In today's episode, Philippa interviews Vicki, the founder of Little City, which is a mobile role-play centre for little people. She shares her love of Sylvanian families and how she wanted to move away from corporate life and spend more time with her children and family.

Vicki shares the excitement that little people get from role-playing real-life experiences, and how this develops connection and shared joy with parents, caregivers, and the staff themselves. The mobile city is inclusive and diverse and the staff adapt sessions to support the communities and groups that are accessing them from all over the country.

Website: https://www.littlecityuk.com/

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Welcome to this week’s episode of Pondering Play and Therapy, where Julie and Philippa think about an important and often difficult topic—child-to-parent violence. In today’s episode, we explore the complex relationship between a child’s anger, rage, and violence, and how these behaviors can fit into the broader context of their development. While it’s normal for children to experience intense emotions at different stages of their growth, for some families, these aggressive behaviors can escalate and become a source of fear and isolation.

The question we’re pondering today is whether play can play a role in addressing these challenges. Can it serve as a therapeutic tool during moments of heightened aggression? How can play be woven into the parent-child relationship to foster connection and help manage emotions during difficult times?

Join us as we explore how play, in its many forms, might support moments of connection, understanding, and strengthening bonds between parents and children facing these struggles

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Philippa's guest for this episode is Venny, who shares her experience as a foster carer and how important play is when fostering. She also has stepchildren, birth children, and a huge amount of, grandchildren, at least two football teams worth of grandchildren, along with, her husband, Brian, and they've been foster carers for 13 years. She shares how she has noticed the huge role play has in fostering, especially when caring for children who've maybe experienced trauma or adversity. Sometimes they can get some muddles and can be quite fizzy and have quite a difficult time expressing their feelings or thoughts and play can really help them to come through some of that and remain connected and together even if they can't work out the muddles.

But play can keep them as a family that connected, and keep them moving forward.

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In this week’s episode, part two of our Rupture and Repair series, we ponder how play and playfulness can be a key role in the process of repair. We explore why rupture and repair are essential, not just for child development, but also for building strong relationships. The ability to repair is something that starts with adults modeling the process, as children need to experience and understand it before they can fully grasp the concept themselves. We also reflect on the nuances of saying sorry—does reconnection always need words? Is acknowledging a rupture essential for healing, or is there another way to mend? Tune in for a thoughtful discussion on the complexities of parent-child connection and the importance of repair.

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This week our guest is Hilary Kennedy. She is a leading developer of video interaction guidance called VIG in the UK, an educational psychologist and an honorary research associate at the University College of London. She has co-edited 2 books.

Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) is an intervention which builds positive relationships through filming and feedback sessions. It is a strengths-based, brief intervention that promotes attunement, sensitivity, and mentalization in relationships. The principles and practice can be used to work within any relationship.

https://www.videointeractionguidance.net/what-is-vig

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/video-interaction-guidance-a-relationship-based-intervention-to-promote-attunement-empathy-and-wellbeing-miriam-landor/4731563?ean=9781849051804

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This week, we are exploring how play relates to the concepts of rupture and repair within relationships, particularly focusing on the bond between an adult and a child. When we refer to rupture, we mean a moment of disconnection in the relationship, which can manifest differently depending on the child's age, whether they are a baby or a toddler.

We will also discuss the distinction between guilt and shame, emphasizing how harmful shame can be for a child. Additionally, we will highlight the importance of parental support, or scaffolding, when children and young people experience intense and overwhelming emotions.

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This week, we will ponder the feelings of guilt experienced by parents, caregivers, grandparents, and adults. A listener's question about the lack of joy some parents feel when it comes to playing with their children, whether they do not have the time to play, or whether they feel unable to engage in play at all prompted this topic. This guilt can be quite significant.

In a previous episode, we explored the difference between expectations and actual milestones, discussing how we often measure children against certain standards. This leads us to consider are there similiar expectations surrounding parenting as well, particularly regarding how and when we should play with our children. There is a societal pressure to ensure that our children are intelligent, sociable, and fit the mold of what society deems appropriate, alongside the expectations of what parenting should entail.

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Julie and Philippa ponder when the play becomes frightening. They consider the role of rough-and-tumble play, how it can be part of childhood, and when it becomes frightening for children and young people.
With technology ever present in our daily lives we ponder video games and how they can be frightening. Ending the episode pondering word play and the attunement and development that is required to help make this type of play fun rather than hurtful.

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