I hope it is not goodbye

Today, I was enjoying a fantastic lunch that my 2 year old created.  We went to the pantry and fridge and she selected all the ingredients she wanted.  I thought that this activity would be great for my facebook page!  And then it hit me, it’s not only great for my facebook page BUT it is also great for my daughter.

I stood back and video’d her as she devoured her whole (but peeled) cucumber accompanied by dinosaur shaped pasta mixed with cheese, salmon & carrot.  She considered throwing in honey too but I’m glad she changed her mind.  She was an image of pure joy making her dinosaur sounds and laughing at how fun it was to make up her own recipe.

After lunch she asked to go outside to watch the clouds.  My heart melted.  Of course!  My girls are at a beautiful age that I want to enjoy.  So, I’ve decided to take my marketing / business information services away from facebook for a while.

I have loved maintaining my facebook page and delight in providing lots of information to my followers.  I put in lots of time and effort bringing original content and looking for amazing content from respected writers and bloggers across the world to share.

However, I want to look at the clouds too!  I will still be running classes & workshops and enjoy meeting all the wonderful kids who come along to them.  I’m just not going to be giving away so much of my precious time to social media.

How to keep in contact??

1) Subscribe to the newsletter either via the link on the facebook page or by sending me an email and I’ll put you on the list (simone@playwithfood.com.au) – I endeavour to send out a newsletter every 2 months.

2) Sign-up to the blog!  Go to http://www.playwithfood.com.au and enter your email address into the sign-up field in the left hand column.

3) Email or call me 🙂

It’s not a decision that I take lightly, however, I think those of you with kids will understand what I mean when I want to spend more time looking at the clouds with my daughter!

You will still see an occasional PWF fb post – just so the page doesn’t collapse completely.  I will just set up an automated post of links to my blog when new articles are written.  However, as I don’t own facebook or the algorithm it runs off – I know this won’t guarantee than many (if any) of my followers will get to see these posts.

My reason to stop &look at the clouds! xxx

I hope this isn’t goodbye to some of my followers but maybe a new “hello” to newsletter & blog subscribers!

Happy Eating!

 

 

Learning to Eat

In August last year, I attended SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory) Approach to Feeding training.  This training really helped me polish up the activities in my fruit and vegetable classes.  It gave me a good foundation to see the difference between normal feeding development (including developmental related fussiness) and feeding problems. The other major benefit to this training was to find a wonderful network of feeding therapy professionals including, dietitians, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, nutritionists, children’s psychologists and pediatric nurses.

Learning to eat is complex.  It can take 2 – 3 years to learn to eat.  Eating is NOT an automatic behavior – it is a LEARNT behaviour.  Learning to eat is a journey for the senses, the physical body, the imagination, the memory and it happens about 5 times a day from the day we are born. Feeding therapy is usually sought for children who are not progressing on their feeding journey via the typical milestones.   What I have learnt in my experience and training is that there is not a one-size-fits-all when it comes to helping children on their learning to eat journey.   It can take some collaboration to get it right.

As Accredited Practicing Dietitian, Dr Denise Stapleton, explained to me,  “When the credits rollout at the end of a film we are reminded about the large number of different skills that were needed to produce it. Similarly, in order to make it possible for eating and family mealtimes to be harmonious, insights from many perspectives might be needed.” Dr Stapleton finds that when she combines her skill sets with those of others they achieve more than is possible on their own.  “When skilled occupational therapists, speech pathologists, dietitians, physiotherapists, clinical psychologists, social workers, nurses and doctors connect and holistically support families, mealtimes can become pleasurable for all involved.”  

Ultimately, if you are concerned about your child’s eating and their journey’s direction, remember that there are many professionals that can assist because there are many factors that influence the eating journey.   The best place to start looking for assistance is often with a GP, especially if children are not on the typical growth chart trajectory.  For more general questions about your child’s eating journey have a chat to Simone.

Incorporating a host of information from a variety of disciplines is key to the success of the Play with Food programs.  When you walk in the door you get a cross-functional experience and you have a table of resources available to you to reference.

A variety of resources are made available for carers to enhance their play with food experiences.

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Dr Denise Stapleton has teamed up with occupational therapist, Gillian Griffiths, to write a book called SENSE-ational Mealtimes. Children, parents, caregivers and clinicians find the sensory preference information that they share throughout the book to be an important missing piece of their mealtime difficulties puzzle.  This is a link to their website.  http://www.sense-ationalmealtimes.com.au

An Interview with Simone Emery, founder of Play With Food (Australia)

 

I have been featured in a blog by Jo Cormack & would love you to check it out! Also, take some time to look around her blog while you are there – it is very informative.

My Interview with Simone Emery, founder of Play With Food (Australia).

Toddler Class Announcement

Class Announcement

Read all about it in the above attached PDF flyer!  Book via the online form found on the lesson schedule page.