Newsletter Nine

‘Playing with Heart around the Globe’

Malaysia Report 2

Well, we stayed 3 days / 4 nights in Kuala Lumpur which included the basic workshops in NDP as well as some exploration of KL itself. The highlight was our visit to Gombak, just outside the city, where they have the Orang Asli hospital and Museum.  (Orang Asli is the generic name for all the indigenous people in Malaysia, Senoi Temiar is the specific group with whom we work). The Museum was fascinating with exhibits of the OA way of life: foraging and hunting skills, and a variety of craft skills, a little on their history, and some facts on their numbers and distribution. It was very useful for the NDP participants to have some background before we actual journeyed into the more remote areas.

Thank you to all paid subscribers – your contribution to my writing life really makes a difference.  There are some webinars coming up, including the Roots series (see Eventbrite), where you can see and hear about life in the rainforest. Don’t forget that these are free for paid subscribers.

Also announcing our first Free Consultation for paid members: Thursday 30 May, 1200-1300 (UK time) OR Friday 31 May, 0800-0900 (UK time). There is no charge if you are a paid subscriber. Please let us know via email if you are attending.

To continue our theme about Water Play, it was a joy to see the Temiars using the river as their playground.  Mothers and toddlers alike enjoyed the social, riverine life.  Children and teens of all ages, enjoyed jumping and splashing, swinging from a tree branch into the water, and floating down the river with their ballooned sarongs.  Small children were placed in the shallows where they could kick and splash and their mothers, always vigilant, went into deeper water to wash, chat and be generally playful. They might stay there for a couple of hours, before everyone went to their houses, well washed and carrying large buckets of water, as there is no piped supply to this village. We were witnessing an extension of Water Play from the activity of the very young to adulthood: it was both playful and joyful.

It is worth reflecting on the relationship between internal and external water.  Some children stop bed-wetting after encouraging Water Play – usually outdoors with the hose-pipe and bowls, or indoors with jugs and scoops and a large container such as a baby bath.

Let me know if it works!

With love,
Dr Sue

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Main Article: NDP and forms of Play

We have discussed the basics of NDP in previous Newsletters, namely: Water Play, Rhythmic Play, Messy Play and Dramatic Play. Although water play probably starts it all off, these contrasting play forms start and interact with each other, rather than following a developmental pathway.

“Rhythmic play usually gives safety and security, and messy play is the adventure for the curious!” (Jennings, 2024)

There in the background is the steady heartbeat, slowing down at night, speeding up again in the morning, going into overdrive if there is sudden noise or fearful impact or unexpected change. I was reflecting on the fear response of the recent incident in London, of several military horses bolting from a sudden noise and racing through the city centre, crashing into vehicles en route. 

Various people ran away or hid behind barriers as these animals thundered past.  However, there was a small group of people who took it upon themselves to calm the horses, and when they slowed down, gently stroked them on their heads, murmuring soothing sounds. You could see visibly the horses relax and stop twitching heads or tails.

People were surprised that these well-trained creatures, who take part, in formation, at ceremonial events, and guard palaces for hours on end, should be ‘spooked’ by sounds from a builders’ site. Perhaps more importantly is the reminder that we can all be spooked by something unexpected, and how helpful it would be to be stroked in a soothing manner with some gentle messages of reassurance!

More on my adventures next time!

With love

Dr Sue

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Bits and Pieces:

• Time to celebrate!  My recent book: ‘Managing Social Anxiety in Children and Young People’ is now published in Spanish – see picture below and please tell your Spanish friends!

• ‘Neuro-Dramatic-Play and Infant Mental Health’ is almost ready to send to the publisher (Routledge);  you see your subs definitely enable me to write more, and in this case to actually complete a new book!

• Check out Flute Theatre Co. (director Kelly Hunter MBE) - they are having an ‘International Festival for Autistic Individuals’ in London, 2024, with Shakespeare theatre productions.

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And finally, our bed-time story, from Moose and Mouse…

Moose and Mouse Plan a New Adventure

Moose and Mouse, who live in the pine woods of Norway, were thinking about walking to the lake that they call the Big Water; it often meant that one of them or even both were feeling restless and needed something new! 

