REWARDING & CELEBRATING YOU
Providing a place to celebrate getting to the end of your week… Not only do we celebrate the children, we celebrate with parents/carers too, when things go well and life is good. We feel that celebrating adults’ birthdays, as well as children’s, is important and shows how we value parents/carers and children equally. Being a parent/carer is such a tough job, with no training, on call 24 hours a day for many years, unpaid, no holidays, little support and if we have done a good job, redundancy at the end of it! We rarely feel appreciated in our parenting role and at Small Wonders we feel it is important to do so.
Each week, in both the morning and afternoon session, a parent/carer is selected to receive a bunch of flowers, simply to show that you are loved and celebrated.
PROVIDING SUPPORT
Showing you that you have friends on your side… The benefit that children get from playing alongside their peers is huge. It’s also great for parents/carers who might be lonely or finding parenting or life in general, a struggle. It is such a support and comfort to know there are people they can talk to, to share tips and advice on what parenting skills or feeding techniques work or share what works for them with their children.
Small Wonders is always on hand to listen, encourage and support in practical and emotional ways. We also help parents/carers out to make sure everyone gets the most out of Small Wonders each week. We understand how difficult it can be going to a group for the first time, so at Small Wonders we do our best to make everyone feel very welcome. We introduce newcomers to other parents/carers on their first visit so there will always be people to talk to who are really friendly as well as our team of volunteers who always like a chat!
Small Wonders also runs The Nurturing Programme, a 10 week parenting programme on how to get the best out of family life and The Parenting Puzzle, 4 workshops especially designed for parents of children under 5.
BUILDING COMMUNITY
Being part of the Small Wonders family… Small Wonders feels like a supportive family, we are all there to encourage each other and no one should feel judged. Our aim is that everyone leaves feeling great, having had a great fun time with their kids and some positive adult conversation. Small Wonders brings people from our community together and everyone is welcome. We have lots of mums, dads, grandparents, great grandparents, aunties and uncles coming along!
Some parents/carers like to “give something back” to Small Wonders and help us to nurture them. This includes joining a baking rota, helping us to fundraise, volunteering to help prepare craft activities, set up our parties and helping us to organise our admin systems, making them more efficient. A group of parents/carers got together as they wanted to help the Small Wonders community and are our Small Wonders Champions getting involved behind the scenes.