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Raising Wildlings — Kids & Family
Raising Wildlings

Welcome to Raising Wildlings, a podcast about parenting, alternative education and stepping into the wilderness, however that looks, with your family. Each week, we’ll be interviewing experts that truly inspire us, to answer your parenting and education questions. We’ll also be sharing stories from some incredible families that took the leap, and are taking the road less travelled. Whether you’re a parent looking for tips on how to better handle those sibling squabbles and tantrums, a couple searching for ways to create more freedom within your family’s lifestyle, an educator keen to explore alternative schooling models and how children learn, a father keen to delve into respectful parenting philosophies, or a mother wanting to learn more about why play is so important and how to get children outdoors safely, then this is the podcast for you. Each week you’ll get tried and tested tactics from parenting, play and education experts to help you on your journey towards creating the happiest, healthiest lifestyle you can for your family. We’ll also chat to real life families who have created freedom within their lives and are living life on their own terms. They’ll teach you how they did it and how you can too. And of course, you’ll hear from us about all things nature play and alternative education. We’ll answer all your questions on how children learn, the importance of play in all its forms, children’s rights and autonomy, and how to get your children outside safely, more often. This podcast hopes to empower parents and educators to raise kinder, more resilient, more adaptable children by helping them maintain happy connections and healthy lifestyles. So, what are you waiting for?! Let’s dive in! Hit subscribe now to be notified when new episodes go live. To download our free Respectful Language Printable Cheat Sheet, head to: www.wildlingsforestschool.com/shop/respectful-language

Copyright: © 2023 Raising Wildlings

Latest Episodes:

For the Sheer Joy - with Occupational Therapist Kaya Lyons Sep 22, 2020

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In this episode we chat with Occupational Therapist Kaya Lyons of Active OT for Kids about how Child Development occurs naturally through play, connecting & exploring. We discuss trauma and the impact on development and interactions and how therapy can and should be integrated into daily life.

Discussion

How occupational therapy helps children to live a joyful life, and how Kaya has created her business around collaboration and sharing of ideas so that she can deliver therapies for children based on their individual needs, with the main goal of creating joy and wonder in the learning and development of children
How long periods of stress to the system can cause trauma – this means that children can stay in survival mode which may prevent them from thriving
Trauma impacts children with limited attention, withdrawal, hyper-vigilance which are all coping strategies. This limits their ability to thrive
How we can support wellness so that we can bring a child’s system out of survival and into thriving
How nature provides enriched opportunities for sensory engagement, feeling emotions, engaging in cognition and connecting with nature
Ultimately joy is the window to connect everything
Keeping therapy simple for families so that we remove the pressure
How Kaya created an outdoor camp experience for children who suffer from trauma
How Kaya balances her professional life with homeschooling her three daughters.

Kaya Lyons - Active OT's Contact Details

References

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Developing Mind by Daniel Siegal
Body Dreaming in the Treatment of Developmental Trauma by Marian Dunlea

Free Downloadable

And if you’d like a little inspiration to get your family outside, click here to get our FREE Nature Scavenger Hunt printable.

👉 Listen Here

Thank you so much!

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Breaking Down Common Misconceptions about our Nature Playgroups Sep 14, 2020

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Episode Description

In this episode, we’re talking about nature playgroups, why we’re so passionate about them, and some of the misconceptions people might have when they go to attend one. So, wondering if nature playgroup is for you? In this episode, we answer that question.

👉 Discussion Points

What is nature playgroup?
Aimed at 0-3, immersed nature, not skill building. Includes seasonal song time, seasonal story time, seasonal craft or activity and a focus on free play with friends in nature.

2. Our playgroups are centred around what children need, not what parents want

This means we provide minimal activities for many reasons: because our focus is on free play in nature, because children at this age would rather cut a ball of wool into a million pieces than use it to craft with, because children don’t need any resources to learn and entertain themselves, because we want children to use this time to socialise and because providing less resources provides opportunities to develop essential social skills such as sharing and there are less fights over resources. But more importantly, our nature playgroups are all about free time and exploring nature in a supportive environment with friends.
Many crafts are too complex/not developmentally appropriate for this age group, they do not have the dexterity to manage many tools. We provide small achievable tasks on purpose so that children feel a sense of achievement when they are able to achieve them. When an adult has to finish a craft for a child, it can perpetuate a sense of failure, rather than independence.
Similarly, we prefer open-ended resources so that children use their creativity and imagination rather than step-by-step activities that end in replicas of the same end product. We focus on the process (of learning) over the end product.
If the set-up/pack-up of a craft activity outweighs the time/value/learning of the activity, then it’s not worth it.

