That Safe Space

28/10/2024

I cannot stress enough the importance of these conversations with your little people!

Working with teens who have been exposed to all manner of sexual content (mostly without their consent or their intent!!), I can say with conviction that we, as parents, HAVE TO educate our kids.

If we want to keep them safe from the world, we have to prepare them to live in it!

And also, Christy Herselman from The Chat is a personal friend and colleague. If you are facing difficulty in this space as a family, do not hesitate to reach out to her!

10/10/2024

World Mental Health Awareness Day 2024

Mental Health Matters 💚 You matter

How are YOU?

24/09/2024

Happy Heritage Day! 🇿🇦

26/07/2024

19/07/2024

What a privilege to call Christy Herselman my friend and colleague!

It is a huge blessing to draw on her wisdom, be inspired by her passion for young people and challenged by her heart for the lost and broken in their generation!

Her books are all MUST HAVES!! I could not practice or parent without them!

16/06/2024

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

We wish all our Safe Space Father Figures a very special day!

08/06/2024

It was such a privilege to attend this workshop by Lauren Snailham, owner of !

So much insight and incredible value to add into the practice of play!💛

28/05/2024

Your children don’t need the perfect play date, the best toys, the fancy devices.

They just need YOU!

The most powerful gift we can give our children is our time, snippets of our undivided attention♥️

26/03/2024

EASTER EGG HUNT (Part 2) 🐰

Following on from post 1 on “The Benefits of Easter Egg Hunts”, here are more reasons to engage in this lovely tradition:

•BONDING

An egg hunt is a wonderful opportunity to connect as a family.

Young and old can benefit from quality time!

Tweens and Teens can be encouraged to participate and feel more included by being placed in charge of filling or hiding eggs for younger siblings and loved ones.

🐰 Top Tip

Older children can participate in a hunt for “coupons”-fill plastic eggs with slips of paper stating their reward, for example: “Two hours extra screen time”, “Family Movie night-you choose the movie and snacks”, “Date night out with Mom/Dad, “Giant Easter Egg is yours”, etc.

Older girls eggs could include mini beauty products or hair accessories too.

🐰 Tiny Top Tip

If you have a baby who’s not yet walking, they can still gain so much from an egg hunt too. Crawling on grass gives them a core workout and a significant sensory experience.

And if they’re not yet crawling, they can lay on a blanket, getting some tummy time while watching the bigger children hunting and experience the sensations, sounds and smells.

✝️Christian Top Tip

Incorporate the true meaning of the holiday into your Easter egg hunt by printing off and placing an Easter Bible verse into each egg. For younger children, you can use pictures to tell the story. Afterwards, put all verses/pictures in order and read them all together as a family after the hunt.

🤓From a Therapy Perspective:

No matter how you and yours celebrate holidays, the most important thing is that you connect!

Whether it’s 5 minutes chatting on the phone to a special friend who lives far away, a planned activity with the kiddies or Easter lunch at Granny’s house, make the time together INTENTIONAL.

26/03/2024

EASTER EGG HUNTS (Part 1) 🐰

Easter egg hunts are one of the most cherished tradItions associated with the Christian holiday.

Here are some of the amazing BENEFITS of an egg hunt for whole your family:-

•GROSS AND FINE MOTOR SKILLS

Physical activity like running, walking, jumping, climbing or bunny hopping over grass, or through the house, challenges your child’s balance and strengthens their core. Picking up eggs, works on a young child’s hand-eye coordination and grasp, and for older children, unwrapping treats or popping open plastic eggs helps develop hand strength.

🐰 Top Tip

Strips of stickers make great plastic egg fillers-and encourage fine motor development, as do little puzzles or Duplo/Lego blocks. (Allow the kiddies to build it as an extra activity.)

•SENSORY INPUT

The sensory experience of a hunt is a great way for little ones to learn about different textures, smells and sounds.

🐰 Top tip

You can use different goodies to fill plastic eggs to enhance the sensory experience, for example: slime, mini fidgets, playdough, or even some sour sweets 😝

A fun twist on a traditional hunt is to use glow in the dark eggs/give the children torches and have the hunt at night.

•COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Easter egg hunts are a fun opportunity to practice counting, colour identification, shapes and sorting or addition and subtraction with your children.

(If mommy eats 3 chocolate eggs-‘cos you know...😝how many do you have left?)

For more benefits, see POST 2!

21/03/2024

HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

How do we talk to our children about significant moments in history?

How do we speak to our little ones about topics like abuse? Violence? Racism? Basic Human Rights violations? War?

How do we explain photos, like those from Sharpeville, and why we celebrate Human Rights Day today as a Country(or Freedom Day or Women’s Day in August)?

What do or don’t we say when we might not have all the answers? Or when we have our own strong responses to the events unfolding in our world?

We found a nifty article by Arise Family that provides practical guidance on how to navigate such conversations effectively.

Read it at: https://arisefamily.org/2021/03/19/how-to-talk-to-your-child-about-human-rights-day/?amp=1