Topic

My house

What Stimulates: Self-Awareness and Wisdom Preparation and materials:

  • Paper or notebook sheet
  • Crayons and pencils

Recommended ages: 3-5 years - 5-8 years


Why is this activity important? Providing children with safe, violence-free environments and loving relationships is essential to ensure their well-being. This activity is designed to raise awareness and draw out their inner wisdom about what they are experiencing and about their space within their home or wider community, as well as those around them. The aim is to provide a safe space for children to share their innermost feelings. By identifying the ways they see the world, the people around them and their relationships with them, children's critical awareness is nurtured, as they are able to recognize power dynamics and express injustices that may be occurring in their lives.

How you can do this: FOR AGES 3-5 AND 5-8 YEARS:

1 - Find a calm, peaceful and distraction-free environment to be with your child. On paper or notebook, draw your house. Encourage the child to draw alone, in their own way.

2 - In the drawing, ask the child to draw or write the following places/people/situations or activities in their home. If, for example, they share that their sister makes them feel happy, invite them to draw their sister. If they share that being wrapped in a blanket makes them feel safe, invite them to draw their favorite blanket.

- What/Who makes you feel happy/loved/safe?

- What/Who makes you feel scared/nervous?

- What do you like to play and create? -

What/who makes you feel really relaxed and calm?

- Who/who do you like the most?

3 - Ask your child to save the drawings of those who make him feel happy, loved and safe and hang it on the wall in the living room, bedroom or kitchen.

4 - End the conversation by sharing how you can do more positive things/moments and activities and how to deal with the more difficult ones.

Child safety and protection

This activity can involve difficult conversations about child abuse and violence. If your child has expressed something or someone that doesn't make them feel safe, protected, loved, or calm, try asking more questions to understand why. Assure the child that they are safe to share with you and you will do whatever is necessary to support them. If physical or sexual abuse is identified, it is important to seek support from local children's social services and pay immediate attention to the child's physical and emotional well-being.

Tip on how to do this group activity

Before introducing this activity, it is best to establish a strong and trusting relationship with the children individually. Previous sessions together are beneficial and are recommended due to the nature of the conversation. You can invite the children to do this activity on their own and then ask them to share it with you privately or with the group if they feel comfortable.


Activity: My Home

Spiritual development is an integral part of responsive care; It is critical to create safe environments for children, to promote secure bonding attachment and opportunities for early learning. Protection from violence is a prerequisite for healthy spiritual development. Creating safe, violence-free environments is critical to building positive relationships between caregivers and children.

Safe environments, with opportunities, stimuli, respect and affection allow parents and caregivers to create empowering experiences for children, acting as a preventive factor against violence and as a mechanism to protect children. It is important to bring an open mind to the discussion initiated in this activity.

It is relevant to consider what the child is saying. By entering the conversation with an open heart, you, as an adult, are creating a space where spiritual capacities can be nurtured in a safe environment. The safety and well-being of the child must come first.

Tip

It is in the family that we learn our values, our beliefs. It's where we form our character, develop our sense of morals and right and wrong. The family environment is essential for the development of every human being, and a harmonious family environment is necessary for this development to be complete and successful.

The 10 Commandments for Peace in the Family summarize the principles that govern the message of peace that the leader shares with the families he follows. The material contains lessons on respect, family unity, rights and duties. In addition to the family, it is very important that the whole community is within this harmony and helps in the development of the children who live there, as they are part of this conviviality and share this responsibility. Learn more in the e-Guide to pregnancy at 6 years.

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