Blog

’m Eliza Dimmock and I was a sailor and a Chef in the Royal New Zealand Navy for 5 years. My entire career was based around family, working together, living together, homesick together but most importantly, creating food for our Navy Whanau, together.

Award-winning beach on one side, New Zealand’s fastest growing city on the other. It’s safe to say, Mount Maunganui is a bustling spot!

Have you ever noticed your toddler’s eyes light up as they watch you scramble eggs or unload the dishwasher?

For adults, these daily tasks can be boring and repetitive, but to young children, these are magical actions full of wonder, mystery, skill and precision.

Congratulations, we’ve reached the end of level four lockdown! Yes, life in the coming weeks will still be restrictive, but as a country, we should all be proud of what we’ve accomplished.

As we settle into level three today, it’s natural to seek out a higher purpose for this unprecedented period. To try to find meaning in the strange times we have lived through and look on the bright side for lasting benefits.

Over the last four weeks you may have endured days that dragged, enjoyed moments of bliss and felt every feeling in between these two extremes. As the team at New Shoots looks forward to seeing some of our children again soon, we wanted to take a moment to consider the positive lockdown lessons we’ve learnt along the way.

Rhythm is a pattern of movement or sound. It is strong and regular, a flowing tempo found in music, poetry and nature. It is predictable, not prescriptive. Cyclical not repetitive.

It is your heartbeat. The coming and going of the tides. A metronome keeping music in time.

Rhythm relaxes our bodies and minds so we can feel calm, connected and curious. It lets you engage with your children, and puts your children in a headspace where they can learn and grow.

It’s like a dance, moving back and forth effortlessly but still allowing room for freedom, flexibility and spontaneity. Even if the last fortnight felt like a hurricane, rhythm isn’t hard to unearth. Here’s how!

There’s no question this Easter will be a memorable one. Celebrations are limited to our individual bubbles and our own homes, which may be a stark contrast to the large family and community gatherings you’re used to.

Yes, this year will be different but, as we always tell the children at our childcare centre, different is not a bad thing!

According to Autism New Zealand, 1 in 59 people are living with Autism Spectrum Disorder. It is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects cognitive, sensory and social processing, altering the way people understand the world around them.

Autism is not a mental illness and it is not a one-size-fits-all condition. It exists on a broad spectrum and children learn at many different levels. Some may be more advanced while others need more support - each child is special and unique.

Babies are born curious. From our earliest days, we’re on a journey of discovery to understand the people, patterns and practices around us.

To young children, even the simplest objects hold wonder. If you’ve never seen a bowl before, its potential uses are limitless – does it go on your head? Do you stand in it? What happens when it falls? A baby will play with a bowl every which way in an effort to figure out its purpose.

As parents and early childcare educators, our role is not to introduce curiosity, but to foster it, which is why New Shoots Papamoa in the Bay of Plenty has taken on board The Curiosity Approach™.

Years ago one of my daughters invented this theory. When I asked her why she thought the sky sometimes turned pink she pondered the question, and then, out of the blue informed me that the ponies are to blame.