Newsletter Four

‘Playing with Heart around the Globe’

Hello Everyone!

This year seems to be whizzing past – already the end of the second month, Celtic New Year has come and gone, like the snowdrops; Chinese New Year exploded upon us, and now we have the year of the Dragon; but then there is St George and the Dragon, but he has been replaced by King Charles and the Dragon on a new gold sovereign. It gets very complicated! But wonderful dragon motifs for our work.

In our film ‘Play and Stories in Kazakhstan’, there are children of all ages from a local orphanage, who want to create the story of Sinbad. They made a dragon with several children forming a long body with a large piece of green shiny fabric over their backs.  They held their masks on sticks to create the multi-headed dragon. You can watch the film here:

When you watch the film from the beginning, you will see a sublime few minutes of toddlers doing messy and water play – the sheer delight of pouring, as well as mixing and moulding. What is just out of sight, is a group of grandmothers, wet-wipes at the ready, waiting to pounce on their grandchildren to clean them up!

On that joyful note – see you next week!

With Love,
Dr Sue
End of February 2024

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Main Feature

NDP is spreading rather fast at the moment and we need to be vigilant that we have enough people who can assist with the training. If you have completed the Advanced NDP Diploma you are eligible to apply for the Trainers Course (by joining us on Naxos in May or weekend Modules next autumn (dates to be released soon) then please do consider it.  Early in 2025 we shall be offering the NDP Supervisors’ Course too.

Unlike many models of child development, NDP is mindful of the several aspects of play that are co-existent in the early years, each serving a parallel function. Although in our storytelling work, one thing does lead to another; with water, messy, rhythmic and dramatic play, they dance round each other, especially in the first two years. They are all underpinned by the primary need to feel safe. And the child who is neglected or ignored, who is deprived of skin-to-skin contact or affirmation and encouragement, will not feel safe.

Rhythmic play (starting with heartbeats) gives security through repetition, whereas messy play satisfies our curiosity (flour and water). Dramatic play (starting between mother and baby) initiates repetition, leading to ‘let’s pretend’ – a journey from the safety of repetition to the risk of let’s pretend (the ritual-risk paradigm).

There is more on this in the Subscribers’ section where I expand this theory.

Perhaps you can ask yourself if you are a ‘safe person’ or a ‘risky person?  Our clients are extreme versions of what we are ourselves!

And love to you all too

Dr Sue

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Bits and Pieces:

• I have in my hand the amazing book Creative Rights of the Recovering Mind by Anand Chabukswar. It will have a detailed review, but buy it now!

• I am going to Athens for the next block of NDP training – the home of the birth of theatre, taking on board ‘theatre as therapy’!

• And my lovely cook; today she cooked banana bread and it was inescapable!

  

Judi Dench says:
‘Be kind, be curious, be playful. And keep a sense of humour.’

Bedtime Story:
‘Go Tell it to the Walls…’

A tale from South India which I was told by Anand Chabukswar

There was a woman whose husband had died and she was so unhappy. They had been so happy together and she wondered if she could survive. She ate more food to comfort herself, and unwittingly she began to put on weight. Her sons all scorned her and said sarcastically, ‘You are a widow and you are supposed to be thin in your grief.’  Her daughters in law said similar things and criticised her very cruelly. Her neighbours gossiped about her, and whispered behind their hands, all because she grew large, and widows were supposed to be thin!

The woman became even more unhappy and could not understand their criticism. She decided to go for a walk and went through the woods and came to a clearing. In the clearing was a tumble-down house, with only three walls left standing.

 The woman stood in front of one wall and shouted out about her sons; how unkind they are and had no sympathy or her grief and loneliness; and her voice rose to a tremendous pitch, and the wall came tumbling down.

She turned to another wall and raised her voice in resentment against her daughters in law; how they ridiculed her and made her feel stupid; she screamed all her angry feelings against them, holding nothing back, and the wall started to fall down, brick by brick.

The final wall she saved for her neighbours, and how cruel they had been. She shouted and screamed at their meanness, and how they had gossiped about her, rather than being kind and helpful. Her voice developed such a strength as she flung her words at the wall, and like the previous two, it began to crumble and fall.

She turned and started to walk back to her house, noticing that with every step, all that weight began to drop off her. By the time she reached the house, she was the weight she had always been. She smiled to herself as she made a cup of tea!

If you prefer to listen to stories, look out for my YouTube Story channel which will be announced soon.