3. We can do this ourselves (go the creek/beach) for free

Absolutely! You can! Anyone can. We 100% encourage this. One of the reasons we offer playgroup is in the hopes that parents will meet other like-minded parents and feel empowered enough to get together and go out in nature for free.
Often activities aren’t valued if they’re free and often people need to pay for activities to commit to them (ourselves included), particularly going out in nature in ALL weather.
We value women’s labour, and want to provide employment opportunities for SAHM’s in a child friendly work environment.
We also love contributing to a circular economy, where we are employing women who are then going on to invest their income in local, green economies.

4. Village building

While our playgroup and activities are child-centred, they also come from our innate desire as parents/mothers to be surround by a village of like-minded parents.

👉 Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

👉 Freebie:
And if you’d like a little inspiration to get outside enjoying nature, click here to get our FREE Nature Scavenger Hunt printable.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

The Conscious Parenting Revolution with Katherine Winter-Sellery Sep 07, 2020

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In this episode, we’re chatting with conscious parenting expert Katherine Winter- Sellery from Conscious Parenting Revolution, about non-violent communication, habitual parenting responses and how many of us haven’t learnt how to question what comes out of our mouths in response to our children’s behaviour. We also discuss childism, how labelling children can harm them, and why it’s important to break our negative views of children.
Discussion

What is Conscious Parenting and Non Violent Communication?
Childism/Ageism and the problem with having prejudice against children
How labelling children can be a form of violence and cause sibling rivalry
Self-esteem should not come from relying on a parent or any other person's praise, it should be internal
Relying on praise can be disincentivising. E.g. So you're really proud of me now for getting good grades, so I guess that means you're not proud of me at all if I don't get good grades, so why should I bother trying at all?
Building self-esteem comes from acknowledgement, rather than praise. E.g. 'It looks like you feel pretty chuffed about that. I would feel proud too. I saw how hard you worked on that.'
We rely on 'habitual responses', the way that we were parented in tough times and they very often don't serve us, and especially don't serve our children.
Parenting courses can help give us the tools as parents to help navigate difficult parenting situations without relying on old, harmful parenting techniques.

Guest Details
Katherine Winter-Sellery is the CEO and Founder of the Conscious Parenting Revolution and creator of the Guidance Approach to Parenting along with two colleagues, a program that applies conflict-resolution skills to communicating more effectively with children and adults. Through her workshops, books, and her three TEDx talks, she has taught thousands of parents, educators and social workers, to minimize misunderstandings and melt-downs, and communicate with more collaboration, cooperation and consideration.
Katherine's Socials
Website
Facebook
Instagram
References
Children are People Too, Louise Porter
The Radical Acceptance of Everything, Ann Weiser Cornell
I Know I'm In There Somewhere, Helene Brenner

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

5 Parenting Hacks on How To Raise Independent Children Aug 31, 2020

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Today, we’re bringing you five parenting hacks on how we foster a family environment that helps raise children who are more independent, and why autonomy is the end goal.
👉 Key Points

1. Allowing Children to Make Choices

- Dinner

- Shower

- Utensils

2. Let children struggle safely

- For example, children climbing trees and ‘can’t get down’. We might say, ‘You’re too high for me to help you but I’ll stay here with you while we work it out. What can you do to get yourself down?

- Being the emotional (not physical) support to help them troubleshoot their own problems

3. Release expectations

- Appropriate levels of learning

- Embracing the mess whilst they’re learning

4. Not micro-managing

- Not too quick to give solutions

- Let children do things for themselves as often as possible

5. Age appropriate tools

- Kiddicutter: https://www.wildlingsforestschool.com/shop/kiddikutter

- Peeler: https://www.wildlingsforestschool.com/shop/opinel-peeler-beech

- Pocket knife: https://www.wildlingsforestschool.com/shop/my-first-opinel-whittling-knife

- Cleaning toosl: Mini dust buster, dustpan and broom, cleaning cloths and vinegar spray within reach

- Plastic steps/montessori stool

- Mini First Aid Kit: Bandaids, tea tree oil, tweezers - clear expectations

👉 Guest Details

Vicci Oliver and Nicki Farrell are adventurous nature play makers, risk-takers, children’s rights advocates and the co-founders of Wildlings Forest School. We are the hosts of the ‘Raising Wildlings’ podcast and we put the dirt back in childhood.

