page that describes why we take the “less is more” approach during playgroups. http://www.janetlansbury.com/2014/06/share-wait-your-turn-dont-touch-playdate-rules-that-limit-learning-and-what-to-try-instead/ 


Here are some wonderful snaps of my little one with baby ‘B’. At first, there is a bit of observation. 

Next, things get a little ‘hands on’. My girl wants to touch. Baby B moves slightly. 

My girl seems to be getting a little enthusiastic, if Baby B cant move away independently, it may be time for a grown up to come close and lend a gentle hand.


Some adults got to see close up some real infant social skills! This was seen in the infant way of “sharing” aka taking the object when they see it, whether it is in a child’s hand or not. A noticed a few shocked faces, when I mentioned that we don’t intervene, and will allow the babies to take objects. To explain briefly, babies of this age are not developmentally ready to understand the idea of ownership, and the best way to “teach” sharing at this stage is to model it. We also see these first examples of interaction (taking objects from another child) as fantastic opportunities for learning, and jumping in to fix teaches the child they need us to fix things, as opposed to the message that they can be trusted to be capable. But of course, I understand what a great big jump away from our typical way of thinking this can be! Head over to this link to see a bundle of articles by Janet about sharing. 
http://www.janetlansbury.com/tag/sharing/

Another big topic today was in response to a parent who has a baby who doesn't like to be placed on her back. I have come across babies like this a lot. I gave some tips on helping to introduce her baby to more floor time, and demonstrated the RIE and Pikler way of lifting an infant, in order to keep their spine aligned, and to maintain the horizontal position. If your baby is not used to lieing down on their back, you can ease them into it slowly. We can possibly talk more about this next time as it is a bit too lengthy to share in this spot! 

Here is a post by Janet on the topic of sitting babies up. This post has questions in the comments section that ask about reflux babies too. 
http://www.janetlansbury.com/2012/04/sitting-babies-up-the-downside/



And another 

Looking forward to another informal playgroup soon!