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    Why is the pre-school space taken up by people other than teachers?

    When professionals who are unschooled in the field intervene in ECD, they often get it badly wrong.

    Fear (and the long term solution that is ECD!)

    Do children know when they are poor?

    Why I don’t think we should plan to put 3, 4 and 5 year olds in primary schools in SA…

    The government is talking of putting all pre-schoolers into Primary schools…and closing community based centres….probably thinking it is a ‘cost saver’...hmmm….

    Equality…

    June 16th 2014 - my demands…

    Working in the NGO field blesses you?

    The cup cakes of love project!

    The long and windy road an abused spouse/ partner has to take to get help…

    Want to know a good way of doing your 67 minutes for Nelson Mandela’s birthday and, of course, honou

    Why I think the “Black Consciousness’ of Steve Biko still has a place and a role to play in SA…

    Poverty is a toxic place to live in…

    Why we need money and donations so much!

    To run a reasonable pre-school programme we need to provide:

    hrow away those stultifying Pre-school worksheets!

    Hey teacher! Watch that voice!!!

    4 year olds in compulsory school?

    So let’s stop failing our children and get them flying in the freeness of true education!

    Finger paint fun

    42 fun things to do with playdough…

    Children teach us their needs

    The ‘hurt book’

    Too much hurting….

    Child abuse is everywhere and dealing with it is complex…

    How to give the gift of giving at Christmas

    The Grasshopper and the ants - an Aesop’s fable about delayed gratification..

    The sad state of fees

    Have a look at this blog of play ideas!

    Drug abuse – whose ‘fault’ is it?

    Flour babies

    Let Pre-school and ECD teachers write the curriculum! Not primary school/ foundation teachers…

    Childcare must look easy to many SA teens…

    So many children in SA are so inadequately cared for our teens must think it is easy to be a parent…

    No 12 in our series ‘Using positive discipline’:The loud, judgmental voices giving advice…

    No 11 in our series ‘Using positive discipline’:  Just try!

    No 10 in our series ‘Using positive discipline’:  Think before you lift that punishing angry hand…

    No 9 in our series ‘Using positive discipline’: TV troubles…

    No 8 in our series ‘Using positive discipline’:  Mistakes and normal curiosity versus ‘naughty’

    And making it easy for your child to behave well…

    No 7 in our series ‘Using positive discipline’:  Toys are not playmates.

    No 6 in our series ‘Using positive discipline’:  Routines

    No 5 in our series ‘Using positive discipline’:  Physical touch and relatedness.

    No 4 in our series ‘Using positive discipline’:  Routines for yourself.

    We always talk about routines for baby - what we really need is some routines for ourselves at first!

    No 3 in our series about using positive discipline with your child: The voices in your head

    No 2 in our series on how to use Positive Discipline with your babies and children. Loneliness

    Parents need other adults support and care to make parenting easier and more fun.

    No. 1 in the series of : ‘How to use positive discipline with your babies and children.’

    Some ideas to help you and your baby, toddler and child get along better…in a series…

    So we are looking at making it a crime to hit our children…?

    Did you never tell about being raped or attempted rape/ assault? Tell your story now.

    What is my Utopia for the under 7’s?

    Children and TV - loll and slop…as Roald Dahl wrote…

    67 things you can do in the name of our beloved Madiba now and all through the year…

    As soon as we decide someone else is them, not us…

    The freshness of a child’s veiw

    Immunising kids against abuse.

    Help your child to protect themselves against abuse - give them confidence and a good sense of self.

    Immunising kids against abuse.

    Help your child to protect themselves against abuse - give them confidence and a good sense of self.

    Immunising kids against abuse.

    Help your child to protect themselves against abuse - give them confidence and a good sense of self.

    Just going for a walk

    Families need pretty places to walk and play on

    Honouring the father of my children on Fathers day

    Love and work - Freud’s famous measure on mental health..

    Infants, babies and toddlers are so much more than blobs…

    Babies do have thoughts, feelings and needs.

    Children do not do as you say – they do as you do…

    We can harm our children by our own unprocessed traumas and ‘issues’.

    The Dark Ages versus modern understanding of mental illness.

    I am worried about the trend of blaming mentally and emotionally ill young people ‘Satanists’. It takes us back to pre-modern thought about how the brain works.

    Forced removals still live on in our elders minds and hearts..

    We may prefer to forget what evils Apartheid wrought - but the shadows are long and still dark.

