As Founding Director of HBF I could not have asked for a better 🎉 way to end off 2022! What an incredible privilege 🙏 it has been to be part of mother Busi and baby Minenthle's 7- Month Mother-Child bonding 🫂 journey. A very insecure mother and baby at the start of the program in May have transformed themselves into two secure and confident beings.
Busi learnt how to support and encourage baby Minnie through very important developmental milestones (transition to sitting up, creeping, pulling up to stand and independent walking ) following an explorative and experiential process involving movement , touch and play.
We will never forget the excitement in Busi's face when she walked into a session in November sharing with us that Minnie (1year) took her first steps!
In Chava Shelhav Child'Space book she beautifully describes the act of walking as a symphony 🎼 of the entire body that includes the timing of multiple movement elements whilst maintaining balance against the force of gravity . Walking🚶♀️🚶 requires a level of complexity that is relying on foundations of earlier milestones such as creeping, rising up to the knees and pulling up to stand which is often taken for granted. Most parents seem to want their babies to sit so they bring them to sit and then they want them to start walking so they bring them to stand. Learning to fall and getting up is part of the process of learning to walk and has a psychological component where the child learns to overcome fear. Busi was part of this process where she gave Minnie space to choose for herself when she is ready to let go of support (chair/couch/table) and start taking independent steps!
“The child does not exercise in the sense a grown-up does, by repeating an action in order to improve it. The child’s attention is directed by curiosity, which is innate in all living things. Repetition in a small child is more often due to the pleasure the act evokes and to its novelty, than to any intent to improve.” Moshe Feldenkrais