Oh Canada and The Neufeld Institute

Duane and I had the privilege of attending a child development course in Montreal, Canada in July. Montreal is a very beautiful city and we met some amazing people who were kind and generous.
We had dinner in the home of a French man Philippe and his French Canadian wife Julie who had lived in St Albans in 2011/2012. They loved New Zealand and their children loved being at St Albans School. They are also big rugby fans and we were able to watch The Chiefs v Crusaders match with them. They were very impressed with the NZ education system and the accessibility of the school for parents. It's not like that in Canada.
Montreal was hot, hot, hot and humid.
We met up with two lovely Canadian women Jane and Joyce who took us to Old Montreal on a couple of the evenings after our course. They just couldn't understand my accent. It caused great hilarity.
We were also taken out by a husband and wife team Michael and Eva  associated with the Neufeld Institute and with the organisation of this intensive. He is an historian and we learnt so much in a short space of time.
The world really is about 2 degrees separation. I met a French Canadian Principal Josee who asked me if I knew her friend in Christchurch. As it happened, I did. I agreed to bring him back some maple syrup. She rang him to tell him she had met me, and he was in our school right at that moment. Funny.
The intensive learning was amazing. We learnt so much about child development theory and the absolutely critical role that parents play in the healthy development of the brain and emotional health of their children. Teachers too play a primary role- more than you might think.
Parents' unconditional love is key to the development of healthy attachment. Tears of futility and vulnerability are essential if children are to learn to be resilient, and maturity will happen at different paces for each child. The stronger the attachment, vulnerability and maturation the more able the child is to be a separate individual in later life. 
Dr Neufeld talked about the misdiagnosis of attention problems, aggression, counter will, bullying and alpha children. It was all within the context of developmental theory and boy did it make sense to what we already knew. Duane and I were buzzing and exhausted but very very pleased we had been able to go.

Where was the cast from Les Miserables?

some of the crew from the conference: Joyce, Duane,? moi,Jane, Miriam

Old Montreal castle

Mont Rose apartment

Julie in Mont Rose

Duane, Michael and Eva

Jazz Festival in Montreal City

Gorgeous breakfast of Bagels in Mont Royal and I don't even like bagels

Montreal city apartments

Can't remember what the carriages were called

children playing in the fountains on a hot day in Montreal City

Philippe cooked us an amazing meal