‘A baby’s cues’ workshop
While I have spoken at Early Childhood PD Courses before, this was the first one where the teachers were only coming to see me, no other speakers, just me. The workshop was to go for 2 ½ hours. I arrived at the Christchurch venue to set up and was greeted by eighteen enthusiastic teachers. From the start I knew we were going to have a great workshop.
So this particular workshop was about ‘A baby’s cues – learn to read and respond knowingly’. My aims for the course were very simple:
- to appreciate why it is SO important to understand cues
- to deepen the teachers understanding of a baby’s communication
- for them to learn how to respond knowingly to newborns cues
The workshop was made up of me speaking, some of the videos that I am currently collating for parents, along with the ladies doing some thinking of their own with some quick little quizzes and brainstorming. One of their moments of brainstorms was them letting me know why they thought it was important to know a babies/infants cues.
- to lower stress levels which lessens cortisol and aids development
- to be able to respond effectively and knowingly
- to help the baby or infant feel safe and loved
- to recognise normal and abnormal behaviour
- to meet their emotional and physical needs
- to be able to support and educate parents
- to acknowledge what they are feeling
- to builds the child’s confidence and trust in us
- to understand the effect of not responding soon enough
- helps to build relationships
As one would hope, these girls already knew a lot about newborn and infant development and cues and by the end they knew a lot more. On leaving there was a resounding response from the teachers that they would have happily stayed for the whole day to learn more and keep asking questions. Of course I loved that! The more I get to share this information the better off our children, teachers and parents.
If you would like to hold a parenting workshop, or a professional development workshop, please feel free to contact me with you details.