Welcome back to another episode in the series of conversations about Attachment Play, this time with Ayla Dewilt. Ayla is the mother of 2 daughters and is an Aware Parenting Instructor and homeschool mom, with a love of psychology and emotional hygiene. In this episode Ayla shares how she discovered Aware Parenting. She shares some of her own reparenting journey in the early years of parenting and we talk about how Aware Parenting supported her to understand how to be with painful feelings for herself as well as how to support her children. She shares a beautiful process to check in and bring a few moments of self-connection before we then offer attachment play to our children. Ayla shares some games that she has found to be very supportive in challenging times, including play to support children after times of rupture between parents and the power of play for learning, sharing some games that she uses as part of her children's homeschooling learning. We talk about the need for community in parenting and how to support ourselves when we are not feeling able to play. To learn more about Ayla, please follow her on Instagram and Facebook at Awareayla. For support with this or any other aspect of Aware Parenting, I invite you to get in touch. If you would like to receive a free copy of my Introduction to Attachment Play eBook, please email me [email protected]

Welcome back to another episode in the series of conversations about Attachment Play, this time with Sanne Greuter. Sanne is the mother of a 4 year old daughter in The Netherlands. She is an aware parenting instructor, psychologist and a mental health professional, trained in Emotion Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Nonviolent Communication, and Stress and Burn-out Coaching. She offers one-on-one sessions and leads a group education session for stress and burn-out. In this episode, Sanne shares how she found Aware Parenting and how she supported herself to move from feeling very insecure and unskilled in play to feeling excited and joyful and capable to offer attachment play to her daughter. We talk about how healing attachment play can be for us as well as our children. We talk about separation play in depth and Sanne shares lots of beautiful games that she has played with her daughter to support healing in relation to separation. We talk about seeing our children's behaviour as an invitation to play and responding to that, rather than reacting to behaviour and she shares other games that she has found helpful for everyday difficulties in parenting. To learn more about Sanne, please email her [email protected] For support with this or any other aspect of Aware Parenting, I invite you to get in touch. If you would like to receive a free copy of my Introduction to Attachment Play eBook, please email me [email protected]

To celebrate World Breastfeeding Week, I am so happy to share this episode in conversation with Carly Facius about ending the breast feeding journey. Carly is mother to three beautiful children, She is a Registered Midwife, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), Aware Parenting Instructor and hold a Master of Primary Maternity Care. In this episode, we talk about the pressures and challenges that women can face in the breastfeeding journey. We share some of what we have found supportive to get clarity and to feel empowered in ending our breast-feeding journeys. We talk about coming back to connection, self-compassion, listening to feelings and attachment play. We share how essential it is for us to be getting listening and holding, and meeting our own needs in order to support our unique weaning processes. We talk about the role of partners in the journey and all the feelings that can come up for us all in relation to them offering more presence and listening. We share some ideas for rituals to incorporate with our children when ending breastfeeding. To learn more about Carly or to find her course on Ending your Breastfeeding Journey, please follow her on instagram at seed_pod_ and visit her website here. If you are in Perth next weekend, she is running a live workshop on this topic on Saturday 15th August. For support with this or any other aspect of Aware Parenting, I invite you to email me [email protected]

Welcome back to another episode in the series of conversations about Attachment Play, this time with Nathalie Hendleman. Nathalie is a French-American mother of 2 children aged 5 and 3 who lives in France. She is a trained midwife, lactation consultant, Aware Parenting instructor, and is also trained in NVC and IFS. She blends all of these life experiences to support families in their transition to parenthood, and in feeling more comfortable with all of the feelings that having children bring up. In order to feel more connected to their children in the pleasant moments, but also the more uncomfortable ones! She is passionate about Aware Parenting and attachment play, and has found it profoundly liberating for both herself and her children. In this episode, Nathalie shares how she found Aware Parenting and how important it is to slow down and gently find our way when first practising this approach. We talk about re-learning how to be playful and the healing power of laughter. She shares some of her favourite ways of offering attachment play to her children and how particularly helpful she has found this play to support her children with aggression and other challenging moments. To learn more about Nathalie, to work with her 1:1 or to explore her programs and French podcast, please visit her website www.enpleineconfiance.com and follow her on Instagram @en_pleine_confiance For support with this or any other aspect of Aware Parenting, I invite you to get in touch. If you would like to receive a free copy of my Introduction to Attachment Play eBook, please email me [email protected]

In this episode I talk about Nonsense Play, which is 1 of the 9 types of Attachment Play in Aware Parenting. I describe why is so helpful for our children and what it looks like. I give lots of examples of how to bring this type of play to some of the challenges we all face in parenting and offer inspiration to be more silly. I talk about why it can be hard to offer this and end with some words of compassion and acknowledgement for parents. For support with this or any other aspect of Aware Parenting, I invite you to get in touch. If you would like to receive a free copy of my Introduction to Attachment Play eBook, please email me [email protected]

