Episode 226: The long-term effects of attachment play with Alex Letham

In this episode, I talk with Alex Letham, who is the mother of a 12 year old son, Miles. Alex did my Attachment Play Course 10 years ago, when I first created it, and I still share her testimonial and the games she and Miles made up, all these years later. In the episode, Alex shares about the conversation where she asked about tantrums and her dear friend shared about Aware Parenting. Then we had a lovely conversation about attachment play. Alex talks about her grandmother has an incredible ability to play with children, and until learning about attachment play, she didn't think she'd also be able to do that. We talk about how Aware Parenting supports children, parents, and the relationship between the two throughout the tween and teen years. Alex shares about how attachment play helped her son prepare for some surgeries he had, as well as for healing afterwards. She also explains how Miles healed from fear he felt before performances playing the trumpet using attachment play and listening to feelings. She also talks about how doing attachment play helped Miles be willing to eat more vegetables, but also how important it is to not use attachment play to try to get children to do what we want them to. She gives an example of how she trusted his food choices. We also talk about how helpful attachment play is for children and teens learning new things, and how both nonsense play and power-reversal games are so helpful. Alex shares about the power of attachment play when tweens are going through adolescence. She also offers games to play for when we're feeling exhausted, and also for when our big feelings are starting to bubble up. If you want to find out more about attachment play, I highly recommend reading Aletha Solter, PhD's book 'Attachment Play": http://www.awareparenting.com/attachmentplay.html If you want to find out more about my Attachment Play Course, you can do that here: http://www.attachmentplaycourses.com/join-in You can find out more about my work at www.marionrose.net and my books at: https://marionrose.net/books/ You can also find me here: https://www.instagram.com/theawareparentingpodcast/ https://www.instagram.com/_marion_rose_/ https://www.instagram.com/awareparenting/ www.facebook.com/MarionRosePhD