Getting science involved.
Every child deserves to feel loved, secure and valued. Contemporary psychological research on Child Development demonstrates the importance of securely attached relationships with caregivers for children to experience their world as safe.
Alice's music has been written to support the emotional development of children and support the connection and attachment between children and their caregivers. Significant work has been done in the area of music as a therapy. Music can relieve tension, lift moods and sooth the spirit. Even on the hardest days, connecting to music can help us explore feelings that we can't find the words to express and can give relief. Music is such an ideal way to connect in with children.
Attachment between children and their caregivers can be supported with playful interaction, shared moments, and times of connection where the child feels their feelings are validated. Music is such an easy way, even for adults who feel they don't know how to play with children or feel at a loss as to how to break down emotional walls that seem to have come up between them and their children, to spend a few minutes interacting to music, being silly, making eye contact, just being together. Music can calm fractious moods when stuck in traffic, soothe a baby to sleep, and change the charge in the air when both children and adults feel close to losing it. Taking the sharp edges off caregiver/child interactions and creating opportunity for reconnection are the small but incredibly important differences that can nourish relationships and help us raise confident, secure, happy children.
Our children are often in environments that are overstimulating which creates stress. Alice's music is intended to be fun but gentle. With lots of action songs and silly songs parents and caregivers can be playful and silly, interacting with children to the music. Alice's music is also intended to be child focused and sympathetic to children's emotional experiences.
Some of Alice's songs, such as 'Mama says no' and 'Treats' have been described as 'Emo for 5 year olds' because of the focus on a child's emotional perspective. It can be hard sometimes to remember what it felt like to be a kid but caregivers who are able to make that shift in perspective and understand the qualitatively different thinking of a child, as well as the frustrations of feeling small and powerless in a big peoples world, can have empathy and understanding of their children's actions and motivations. That can be such a startling shift in understanding of the needs of the child and empathy for their experience that a tense situation where caregiver and child are at loggerheads can quickly turn into a mutually respectful and validating interaction that brings child and caregiver closer.
Every child and caregiver needs and wants these connected, loving joyous interactions that form the basis of securely attached relationships but sometimes it can seem hard to know what to do as a caregiver, especially if you didn't experience that in your own childhood. We don't have all the answers as parents and caregivers, but sometimes small things can make a big difference. Next time tensions reach a boiling point, instead of sending your child to time out for 5 mins, put the whole situation in time out for 5 mins - put on some music, pull a funny face, dance around with your child like a silly loon, lay down on the floor together and let the music soothe you... and then come back fresh to try again.
Some useful links to learn more about child development and attachment theory:
API promotes parenting practices that create strong, healthy emotional bonds between children and their parents. For life. So they can take those bonds with them into their adult lives and share them with their children. And their children can do the same. A life cycle of compassion and connection.
www.attachmentparenting.org
Dr. Neufeld’s legacy is the meta theory of development he has constructed from joining the dots until a consistent picture emerged. His comprehensive model has evolved from years of synthesis and distillation. The result is an integrated developmental approach rooted in depth psychology, grounded in the developmental paradigm, saturated in attachment theory, congruent with current neurological research and honed by forty years of professional practice, parenting and personal reflection. In a world of fragmented knowledge, esoteric terminology, strategies divorced from their philosophical moorings, and a smorgasbord approach to treatment, Dr. Neufeld’s approach is a breath of fresh air.
www.gordonneufeld.com
Naomi Aldort, author of Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves, brings peace and clarity to difficult situations, as well as to ordinary parenting issues. Her warm and natural approach opens the heart and assists parents in trusting themselves, discovering their own wisdom and trusting their children. The result is deep parent-child connection, peace, and powerful, self-reliant, content children.
aldort.com
At the heart of our philosophy, resides a deep belief that all parents have an instinctive ability to care for their children in a responsive and respectful manner. Our playgroups offer families a friendly and relaxed environment in which to share their parenting experiences and support each other to confidently parent their children in a respectful way that feels right for them.
naturalparentingmelbourne.com.au
Decades of university-based research have confirmed that secure children exhibit increased empathy, greater self-esteem, better relationships with parents and peers, enhanced school readiness, and an increased capacity to handle emotions more effectively when compared with children who are not secure.
circleofsecurity.net
The Need for Pretend Play in Child Development
Imaginative play is a vital component to normal child development
Psychology Today article
Alice's music has been written to support the emotional development of children and support the connection and attachment between children and their caregivers. Significant work has been done in the area of music as a therapy. Music can relieve tension, lift moods and sooth the spirit. Even on the hardest days, connecting to music can help us explore feelings that we can't find the words to express and can give relief. Music is such an ideal way to connect in with children.