Wildlings aims to get more children outdoors connecting with nature, creating the village parents are yearning for and inspiring change in the education system.

During any Wildlings Forest School program, you are likely to find Wildlings up trees, sliding down mud slides, whittling with pocket knives, lighting fires and building rafts. We let kids, be kids - because children can’t learn to protect nature if they’ve never had a childhood in it.

👉 Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

👉 Freebie:
And if you’d like a little help changing the language you use in your family to help de-escalate conflict, click here to get our FREE Words of Empathy and Validation printable to stick on your fridge for those rough moments.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Democratic Education and the Play Cycle with Mathilda Element Aug 24, 2020

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In this episode we learn about Democratic Education and the theory of the Play Cycle from Educator and Parent, Mathilda Element, from Pine Community School in Brisbane. We chat about the key concepts behind democratic education and consensus decision making that underpin the values at Pine Community School, as well as the importance of multi-age play and the details of a child’s Play Cycle.

We discuss:

The umbrella term of democratic education and the idea of consensus decision making
The value of multi-age play
The importance of philosophy of play and the value of this across the spectrum of age ranges
That play is driven by children – if it is driven by adults it can be described as playful but it is not play
The concept of the the Play Cycle in play-work theory– a term first coined by Gordon Sturrock and the late Perry Else
The play cycle:

1. Play Drive: All play begins with the play drive that is the instinctive desire and need to play

2. Play Cue: From this drive the child may produce an action which can be very subtle or very obvious

3. Play Return: The feedback a child receives from a play cue is called a play return.

4. Play Flow: This is established once the play has commenced, and is a continuation of cues and returns.

5. Play Frame: The process of play is ‘contained’ by the play frame. The play frame can be a material boundary that keeps the play intact; the rules of the game or understanding between the participants. A frame can be many things – a table, a playground or something broader

6. Play Annihilation: When the flow of play is terminated by children. This can be the end of the game or perhaps the destruction of a recently constructed model

7. Play Adulteration: If an adult intervenes and tries to lead or force it they will be denying the play drive purpose and adulterating the child play

Resources Referred To

Books:

Children are People Too - Louise Porter https://kit.co/Wildlings/respectful-parenting-books/children-are-people
Parenting for a Peaceful World – Robin Grille https://kit.co/Wildlings/respectful-parenting-books/parenting-for-a-peac
The Opposite of Worry – Laurence Cohen https://kit.co/Wildlings/respectful-parenting-books/the-opposite-of-worr
Playful Parenting
Everything is Figuroutable - Marie Forleo

Websites

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Chaos to Calm with Chrissie Davies Aug 10, 2020

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Do you love the sound of turning your household from chaos to calm? We are joined by the Child Charmer and parenting educator Chrissie Davies where we discuss why our role as parents is one of the most important in the lives of our children. We also discuss the glaringly obvious gap in parenting education when it comes to raising toddlers in terms of our expectations of children and why reaching out for help and support in parenting needs to start before our child’s behaviour gets out of hand.

👉 Our Discussion

That a parent’s most important role is to be their child's educator - in all things - to help them understand the world and how to be good human being.
Accessing parenting education. That seeking positive education to support parents on their parenting journey should be the NORM - not just for families who are struggling with their kids behaviour
How to use emotional connection & positive communication to create a relationship with your child based on trust and guidance.
Getting back to basics with kids
COVID - why more parents have been forced to slow down
How the current school system not being able to meet the needs of so many children and why

👉 Freebie

Don’t forget to download our FREE “Words of Empathy and Validation” printable to stick on your fridge for those times you’re at a loss for words (or having the complete opposite trouble! ;) Simply head to www.wildlingsforestschool.com/free-downloadables to get your copy!

👉 Guest Details

Child Behaviour Expert Chrissie Davies is known around town as The The Child Charmer. People far and wide are falling in love with Chrissie's positive approach, philosophies and understandings around raising kids and family life. With over 20 years experience working with children and families it safe to say that she knows a lot about he challenges that modern day families face. She is also a mama of two young kids and is totally living the day to day life of raising kids with her hubby in Melbourne. Chrissie passionately believes that all families should access education to learn more about how parents can support their kids along their developmental journey.

👉 Chrissie’s Details

Personal Website: https://www.chaostocalmconsultancy.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chaostocalmconsultancy.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com.chrissiechaostocalm
Links to other podcasts: https://chaostocalmconsultancy.com/podcasts
Courses : https://chrissie-davies.mykajabi.com/calm-connected-kids-course

👉 Links and Resources

Sponsor - Fun Fables Podcast

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode?

