Your guide to confident parenting

Many of the children I see could have eliminated their gaps in perceptual, sensory and motor skills with focused fun time as they developed the basics of these skills in the first few years of life.

Special interest in: sensory integration therapy.
Passionate about: helping children with sensory-based social, emotional, scholastic and behavioural difficulties.

Lourdes Bruwer graduated from the University of Stellenbosch in 2003 and runs a private practice in Cape Town. She has co-chaired the Western Cape Paediatric Practitioners Group, is a guest lecturer at the University of the Western Cape, and co-authored JumpLeapFly’s Groovy Adventurers, a book about how to encourage your baby to move from one developmental milestone to the next.

“Foundational skills needed for academic success start from a young age. Including purposeful play in the early years can go a long way in preparing the leaders of tomorrow,” she says.

Simply spending a few hours playing with your child can seem like a luxury in today’s fast-paced world, but making the most of the time you have together makes lasting impressions on future skill development.

Special interest in: infant development. Passionate about: helping parents and those working with infants to understand the importance of a baby’s sensory development.

Carly Tzanos is a graduate of the University of Cape Town (BSc Occupational Therapy) and holds a sensory integration training qualification. She has worked in private practice, a paediatric hospital ward, and at a pregnancy and parenting centre in Canada. Carly co-authored JumpLeapFly’s Groovy Adventurers with Lourdes Bruwer.

“In today’s fast-paced society, time, resources and technological advances impact family interactions and the quality of time spent together. With some input from an occupational therapist, you can make the most of the time you do have,” she says.

There is a lot of advice out there: do what works for you. Do enough, not all. Be present and breathe.

Special interest in: children! Especially babies, toddlers and pre-school age. Passionate about: educating parents and working with them to bring out the potential in their little ones.

Lauren Mayer has a Masters degree in Physiotherapy from the University of Maryland (USA) and trained further in Neurodevelopmental Therapy (NDT), which is an essential tool for a physiotherapist who works with children. She is a member of the South African Society of Physiotherapy and a member of their Paediatric Special Interests Group. Lauren volunteers weekly at Atlantic Hope, a safe haven for babies, and teaches weekly toddler movement classes in conjunction with her physiotherapy practice.

“I love educating parents and helping them to bring out their children’s potential: to tap into a joy for movement, and confidence in themselves and what their bodies can do,” she says.

I find that many children require therapeutic intervention (OT, speech, psychotherapy) for problems that could have been prevented or improved at an early stage.

Special interest in: child assessment and child and family therapeutic work. Passionate about: helping parents to understand conscious parenting.

Claire Toi graduated from the University of Stellenbosch (MSc Clinical Psychology) and is a qualified teacher with experience working as a school counsellor. She has worked as a consultant psychotherapist at the University of Stellenbosch’s student wellness centre and in private colleges lecturing psychometric assessment, child development and research.

“I believe that conscious parenting (when you put thought into your responses to your child’s requests or needs, rather than going with a knee-jerk reaction), even in small amounts, can be more beneficial to young children than large quantities of unintentional parenting,” she says.

Parents play a key role in helping their babies to learn language: the experiences provided in a child’s environment are critical for the development of language.

Special interest in: promoting early intervention and development of speech and language skills. Passionate about: providing parents with developmental information that can help them understand how to nurture their child’s speech and language skills, and prevent delays.

Speech therapist Carianne Vermeulen holds a Master’s Degree in Speech-Language and Hearing Therapy, and qualifications in Paediatric Neurodevelopmental Therapy, and has run her own practice since 2009. She has been a Western and Northern Cape representative and committee member of the South African Speech-Language and Hearing Association (SALHA).

“There are many opportunities every day for children to learn: through face-to-face interaction, hearing language spoken, listening to the written word read aloud, and practicing associating objects with words. This early speech and language development is critically important for children to develop the communication skills that form the foundation for future success in their school, career and personal lives,” she says.

More and more research is showing that optimal early childhood development is vital for becoming a healthy social, emotional and well-rounded individual.

Special interest in: developing early speech and language skills through play. Passionate about: helping parents understand the importance of joint reading and early development of literacy.

Lindi Bester graduated from the University of Stellenbosch as a Speech-Language Therapist. After completing a year of community service in Springbok in the Northern Cape, where she gained valuable knowledge and experience in a variety of fields, she worked in a private practice. Lindi currently works at a tertiary hospital in Cape Town and is involved in training the next generation of Speech-Language Therapists. One of her favourite quotes is by the professor of special education, Leo F. Buscaglia: “It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them.”

“The one piece of advice I would give to all parents of young children is to start reading to your baby as soon as they open their eyes for the first time… and then never stop!” she says.

Choose your battles and remember just to enjoy the process and have fun with your kids.

Special interest in: nutrition and health, especially focusing on early childhood intervention. Passionate about: helping families and kids, and teaching people how to be healthy.

Kim Comline is a medical doctor with a BSc in Dietetics from the University of Stellenbosch, an MBBCh (medicine) from Wits University, and a Masters degree in Early Childhood Intervention (focusing on nutrition) from the University of Pretoria. She currently works in an HIV clinic in Hillbrow in JHB CBD with adults and kids, and consults privately at Sandton GP, in the Wellness Centre at Rand Merchant bank. Her work focuses on preventative medicine and screening, with intense counselling around healthy lifestyle and diet based on your genetics.

“The dietetics fits in with the medicine as it’s an integral part of staying healthy and treating disease. I like to focus on health and nutrition in little kids, and helping families and kids to be as healthy as possible,” she says.

We sometimes complicate parenting by offering unnecessary choices to our children when clear direction or guidance is required. Defining a child’s world clearly is fundamental to successful parenting.

Special interest in: general paediatrics: the development and care of infants and children, and the medical treatment of their illnesses. Passionate about: parent-child behaviour issues.

Dr Martin Bailey studied Medicine at the University of Cape Town and did his internship at Edendale in Pietermaritzburg. He returned to UCT and the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital for his paediatric specialty. He has been working in paediatrics, helping parents and their children through the early years, for over twenty years.

“Remember that we as parents are the template and example for our children’s behaviour, and we can’t expect conduct that we don’t demonstrate ourselves,” he says.

Everything in life is a balance. So with the immense joy of parenting also comes quite an emotional roller coaster – learning to balance the two is the secret to having happy children and enjoying the process at the same time.

Special interest in: babies and the new family – especially the first three months when parents need the most guidance and support and seeing babies through their first two years with regards to health, vaccines, sleep, food and love.

Passionate about: making the parenting process as plain sailing as possible and providing a holistic approach to ensure a happy family.

Sister Conny Fraser studied at Carinus Nursing College, doing her practicals at Groote Schuur, Red Cross and Somerset hospitals. She worked in London for 6 years and on return to Cape Town after having her first child decided to specialise in children and got involved in baby clinics.

She now runs her private practise from Oranjezicht in Cape Town.

“I believe happy parents make happy babies , so beyond the clinical advice , I try to get to know the parents personally and help with support and reassurance, as this can be quite a challenging journey.“