Growing Families
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Mission Statement
Growing Families is a funded volunteer run charity that organises fun pre-school activities at The Link, Loanhead. Our project aims to support young children and their families, within a community setting, through a varied and stimulating programme of tutor-led groups and activities. These activities offer children and families enriching experiences within their local community, through the provision of nurturing environments in which parents/carers and their children can interact with one another.
About This Cause
Our board is made up of people who use our service which keeps our activities community-led at the core. We regularly speak to people who come to our classes to ensure our sessions are meeting the needs of those that use them. We also collect feedback from our popular Facebook Page with over 1700 followers. Growing Families have strong links with the local health visitors, pre-schools, Sure Start and JUNO a perinatal mental health support group. This will enable us to have access to these groups and encourage a wider reach to children between 0-5 in Midlothian. Working in partnership with The Link and the community garden, we will be using the sensory garden which has been made accessible for those with disabilities and additional support needs. The Link also has an accessible car park for those that need to drive in order to access services. Running the classes will also help to improve the community outdoor spaces at The Link as activities will include things like seed to soup which involves growing and using produce (some of which we will do during the Muddy Funday’s sessions). This helps to maintain and improve the community garden and build knowledge around healthy nutrition. The vegetables which have been tended to and harvested by the local community can be taken home and will also be used in the community cafe. And of course, being able to offer the classes for free, will encourage children from all socio-demographic areas of Midlothian. We also like to run regular open days monthly or bi monthly with taster sessions of all of our services which in the past, have been attended by around 100 people. This helps us to engage in dialog with the wider community and gather feedback and ideas in an informal way. With this in mind, we try to set up groups and projects to meet the needs of the local community, using local businesses to support where possible (e.g. using the local eateries to provide food at events, using the local gardening centre for purchasing gardening tools and seeds, etc) When participants express an interest in becoming more involved we set up steering groups for individual projects. We will offer an opportunity for parents and carers to tick all those boxes for being outside: increased vitamin D, better creativity, energy boost, encourages mental well being, boosts the immune system, etc. A variety of sensory experiences from birth is essential to support brain development and maximise neural connections in the rapidly growing infant. The creation of complex synaptic pathways enable complex learning tasks such as language development, cognitive growth, fine and gross motor skills, problem solving skills, and social interaction. Positive sensory experiences contribute to bonding with the child’s caregiver and aids emotional development. Sensory play groups have a key role in facilitating these important neural and social connections. They will also learn how to look after their natural environment, enhance their fitness levels and develop a deeper understanding of and relationship to the natural world. Just being in the woods enhances our mental health and well being by breathing in the fresh air and just ‘being’ with nature, but it also provides a challenging and exciting environment for physical development and to increase confidence. Learning in the woods allows children to interact with the elements around us and helps them to gain an understanding of the world we live in. Our Nurture in Nature sessions will give children the sense of freedom to make discoveries by themselves; they can develop their own ideas or create games and activities to take part; use the craft activities or play catalysts provided and as such, they’ll begin to understand what they can do by themselves and develop a ‘can do‘ attitude, which will act as a solid foundation for future learning. Nurture in Nature fosters opportunities to experience risk-taking. Children have the chance to take part in tasks on a much bigger scale and complete them in ways they might not when they’re indoors. They can learn to make calculated decisions such as ‘should I jump off this log?’ or ‘can I pick up this bug?’ It is also a great opportunity to meet other like minded parents and carers in a safe and stimulating environment. Developing support networks throughout the pandemic has been tricky, but here you can meet other parents in similar situations, share your experiences or just talk with another adult - sometimes over a hot chocolate!! Our groups provide friendly chat, a welcoming smile and absolutely no judgement.