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Connecting Children, Culture & Community with Campfire Aug 03, 2020

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Do you have a fireplace or a fire pit at home? Do you let your children light and manage fires? If not, why not? Today, we’re talking about the benefits of children working with fire, why children will seek it out, why it’s important to incorporate it into your outdoor play and how to do it safely.

👉 Key Discussion Points:

The purpose of fire activities in the home/school/centre
Playing with dangerous elements – such as fire, water and animals is one of the 6 Pillars of Risk Play
We are drawn to fire. For thousands of years, humans have relied on fire to survive. It’s almost an innate, biological response. So we need to pre-empt this curiosity.
We live in a country that makes swimming lessons compulsory at school because we are surrounded by oceans but doesn’t make fire safety compulsory despite us being a bush fire prone nation.
The key concerns of parents and educators
How we introduce fire at Wildlings Forest School and how you can too
Safety measures you can put in place to reduce risk

“It is often the risks to adults – blame, loss of reputation, liability – that cloud providers’ judgements when it comes to allowing children to take risks.” Gill, T. 2007.

👉 Guest Details

Vicci Oliver and Nicki Farrell are adventurous nature play makers, risk-takers, children’s rights advocates and the co-founders of Wildlings Forest School. We are the hosts of the ‘Raising Wildlings’ podcast and we put the dirt back in childhood.

Wildlings aims to get more children outdoors connecting with nature, creating the village parents are yearning for and inspiring change in the education system.

During any Wildlings Forest School program, you are likely to find Wildlings up trees, sliding down mud slides, whittling with pocket knives, lighting fires and building rafts. We let kids, be kids - because children can’t learn to protect nature if they’ve never had a childhood in it.

👉 Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

👉 Freebie:
If you’d like a little inspiration to get your family outside, head to www.wildlingsforestschool.com/free-downloadables, to get your free copy of our famous chocolate orange campfire cake recipe. It’s vegan so suits all dietary requirements

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode?

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

The Nature School Jul 27, 2020

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In this episode we look at the way the Australian Curriculum is embedded through the lens of nature at one of Australia’s newest independent school in Port Macquarie – The Nature School. Their early learning and play programs include bush immersion for their playgroup, early years and vacation care as well as their independent primary school. We are joined by Jaqcui Leach who is the Head of Early Learning & Play at The Nature School and Catherine Oehlman who is the founding head of The Nature School Primary. .

👉 Our Discussion

How the primary school grew out of the bush immersion programs in their Early Learning Division – teaching half the day inside and half outside while meeting outcomes and delivering curriculum requirements
How the COVID isolation experience is shining a light on how children really feel about their learning
Connecting learning to the world they live in through real experiences
Learning never stops and how we can use the outdoors and the community to extend their understanding of the world
How we continually challenge and reflecting on our teaching practice – remembering our why
The challenges of delivering a accredited bush immersion Early Years Service
What the day in the life of a child looks like at the Nature School
The benefits of having a nature based vision for educational outcomes – the release of the pressure cooker, reduced anxiety and improved confidence.
Children as active global citizens – their voice is important
The impact of the 2019 bushfires

👉 Freebie

Don’t forget to download our “Classroom Outdoor Learning Checklist” so that you can start some conversations at your child’s school about nature play. Simply head to www.wildlingsforestschool.com/free-downloadables to get your copy!

👉 Guest Details

Jaqcui Leach is the Head of Early Learning & Play at The Nature School Inc. Over the last 8 years Jacqui has worked in early learning services, bringing in her love of learning in the outdoor environment. She is strongly passionate about the inclusive and therapeutic benefits of nature for all children.

Catherine Oehlman is the founding Head of The Nature School Primary. She is an accomplished educator, writer, children’s poet, and self-confessed bird nerd.

👉 The Nature School’s Details

https://www.thenatureschool.org.au/

👉 Links and Resources

Sponsor - Fun Fables Podcast

👉 Did You Enjoy This Episode?

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts right now by clicking here. If you are an Android user, you can follow the podcast on Spotify here and Google Podcasts here. Those actions will help the podcast reach more people, and we would be truly grateful. Thank you so much.

