Play is serious business
It’s great to be well and truly back into the swing of things at The Garden. The teachers had prepared their hearts and heads for a busy and maybe challenging few weeks of settling children back in after being away for so long. However, we have all been surprised by these beautiful reunion moments, children coming back to their friends and their teachers, so excited to be back, so happy to see their friends and straight back into their serious work of playing.
The one thing that stood out the most for me as I watched these reunions take place over the past weeks is just how vital respectful, reciprocal relationships are at The Garden. It is one of those ‘things’ that we knew to be important, we talk about it, and we promote and advertise it as something that we do, but how do we measure the success? Well, it seems a six-week staycation has proved we are definitely doing something right. Our teachers work tirelessly on building those relationships from the moment a family joins The Garden, not only with the children but with the whole whānau. This is what I witnessed when everyone returned from rāhui, those relationships between the teacher and child and between the children were so strong it made the transition back to ‘normal’ just like another day at The Garden.
The paint is out, the child-led creations have started, and the children are stretching their physical abilities by taking calculated risks and challenges. The fire is roaring, and the lounge is fast becoming a cosy place to read a book or two, to race cars and make amazing race tracks and jumps or to put together a tricky puzzle. We are also enjoying these beautiful, fresh autumn mornings in the sunshine and then when the weather turns, we are enjoying the rain just as much. As Sir Ranulph Fiennes famously quoted, “There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing”.
As always, please pop in for a visit anytime. We love to meet new families and to show people around our garden and our little home away from home.