    A must read for all parents or about to be parents! A new novel by Jo-Anne Richards

    Teachers also have Teachers teachable times….

    On learning from emptying a playroom of 3-5 years old in terror…

    Teachers also have Teachers teachable times….

    On learning from emptying a playroom of 3-5 years old in terror…

    A salute to the young #MultiChoice Team Joey

    A salute to the young #MultiChoice Team Joey

    Thabo and Thabang - a story for small children about deafness

    This short story was written for a class of 3-4 year olds and told during the theme week of ‘sound and hearing’

    People are living there…in South Africa, Gauteng

    On waste water, sewage and litter filled streams in our roads (and bakkies)

    Why we don’t celebrate ‘Mothers Day’ at our centres…

    Too many of of children don’t have living mothers.

    We all need unconditionally special birthday celebrations!

    Birthdays are a celebration of the love we have for the birthday - ee!

    We all need unconditionally special birthday celebrations!

    Birthdays are a celebration of the love we have for the birthday - ee!

    So you want your child to be a rocket scientist or something?

    If you want your baby to fulfill his/her full potential put that smacking hand away!

    How to say ‘NO’ less to your little one

    ‘No’. For too many babies that is the first word they learn to say.

    On being re-traumatised

    I am thinking of all those of us in the world who have been through trauma – the kind when one feels and is facing the possibility of great harm and death or where one has to experience continual abuse or great stress one simply cannot escape over a long period of time. And then the same or another trauma happens and one is re-traumatised. Even those of us blessed with great resilience will struggle.

    Honouring good people

    I want to honour all those people who with love and compassion give their time and skills to others. Especially today Peter France

    Busy Bees flying high…

    Busy Bees flying high…

    ‘Slow playing’

    You’ve heard of the slow food revolution - what about having a ‘slow playing’ revolution too?

    On wasting the positive energy of our young men…

    On wasting the positive energy of our young men…

    Why are children trashing their school environement? Some reasons…

    Why are children trashing their school environement? Some reasons…

    On defending our actions – even when our principles tell us ‘No, no, no…’

    Soft rain. What children really want.

    Father burns his little boys school uniform after an argument with mom.

    Father burns his little boys school uniform after an argument with mom.

    Inhumanity to mother in labour

    The best pre-school teachers are actually facilitators of play

    What is that old lady DOING!??

    It is easy to provide a pile of toys – but only time and nurturing create real change and playrooms where children can play and learn through play

    Poverty all too often brings a culture of poverty to a community.

    I am troubled by the very insular nature of some communities. This idea that nothing matters outside of one’s own ambit

    Letting go of parental perfection opens one to a real relationship with one’s child

    Sometimes it is so hard to be a parent. Some of my worst moments are when I realise that I have been repeating something that my parents or even a teacher did to me with my children that I PROMISED myself never, ever to do…

    Managing your child’s traumatic experience .

    Managing your child’s traumatic experience .

    Unathi’s Christmas - A South African story for children

    In a village in the Eastern Cape lived a boy called Unathi.

    And let us use the money in the way we need to when we need to!

    Thank you to those who give from your own pockets! And let us use the money in the way we need to when we need to!

    How was your day today my beloved child?

    How was your day today my beloved child?

    The Gift of Giving for Christmas

    December and Christmas is almost upon us. I know that the shops have been proclaiming it for some time now. Diwali and Ramadan have also been and gone but with far less noise! I often wish that Christmas could be a simpler more spiritual celebration.

    A gift of love at Christmas

    A gift of love at Christmas

    Owl and spider

    Down with pre-school beauty pageants…

    One thing that really horrified me about the ‘Toddlers and Tiara’ show was watching a mother making a child accept being spray tanned by her.

    The 10 Universal Precautions

    The 10 Universal Precautions prevent children from getting serious illnesses at school and play

    The car seat conflict

    Congratulations to 94.7 Highveld Stereo and JMPD for car seat road blocks and giving out car seats.

    If your child is going to school next year this is how to make sure they really shine:

    Such simple things would help so many of our children do better at school. I made a list:

    Does some play make you Gay?

    ‘Cross gender play’ needs to become just ordinary play

    Children may be in school, but most are simply not learning what they should be.’

    One of my main challenges is to get the students to start to learn.

    Some “Mammal activities” to do with pre-schoolers

    Some “Mammal activities” to do with pre-schoolers

    Fun experimenting with water

    Water experiments