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

Autonomy, Creativity & Resilience - The Wildlings Way Jul 20, 2020

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In this episode, we talk about autonomy, creativity and resilience - the Wildlings way and how we’re on a mission to change the education system from the outside in, in the hopes that others can change it from the inside out. We shine a light on what we do here at Wildlings and why we want to see the Forest School philosophy incorporated into schools and childcare centres across Australia.

👉 DISCUSSION

We want to see children respected, given more autonomy and control over their own learning, more play, more time outdoors and more focus on holistic well-being.
We want to arm parents and educators with knowledge about schools that are doing these things so that you can take this information to your own schools.
In order to have independent, resilient, creative and respectful adults, we need to create opportunities for children to be creative, to be respected and trusted to make their own decisions, to become independent, to not be micro-managed 24/7.
We speak to children respectfully.
Educators are not authoritarian.
We provide the time, the space, the resources, and emotional support for them to be able to safely explore and learn in their preferred way.
There is no adult agenda or curriculum attached to what we do.
There is no rush to learn a skill.
There is no grading.
Failing is an important part of Forest School (and life)
School P&C’s and parents have a lot of say about how schools are run, parents have a lot of power and sway over what schools prioritise for the holisitic development of children.
Schools need to keep up as parents vote with their feet.

👉 FREEBIE

Please note that we are having technical difficulties with our downloadable. We are hoping to have it loaded by 28/7/20.

If you’d like to know where your schools sits in regards to Outdoor Learning, you can find our Outdoor Learning Appraisal for Schools at www.wildlingsforestschool.com/free-downloadables.
👉 Guest Details

Vicci Oliver and Nicki Farrell are adventurous nature play makers, risk-takers, children’s rights advocates and the co-founders of Wildlings Forest School. We are the hosts of the ‘Raising Wildlings’ podcast and we put the dirt back in childhood.

Wildlings aims to get more children outdoors connecting with nature, creating the village parents are yearning for and inspiring change in the education system.

During any Wildlings Forest School program, you are likely to find Wildlings up trees, sliding down mud slides, whittling with pocket knives, lighting fires and building rafts. We let kids, be kids - because children can’t learn to protect nature if they’ve never had a childhood in it.

👉 Wildlings Forest School Contact Details

👉 LISTEN HERE

If you enjoyed this episode and the Raising Wildlings podcast generally, we have a favour. Please take two minutes to subscribe, and to write a rating and a review.
You can find us here:

Google Podcasts

Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

The Art of Growing Up with John Marsden - Part Two Jul 13, 2020

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Episode Description

In this episode (part two of two) with author and principal, John Marsden, we chat about how children are not all sweetness and innocence, how adolescents are not worthless and depraved and that parents need to be adults most of the time! If you’re curious as to why teens need to (metaphorically) ‘kill’ their parents to become adults, then this is the episode for you!

👉 Our Discussion

All children are both good and bad, innocent and evil
How idealising childhood sets teenagers up to fail and not want to grow up
How teenagers need to metaphorically ‘kill’ their parents to become adults
The importance of real world experiences in education
Ineffectual parenting practises
How it might be a good idea for Australia to one day have an Education minister that has actually worked in the Education industry…

👉 Freebie

Don’t forget to download your ‘’what to say’’ guide so that we can encourage problem solving and personal risk assessment in our children instead of our usual go to response of “Be careful”. To download the Risky Play cheat sheet, simply head to www.wildlingsforestschool.com/free-downloadables

👉 Guest Details

John has written more than 40 books, including Tomorrow When the War Began, So Much to Tell You, and his most recent work, The Art of Growing up. He has sold over five million books worldwide, and has won every major award in Australia for young people's fiction. John's passionate interest in education led him to start two schools, Candlebark and Alice Miller, on forested properties in the Macedon Ranges, Victoria. The two schools enrol 390 students in 2020.

👉 John Marsden’s Details

http://johnmarsden.com/

https://www.candlebark.info/

👉 Links and Resources

Sponsor - Fun Fables Podcast

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Welcome back to Raising Wildlings — where we explore raising brave, resilient, curious kids who feel at home outdoors.

If you're an educator ready to bring more nature play and child-led learning into your Early Years program, our Bush Kindy Professional Development Workshops are for you. You'll walk away with practical tools, risk-benefit strategies, and the confidence to take learning outside in a way that's safe, meaningful, and genuinely exciting for

You know this podcast is just a small part of what we do at Wildlings Forest School. So if you want to find out more about our range of programs for children, our professional development workshops for educators, our free downloadables, blogs or our online store, just head to wildlingsforestschool.com. It's all there waiting for you. Come and join the village.

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