Communities for Children – Early Years Programs
Ganang Little Learners Playgroup
Ganang Little Learners Playgroup was created under the Early Years Transition to School program through Communities for Children (C4C).
Belonging, Being and Becoming – describes the principles, practices and outcomes that support and enhance young children’s learning from birth to five years of age, as well as their transition to school.
Community is summed up through connections and without these connections there can be no true sense of belonging. Ganang Little Learners promotes parents as their child’s first teacher and connects our parents and young children to each other and to their local Aboriginal community. We are charged with the responsibility to offer our parents and our children the opportunity to experience life with an ‘Aboriginal Worldview’ focus and lens.
More than just a playgroup, Ganang Little Learners provides an early learning and parent/child interaction platform based on the concept ‘it takes a community to raise a child’. As an interface in community where parenting practice and child engagement can be influenced, we encourage and support all parents to monitor their child’s behaviour and provide a non-judgemental and loving connected environment for the children.
We have created an environment where we are giving parents the opportunity for mindful reflection, and this leads to positive change; including more respectful interactions and increased positive self-identity in children – and better relationships for all.
Parenting Resources Program
We provide evidence-based parenting programs to parents who wish to obtain more tools to aid parenting. Programs are available for Aboriginal families who have children aged under 12 years and are advertised through community networks and by referrals.
The program uses mindfulness and reflection to assist parents to examine and improve their communication with their children. It aims to foster respectful and positive interactions, which supports children’s development and self-esteem.
This reflective parenting program developed by the Australian Childhood Foundation aims to promote positive, respectful parent-child relationships.
Parents are assisted to:
- Learn more about the origins of their parenting style and how it can be more effective
- Identify the important messages to convey to children and how to achieve this
- Understand the messages that children convey to their parents and how they do this
- Discover how to overcome some of the obstacles that are getting in the way of being the kind of parent they would like to be
- Learn about the importance of building self-esteem in children
- Develop strategies to manage parenting approaches despite mounting life pressures
