April in the Playroom
Children are great at playing. With the variety of blocks, dress-up clothes, puzzles, paints, playdough and more, the children in the Playroom are busy playing, creating, and imagining. During all this play, it is inevitable that a mess happens. This mess is an opportunity to teach children responsibility, respect, and helps to foster independence. For a child, cleaning up a large mess can be overwhelming and quite daunting. In fact, it is not a reasonable expectation that they do it themselves. By breaking up a large job into several smaller parts, we can help children feel more confident in their abilities to contribute to the clean-up time. Clean-up time is not just limited to picking up the toys. In fact, many of the children rather enjoy being given big jobs. We have children who enjoy loading the dishwasher, sweeping the floor, wiping the table, and even folding the laundry. And if you haven’t noticed, those are jobs that children can help with at home as well.
Music Circle
On Mondays at 11:30 a music therapist joins us and she leads parents and children in a ½ hour of singing and stories. Children learn songs, do a little dancing and make a lot of wonderful noise. April dates are the 1st, 8th, 15th and 29th.
Wiggle, Giggle and Munch
Wednesday mornings from 10 – 12 we have Wiggle, Giggle & Munch for children who are into movement. The morning includes physical activities, a craft, circle time and a nutritious snack. April dates are the 10th, 17th and 24th. You do not have to pre-register. Just come on the days that work for you and your family. For more information please call 204-788-8055.
Healthy Together
Happy Healthy Beginnings for Caregivers and Families
Join us as we discover ways of being healthy together! Each session includes fun games, activities, and an opportunity to cook and enjoy wholesome food together. Kids are welcome to participate! April dates are the 8th and 29th from 1:30-3:30. Sign-up sheet available at 1:00 in the drop-in
Self-Compassion
Definition of self-compassion By Dr. Kristin Neff
Having compassion for oneself is really no different than having compassion for others. Think about what the experience of compassion feels like. First, to have compassion for others you must notice that they are suffering. If you ignore that homeless person on the street, you can’t feel compassion for how difficult his or her experience is. Second, compassion involves feeling moved by others’ suffering so that your heart responds to their pain (the word compassion literally means to “suffer with”). When this occurs, you feel warmth, caring, and the desire to help the suffering person in some way. Having compassion also means that you offer understanding and kindness to others when they fail or make mistakes, rather than judging them harshly. Finally, when you feel compassion for another (rather than mere pity), it means that you realize that suffering, failure, and imperfection is part of the shared human experience.
Self-compassion involves acting the same way towards yourself when you are having a difficult time, fail, or notice something you don’t like about yourself. Instead of just ignoring your pain with a “stiff upper lip” mentality, you stop to tell yourself “this is really difficult right now”, how can I comfort and care for myself in this moment? Instead of mercilessly judging and criticizing yourself for various inadequacies or shortcomings, self-compassion means you are kind and understanding when confronted with personal failings – after all, who ever said you were supposed to be perfect? You may try to change in ways that allow you to be more healthy and happy, but this is done because you care about yourself, not because you are worthless or unacceptable as you are. Perhaps more importantly, having compassion for yourself means that you honour and accept your humanness. Things will not always go the way you want them to. You will encounter frustrations, losses will occur, you will make mistakes, bump up against your limitations, fall short of your ideals. This is the human condition, a reality shared by all of us. The more you open your heart to this reality instead of constantly fighting against it, the more you will be able to feel compassion for yourself and all your fellow humans in the experience of life.