Archive: September 10, 2020

Indoor Ideas to Stimulate Emotional Development

September 10, 2020

Pull Out Your Imagination and Let’s Have Fun

activity ideas for kids emotional development

Children’s emotional development thrives in the presence of other children. During these times, contact with other children is reduced. Parents often feel choices must be made between physical safety and their children’s wellbeing. We certainly have tools available to us to foster our children’s progress.

  • Decorate your own puppets and put on shows- paper bags and socks work well
  • Act out a book
  • Be a super hero
  • Create a Lego village
  • Write a story
  • Draw illustrations of anything (a family picnic, time with grandma, fun at the park, etc.)
  • Play with other children strategically (playing with families who’s habits you feel are safe- see our article on Social Pods
  • Save a huge cardboard box and use a wide variety of media to create a dwelling or vehicle
  • Make a tent village out of chairs, blankets, and pillows. Read, play or dine inside.
  • Make positive or inspirational outdoor signs thanking community helpers
  • Make Witch’s Brew- combine all kinds of drinks. It may not taste good, but kids think it’s hysterical to get others to try.
  • Dress up in costumes and makeup and talk about who your child wants to be.

Restricting our out-of-the-house activities provides a unique opportunity to drive your child’s emotional development in new ways.

Here’s another way to be proactive during your indoor time; our Tomatis home program can push your child ahead in so many ways. Group programs are also now available.

Social Pods

September 5, 2020

I Get It, We Have All Had Enough

socially distant family pods, men women and children in masks

We can no longer avoid talking about what this pandemic is doing to our:

      • children
      • families
      • selves

We are being tested to our core.

      • Frustration and impatience dangerously cloud our judgement.
      • We are loosening our masking and distancing habits.
      • Treading a very thin line between social needs and health.
      • Potentially endangering our families and communities.
      • Concern over children’s overall well-being and development.

I get it, we have all had enough.

I wish that were a good reason for relaxing our standards, but it’s clearly not.

This dangerous and highly contagious virus thrives on our frustration.

The vast majority of cases are traceable directly to our inability to maintain and be mindful of recommended precautions. With schools opening we’re seeing the increases that were expected.

kids in school with masks and wings for social distance

As a professional, with years of service to children and families, I’d like to discuss a possible avenue of management.

Create a pod

kids-backyard-social-distant

All families are in the same situation as you.

Discuss with your partner who you’d feel comfortable including.

Contact those people to identify who else is willing to limit their exposure to only two or three other families in the social pod. A pod should be small but big enough, that if a family opts out of an activity the other families won’t feel left-out or abandoned.

Be clear, the responsibility of a pod member is to be total and absolute to your commitment to limit exposure.

In this way, you and your children can have meaningful interaction with others while staying safe.

Children thrive in all areas of development when surrounded by people who care and other children.

The social pod can do anything and everything together: prepare and eat meals while the kids play, watch movies, parents can do things together while kids play in another room… the possibilities are endless.

In keeping a pod, everybody benefits. Life will be more normal, and the confinement will feel less oppressive for everybody.

You need to take care of yourself in order to survive this and make good choices for your family. This may include:

      • Personal time
      • Exercise
      • Phone and virtual social contact
      • Time outdoors
      • Recognize that we are living in unprecedented times and everyone is traumatized.

I hope you find the idea of creating a pod for your family helpful & empowering.

We at Listen For Change Tomatis New York are taking this pandemic very seriously in terms of our responsibility to our clients and local communities. Please talk to us about our specialized programming for this time. For more information about me or  what we do here follow us on Facebook.

Translate »
9147140112