Parent-Child Groups

Practicalities

Values and Aims

Each family is unique. Diversity and inclusion is primary. We strive to meet every child, mother, and father as they are at any given moment.
Parents are invited to see children as whole human beings from birth, always worthy of respect, empathy, and understanding.
Our focus is practical: not only on what and why we do but especially how we show up and care for our children.

The basis of our time together is shared experience, values, and humanity rather than knowing things.
We aim to cultivate authenticity and balance for every parent and child. There is no need to mold ourselves into some kind of ideal, perfect parent.

Support for Parents

Parents spend our time together letting go of all the pressures of the week, relaxing, and observing the children.
We support each other in dialogue and presence: showing up, listening and sharing questions.
I strive to cultivate a sense of normalcy for parents.

Look to The Relationship, not Tricks

No prior experience or special qualifications are necessary to have the relationship that we wish for with our children.
Learning to see more, do less is fundamental to our role as respectful, realistic, effective parents.

In every situation we look to cultivate freedom and boundaries. Boundaries can always be empathetic, gentle, clear and firm.

Serious (and Fun!) Play

Play is essential to how children learn about themselves, their peers, how the world works, and what their place is in it.
No matter the age, in play our innate human capacity for creativity, competence, depth, and tenacity is allowed to fully unfold.
Play looks different as the children develop, growing in motor, cognitive, emotional and social sophistication.
Each week our play room is prepared to meet the children developmentally with pedagogically appropriate materials and gross-motor equipment designed at the Pikler Institute in Budapest over the last 70+ years such as the now ubiquitous Pikler Triangle.
I oversee the children during our time together maintaining boundaries that enable a deep sense of freedom and harmony. Each and every child’s dignity is prioritized no matter the situation.
Parents get to simply relax and watch the children be themselves and "do their thing". Joy and wonder are regular features of our time together.

Caring for and Being with Children with Respect and Empathy

Focus on supporting the attention and sense of well-being (emotional and bodily) of the child.
I share practices of respectful, sensitive care in diapering, feeding, bathing, dressing, bringing to sleep, toilet learning, etc.. Understanding the importance of transitions, rhythm, and reliability is emphasized.
In care we can foster the deepest sense of connection and trust.
We attend to how we touch, how we look, how we speak and what these acts may convey to our children.

Natural Autonomous Movement

Children are given the opportunity to move from an innate motivation to connect and engage. Autonomous (or self-initiated) movement tends to be competent, graceful, balanced and authentic.
Parents are able to see for themselves the effectualness of children moving at their own pace, in their own way.

To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key.