Aware Parenting Stories with Joss Goulden

I am so happy to share another episode in the series of conversations about Attachment Play, this time all about Contingency Play. I talk about why this type of play is so beneficial for children and how to offer these games. I share lots of examples of contingency games. I talk about why it can be hard for us to play in this way and share some ideas of how you might support yourself to have more capacity for contingency games.

To learn more about joining the 5th year of the Exploring Motherhood & Aware Parenting Community - a year long online village exploring all aspects of the motherhood journey, then please visit https://awareparenting.com.au/parenting-coaching/community/ The doors re-open on 1st October 2026 and the community re-starts on 2nd November.

For support with Attachment Play or any other aspect of Aware Parenting, I invite you to get in touch. If you would like to receive a free copy of my Introduction to Attachment Play eBook, please email me support@awareparenting.com.au

In this episode, Danni Willow and I share vulnerably some of our own healing journey through motherhood in this last year. We talk about the importance of finding support and safety in order to bring transformation to ourselves through hard times, especially as Aware Parenting mothers giving so much to our children. We discuss finding love, care, tenderness and understanding to hold us in this work. We share the process of bringing more self-care and self-connection in the bigness of motherhood. We share some reflections and learnings for us from the Exploring Motherhood & Aware Parenting Community and our excitement about the 5th year of this community starting soon.

To learn more about the community, please visit www.awareparenting.com.au/parenting-coaching/community/. To learn more about our Aware Parenting Retreat please visit www.awareparenting.com.au/aware-parenting-retreat/

For support with this or any other aspect of Aware Parenting, please message me support@awareparenting.com.au

Welcome back to another episode in the series of conversations about Attachment Play, this time with Ayla Dewilt. Ayla is the mother of 2 daughters and is an Aware Parenting Instructor and homeschool mom, with a love of psychology and emotional hygiene.

In this episode Ayla shares how she discovered Aware Parenting. She shares some of her own reparenting journey in the early years of parenting and we talk about how Aware Parenting supported her to understand how to be with painful feelings for herself as well as how to support her children. She shares a beautiful process to check in and bring a few moments of self-connection before we then offer attachment play to our children. Ayla shares some games that she has found to be very supportive in challenging times, including play to support children after times of rupture between parents and the power of play for learning, sharing some games that she uses as part of her children's homeschooling learning. We talk about the need for community in parenting and how to support ourselves when we are not feeling able to play.

To learn more about Ayla, please follow her on Instagram and Facebook at Awareayla.

For support with this or any other aspect of Aware Parenting, I invite you to get in touch. If you would like to receive a free copy of my Introduction to Attachment Play eBook, please email me support@awareparenting.com.au

Welcome back to another episode in the series of conversations about Attachment Play, this time with Sanne Greuter. Sanne is the mother of a 4 year old daughter in The Netherlands. She is an aware parenting instructor, psychologist and a mental health professional, trained in Emotion Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Nonviolent Communication, and Stress and Burn-out Coaching. She offers one-on-one sessions and leads a group education session for stress and burn-out.

In this episode, Sanne shares how she found Aware Parenting and how she supported herself to move from feeling very insecure and unskilled in play to feeling excited and joyful and capable to offer attachment play to her daughter. We talk about how healing attachment play can be for us as well as our children. We talk about separation play in depth and Sanne shares lots of beautiful games that she has played with her daughter to support healing in relation to separation. We talk about seeing our children's behaviour as an invitation to play and responding to that, rather than reacting to behaviour and she shares other games that she has found helpful for everyday difficulties in parenting.

To learn more about Sanne, please email her info@sannegreuter.nl

For support with this or any other aspect of Aware Parenting, I invite you to get in touch. If you would like to receive a free copy of my Introduction to Attachment Play eBook, please email me support@awareparenting.com.au

To celebrate World Breastfeeding Week, I am so happy to share this episode in conversation with Carly Facius about ending the breast feeding journey. Carly is mother to three beautiful children, She is a Registered Midwife, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), Aware Parenting Instructor and hold a Master of Primary Maternity Care.

In this episode, we talk about the pressures and challenges that women can face in the breastfeeding journey. We share some of what we have found supportive to get clarity and to feel empowered in ending our breast-feeding journeys. We talk about coming back to connection, self-compassion, listening to feelings and attachment play. We share how essential it is for us to be getting listening and holding, and meeting our own needs in order to support our unique weaning processes. We talk about the role of partners in the journey and all the feelings that can come up for us all in relation to them offering more presence and listening. We share some ideas for rituals to incorporate with our children when ending breastfeeding.

To learn more about Carly or to find her course on Ending your Breastfeeding Journey, please follow her on instagram at seed_pod_ and visit her website here. If you are in Perth next weekend, she is running a live workshop on this topic on Saturday 15th August.

For support with this or any other aspect of Aware Parenting, I invite you to email me support@awareparenting.com.au