"I believe that the healthy infant comes into the world with the capacity to make full use of her senses, her body, her emotional expressions, her intellect. 

But, something begins to happen to  EVERY child - some more than others - to interfere with healthful growth.  The senses become anaesthetized, the body is restricted, emotions are blocked and the intellect is not what it could be.  Why does this happen? 

Certainly various traumas such as abuse, divorce, rejection, abandonment, illness, to name a few, can cause a child to cut himself off in some way.  He does this instinctively to protect himself.  But there are a variety of developmental stages and social factors in the child's life that also cause children to restrict, block, inhibit themselves.

These factors consist of:  confluence and separation, egocentricity, introjects, getting needs met, setting boundaries and limits, the effect of a variety of systems, cultural expectations and the parent's responses, particularly to the child's expression of anger."

  ~VIOLET OAKLANDER, 2006~ 

Hidden Treasure: A map to the child's inner self

Useful Website Links

Children of Divorce and Adjustment

This reading by Richard Niolin PhD covers the following topics:  Effect on Children, Parenting Style, Attachment, Conflict,
Resolving Conflict.

OUR VISION

Through the sharing of experience and knowledge, plus open, respectful discussion, to work towards a better life for our children; where parenting responsibilities are honoured in an environment that is loving, safe and non abusive for all men, women and children and legal process is protective of children, not adding to their distress and adding yet another variation of abuse.

OUR PURPOSE

To gather and disseminate information regarding the implementation of the Family Law Act in regards to serious abuse allegations in matters of child contact and residence.

OUR FOCUS

The current trend of ordering children to participate in contact with parents whom are abusive towards them.

The removal of a parent from a child's life because they are protective of that child in the situation above.

The failure and/or inability of Child Protection Services to fully investigate and/or substantiate child abuse allegations.

The failure of the legal system in general to protect child victims of abuse.

Web resources for parents and teachers on 'Positive Discipline'

These websites offer some valuable resources and support in working with children's behaviour without resorting to physical punishment.

There are also a number of useful resources on positive discipline techniques for teachers in dealing with classroom management and other aspects of working with pupils in schools. Again, these range from those advocating non-physical ways of punishing children to those advocating a totally non-punitive approach.

Expressive Therapies Institute of Australia

An international counselling training institute based in Brisbane offering counsellors the opportunity to train in Expressive Therapies.

A professional counselling association offering a register for counsellors.

Queensland Counsellors Association

A professional counselling association for Queensland that is a constituent member of PACFA.  Also offers a register for counsellors.

Natural Parenting Magazine

Natural Parenting Magazine is an Australian magazine published in Brisbane, Queensland.  Issued quarterly the magazine provides well researched, up to date information on a range of topics including attachment parenting, breastfeeding, natural therapies, gentle discipline, wholesome family living and natural active birth.

Kindred Magazine

Kindred is the world's first and only sustainable family living and natural parenting magazine. Founded in 2002, and formerly known as byronchild, Kindred is committed to supporting you towards creating a more sustainable, just and child-friendly world.

Our articles are drawn from an internationally diverse team of writers and professionals on the front lines of their fields, exploring issues that impact our children, families and planet, ranging from education, natural birth, optimal child development, medicine, psychology, healing, spirituality, politics, relationships, family dynamics, natural parenting and global and environmental issues. We translate evidence-based material from neuroscience, genetics, biology, psychology, economics and sociology into practical and understandable framework for making the best choices possible for you and your family.

Kindred is inspired by the recognition that our early life experiences play a crucial role in our emotional, physical and psychological wellbeing. Babies and toddlers who are held, touched, breastfeed and nurtured emotionally grow up to have important developmental advantages such as an ability to forge healthy relationships, high self-esteem, healthy interdependence and social skills, an ability to self manage and overall emotional and psychological resilience and wellbeing. Being closely responsive to the emotional and psychological needs in a child's early years is known as attachment or bonding, and is the basic practice of natural parenting.

The quality of our connection with our parents and caregivers has an enormous capacity to influence how we grow up to see and relate to ourselves, others and the world around us. Love and bonding forges not only the destiny not only of the child, but of society itself. Understanding that bonding and attachment are the underpinnings to a more peaceful society, natural parenting is an important and essential contribution towards a sustainable future. Kindred's vision upholds the possibility that our greatest human potential can be achieved through healthy attached parenting and that mankind can not only survive, but thrive.

Kindred is not just a magazine; it is an alive and engaged international community that represents a movement towards making our world a better place, for ourselves and for the children.

The Kindred site offers an opportunity to change the way we think about parenting, humanity and the world we live in.

Pam Leo - "Connection Parenting"

Pam Leo is an independent scholar in human development, a parent educator, a certified childbirth educator, a doula, a parent, and a grandparent.

"After my first child was born in 1972, it became my passion to understand human behavior. I began to study child development, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. I wanted to learn why we are each born as a tiny innocent being, and some of us grow up to be a Mahatma Gandhi while others become an Adolf Hitler. What determines the difference? I was determined to find out."

"If I had to put into one sentence all that I have learned about optimal human development and parenting it would be this: our effectiveness as parents is in direct proportion to the strength of the bond we have with our child. Securing and maintaining that bond is our primary work as parents and is the key to optimal human development."

Dr. Aletha Solter - "Aware Parenting"

Aletha Solter, PhD, is a developmental psychologist, international speaker, consultant and founder of the Aware Parenting Institute.  She is recognized internationally as an expert on attachment, trauma and non-punitive discipline.  She lives in California and has two grown children and one grandchild.

Aware Parenting is a philosophy of child-rearing that has the potential to change the world.  Based on cutting-edge research and insights in child development, Aware Parenting questions most traditional assumptions about raising children and proposes a new approach that can profoundly shift a parent's relationship with his or her child.  Parents who follow this approach raise children who are bright, compassionate, competent, non-violent and drug free.

Lawrence Cohen, PhD, is a psychologist, author and consultant living in Brookline, MA.  He is the author of Playful Parenting, an award winning book about nurturing close connections, solving behavior problems and encouraging children's confidence.  In addition to his work with children and parents, he consults with schools, after school programs and corporations and has a general psychotherapy practice.

The Creative Journal Method was developed by Dr. Lucia Capacchione, internationally known author of ten books, including The Creative Journal, The Power of Your Other Hand and the bestselling, Recovery of Your Inner Child.  She is a registered Art Therapist and lecturer/workshop leader.  A pioneer in the field of creativity and healing, Dr. Capacchione discovered the healing power of writing and drawing with the non-dominant hand.  She originated Inner Child Reparenting work and her book on the subject has become a classic in the recovery field.

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