Attachment between children and their caregivers can be supported with playful interaction, shared moments, and times of connection where the child feels their feelings are validated. Music is such an easy way, even for adults who feel they don't know how to play with children or feel at a loss as to how to break down emotional walls that seem to have come up between them and their children, to spend a few minutes interacting to music, being silly, making eye contact, just being together. Music can calm fractious moods when stuck in traffic, soothe a baby to sleep, and change the charge in the air when both children and adults feel close to losing it. Taking the sharp edges off caregiver/child interactions and creating opportunity for reconnection are the small but incredibly important differences that can nourish relationships and help us raise confident, secure, happy children.
Our children are often in environments that are overstimulating which creates stress. Alice's music is intended to be fun but gentle. With lots of action songs and silly songs parents and caregivers can be playful and silly, interacting with children to the music. Alice's music is also intended to be child focused and sympathetic to children's emotional experiences.
Some of Alice's songs, such as 'Mama says no' and 'Treats' have been described as 'Emo for 5 year olds' because of the focus on a child's emotional perspective. It can be hard sometimes to remember what it felt like to be a kid but caregivers who are able to make that shift in perspective and understand the qualitatively different thinking of a child, as well as the frustrations of feeling small and powerless in a big peoples world, can have empathy and understanding of their children's actions and motivations. That can be such a startling shift in understanding of the needs of the child and empathy for their experience that a tense situation where caregiver and child are at loggerheads can quickly turn into a mutually respectful and validating interaction that brings child and caregiver closer.
Every child and caregiver needs and wants these connected, loving joyous interactions that form the basis of securely attached relationships but sometimes it can seem hard to know what to do as a caregiver, especially if you didn't experience that in your own childhood. We don't have all the answers as parents and caregivers, but sometimes small things can make a big difference. Next time tensions reach a boiling point, instead of sending your child to time out for 5 mins, put the whole situation in time out for 5 mins - put on some music, pull a funny face, dance around with your child like a silly loon, lay down on the floor together and let the music soothe you... and then come back fresh to try again.
Some useful links to learn more about child development and attachment theory:
API promotes parenting practices that create strong, healthy emotional bonds between children and their parents. For life. So they can take those bonds with them into their adult lives and share them with their children. And their children can do the same. A life cycle of compassion and connection.
www.attachmentparenting.org
Dr. Neufeld’s legacy is the meta theory of development he has constructed from joining the dots until a consistent picture emerged. His comprehensive model has evolved from years of synthesis and distillation. The result is an integrated developmental approach rooted in depth psychology, grounded in the developmental paradigm, saturated in attachment theory, congruent with current neurological research and honed by forty years of professional practice, parenting and personal reflection. In a world of fragmented knowledge, esoteric terminology, strategies divorced from their philosophical moorings, and a smorgasbord approach to treatment, Dr. Neufeld’s approach is a breath of fresh air.
www.gordonneufeld.com
Naomi Aldort, author of Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves, brings peace and clarity to difficult situations, as well as to ordinary parenting issues. Her warm and natural approach opens the heart and assists parents in trusting themselves, discovering their own wisdom and trusting their children. The result is deep parent-child connection, peace, and powerful, self-reliant, content children.
aldort.com
At the heart of our philosophy, resides a deep belief that all parents have an instinctive ability to care for their children in a responsive and respectful manner. Our playgroups offer families a friendly and relaxed environment in which to share their parenting experiences and support each other to confidently parent their children in a respectful way that feels right for them.
naturalparentingmelbourne.com.au
Decades of university-based research have confirmed that secure children exhibit increased empathy, greater self-esteem, better relationships with parents and peers, enhanced school readiness, and an increased capacity to handle emotions more effectively when compared with children who are not secure.
circleofsecurity.net
The Need for Pretend Play in Child Development
Imaginative play is a vital component to normal child development
Psychology Today article