Welcome back to another episode in my series about Attachment Play, this time in conversation with Felicity Juhn. Felicity is mother to two boys, aged 6 and 8 and is an Aware Parenting Instructor. She runs an in-person parenting group called Wild Hearted Parents, which she co-facilitates with fellow Aware Parenting Instructor, Marisa Taylor and offers an in-person "Mums, Let's Chat" in her local playground. In this beautiful conversation, Felicity shares her journey with Aware Parenting and Attachment Play. She explains how she has supported herself to reconnect with her playfulness and to build capacity for play in the many moments that she hasn't felt playful. We normalise that play can feel hard for us all at times. She shares lots of wonderful games that she has offered her family and all the ways that small moments of playful connection have been really powerful. We talk about how we find and reclaim play and fun for us. To learn more about Felicity, please follow her on Instagram @felicitydinahjuhn For support with this or any other aspect of Aware Parenting, I invite you to get in touch. If you would like to receive a free copy of my Introduction to Attachment Play eBook, please email me [email protected]

Welcome back to another episode in my series about Attachment Play, this time in conversation with Britt Ortmann-Wold. Britt is a Certified Aware Parenting Instructor living in Minnesota, USA. She has two young daughters, Sophie and Athena and shares a passion for Aware Parenting with her partner Ryan. Britt has spent nearly 15 years in the self-awareness and spiritual healing space. Her work has included working in community mental health, with adults navigating addiction, in the prison setting and most recently, working as an end of life chaplain providing grief and spiritual care in the hospital. In this episode Britt shares her journey with Aware Parenting and bringing Attachment Play to her family and learning to trust the power of laughter and tears for processing emotions. We talk about the need to be doing our own inner work and taking care of what needs to be tended to in us, in order to then be able to truly support our children. She shares some ways she has brought play to the challenges in her family, including the birth of her second child and difficult behaviour. We talk about the power of Attachment Play at bedtime to bring more connection, joy and ease to what is often a really tough part of the day. She talks about bringing small moments of play and connection in response to what our children are doing and gives lots of examples of play that has been really helpful in her family. We talk about Attachment Play with 2 children at once. To learn more about Britt, please follow her on Instagram at Groundedwithbritt. Her course for Supporting Bedtime for children up to 6 years old is available from her Instagram site. For support with this or any other aspect of Aware Parenting, I invite you to get in touch.

Welcome back to another episode in my series about Attachment Play in Aware Parenting. This episode explore power-reversal play, what it is and why it is so important for children to feel powerful. I talk about how it helps children to move out of hyper-arousal or dissociation into releasing and healing. I give lots of examples of when these games can be effective and helpful for our children and lots of examples of how to offer this kind of play. I talk about why our own feelings about powerlessness often come up for us when we are playing in these ways and the importance of us getting our own support in order to be able, safe and willing to play in these ways. I end with some words of compassion and support. If you would like support with this or any other aspect of Aware parenting, I invite you to get in touch. To learn more about Attachment Play I highly recommend reading the book by Aletha Solter on this topic.

Welcome back to another episode in my series about Attachment Play, this time in conversations with Eliza Parker. Eliza is a certified Aware Parenting Instructor, Infant Developmental Movement Educator, Body-Mind Centering Practitioner, and trained Feldenkrais® practitioner. American sign language interpreter. She has special expertise in healing birth trauma, and parental attunement to non-verbal cues and crying. In this episode we talk about how Aware Parenting and Attachment Play helps babies and toddlers to process their early experiences from conception, pregnancy, birth and the early post-partum period. She shares some of the ways that stress and trauma from early experiences present in babies and young children and describes how attachment play, specifically symbolic play and power-reversal play are so effective in the families she supports. We discuss the importance of giving information to babies and children to make sense of their experiences, as part of their healing. We talk about trusting the innate wisdom of babies and children to know and to communicate to us what they need in order to heal. To learn more about Eliza, please visit www.consciousbaby.com or follow her on facebook or Instagram at Eliza Parker Conscious Baby. For support with this or any other aspect of Aware Parenting, I invite you to get in touch at https://awareparenting.com.au/contact-me/

Welcome back to another episode in a series of conversations about Attachment Play. In this episode I am talking with Maru Rojas who is an aware parenting instructor in the UK with 2 children, aged 7 and 5 and she shares her journey with bringing the healing power of laughter and play to her family. In this episode we talk about how to reconnect with our own innate playfulness and how to support ourselves at times when we are not feeling playful. Maru shares lots of games that she has enjoyed with her children over the years and still offers to bring joy to her family. We discuss how to bring play to some of the most common challenges in parenting, including toilet learning, food and sibling conflicts. She shares how she loves to bring playfulness and fun to herself and how to use play for non-punitive discipline. To learn more about Maru, please follow her on Instagram at _maru.rojas_ and visit her website to find her course Attachment Play Magic https://parenttogether.co.uk For support with this or any other aspect of Aware Parenting, I invite you to get in touch at https://awareparenting.com.au/contact-me/

This episode explores Symbolic Play, one of 9 forms of Attachment Play that are outlined by Aletha Solter in her book Attachment Play. I talk about how this type of play is helpful to support healing, connection, cooperation and non-punitive discipline. I describe how to offer Symbolic Play and share several examples of when it can be used to support our children with some of the most common sources of stress and trauma. I talk about why it can be hard to offer this type of play and share some words of compassion and support to help parents to build more capacity for play. For support with this or any other aspect of Aware Parenting, I invite you to get in touch at https://awareparenting.com.au/contact-me/