They had had lots of adventures together, and had travelled in many different ways – train, ferry boat, cattle lorry, ship…

But they had never been on an aeroplane. This thought was dancing its way through Mouse’s brain and she was just going to speak, when Moose said slowly in his very deep voice, ‘My little friend, do you think it is time for a new journey?’ and Mouse burst out saying, ‘Yes, and it’s going to be on an aeroplane!’. 

‘Is it, now!’ said Moose. ‘Where did that idea come from? What do you know about aeroplanes?’ ‘Oh Moose, my big and lovely friend, just think of flying up in the sky like the birds. Don’t you ever watch the birds and see them flying higher and higher, and then they disappear in the clouds? Well, we could fly too - in an aeroplane!’

Moose smiled at Mouse’s excitement; she was always full of new ideas with such enthusiasm. ‘To fly, hmm, how would we manage that?’ he thought to himself, just as they realised that they had walked beyond the Great Water.  Moose and Mouse both seemed very confused, as they found themselves in a strange landscape. ‘Just wait Mouse, in the shadows,’ said Moose quietly, ‘we don’t want to be seen’.  They waited under a clump of trees at the edge of what seemed to be a very big space, and beyond it some buildings.

Mouse suddenly clamped her paws over her mouth as she was going to squeal out loud. Eventually she said, ‘Look Moose, there are two aeroplanes over there: they are like enormous birds with huge wings!’  ‘You are right, my friend,’ said Moose, ‘and it is just possible we could see them fly, if we wait patiently.’  ‘But Moose, we could fly straight way, we just need to get inside one of them.’  ‘Definitely not’, said Moose firmly. ‘We need to make a plan, just as we did for Mongolia.’

The two animals, so big and so small, waited in the shadows until it began to get dark; they were thinking it was time to go home, when they saw some activity in the big space. The lights came on in the buildings and on one of the aeroplanes.  ‘Something is going to happen,’ said Mouse. ‘Ssh,’ said Moose.

Some people in uniform marched out of one of the buildings and boarded the aeroplane. Two open carts drove up and loaded some boxes, crates and cases through another door, onto the plane. ‘You mean it takes ten people to drive the aeroplane!’ said Mouse, incredulously. ‘Why so many?’  Moose smiled, ‘No, they are just travelling,’ he said. ‘Look again.’  Just then, two more people came out of the building, and the creatures could see that they had shiny gold stripes on their jackets. They climbed into the front of the aeroplane and shut the door. The men on the ground moved away with their carts as all doors were shut, and someone else holding two batons walked to the front of the plane and waved at the aeroplane.

‘They are like the bats the railway guards had,’ whispered Mouse, ‘only they only had one.’  ‘Yes,’ said Moose, ‘they signal whether to go or stop.’  Slowly the aeroplane began to move forward and went to the long strip at the edge of the field.  The engine noise increased as it gathered speed, and WHOOSH, it took off, gradually getting higher and higher, and was then lost to view! ‘Well,’ said Mouse, ‘A giant bird with all those people inside.’  ‘Yes,’ said Moose, ‘and that will be the way for us to go on our adventure, if we plan carefully.’

Mouse was temporarily lost for words, and then said, ‘You mean we can travel in the big bird? Just like those people?’  ‘Yes, my friend,’ said Moose, ‘Let’s go home now and make our plan’.

Mouse settled on Moose’s head and sang to herself,  ‘We’re going flying, we’re going flying…’  as she drifted off to sleep. Moose smiled as he steadily walked from the flying field, alongside the Great Water and then came the path to home in the pine forest.  The new adventure was beginning to take shape.

Sue Jennings

The Moose and Mouse stories are written for children under the age of 6 years and address important issues in child development such as attachment, loss, playfulness, safety and fears.  See https://www.ndpltd.org/meet-moose-and-mouse

(If you prefer to listen to these stories, they will shortly be available on YouTube ‘NDP Storytime with Sue Jennings’ and ‘Stories of Mouse and Mouse’)

Thank you for reading x