#Play Therapy for Children

[theinsightclinic]

Exploring the Benefits of Play Therapy for Children with Emotional Challenges

Discover how play therapy supports children facing emotional challenges by offering a safe space for expression and healing. Through engaging activities, play therapy helps children build emotional resilience, improve social skills, and process difficult feelings in a way that feels natural and empowering.

[nathaniel-underwood-is-an-intj]

Looong rant about chapter 16 Ptolemy's Gate and how being passive can add to the cycle of ab*se.

oof so I just read when Nat goes to see Ms Lutyens and I can't help but be absolutely furious at her??

I know that's maybe a little bit unfair given she's frightened of him as a magician and is obviously angry when she finds out the department he's responsible for, but honestly it kinda brings up the problem with inadvertent bystanders to child ab*se in my mind.

And I'm definitely not blaming her solely for who Nat becomes but it makes me think of all those people in huge child ab*se cases who give interviews to press about all the things they noticed that were wrong but they just...never do anything?

She stood up for him against Lovelace, and when Nat thanked her- "I wanted to say that I know you were trying to save me, and-"

''Yes, and I'm sorry I didn't" Like girl be for real did you really think that alone would undo the years of indoctrination and abuse he's already suffered and prevent years worth of the same in the years to come? And she won't take responsibility - "My job is with children, not the adults they become" and again while it seems harsh to blame her for who Nat becomes, it's so much easier to pass the blame to people who are more directly responsible rather than acknowledging you also play a part.

I think it hurts so much more because it's her specifically- Nat goes to her in sheer desperation, it almost seems like a goodbye- he wants to thank her, tries to set her up in a job that will pay well and struggles to communicate he's trying to help. At this point he thinks Bartimaeus has been summoned by another magician and his birth name will be revealed. He's sure he's about to die and if not he'll be stood on trial and lose everything.

He goes to her because she represents the peaceful moments from his childhood when he got away from his master. He's scared and feeling lost and really it's call for help; but he doesn't ask for anything he just wants to make her feel proud of him- he's looking for that validation that he's been chasing since childhood.

And that shows he still does have that little bit of childhood innocence in him; he thinks she will be proud, thinks she'll see him as the same little boy in the garden gazing up at his teacher in adoration. He can't quite grasp why she's separated the man stood before her from that little boy. Because in that moment the child inside Nathaniel is seeking comfort AND THAT'S WHY it makes me so angry. She's completely given up on him when he's at his lowest ebb, because she doesn't want to be associated with the magician he's become. As if it isn't a massive step in the right direction that he saught her out in the first place- what other magican would bother? I wonder if that's why she reacted so strongly to seeing him again? Before that moment she could go about her life wondering if /pretending her attempt to protect him was enough, and now she realises it wasn't, of course it wasn't, and the image she had of Nathaniel's childhood innocence is completely ruined in her mind.

Or was her contempt for him even grater than Nat realised? She was naturally disgusted by the rhetoric he'd started to repeat from a young age, and gently tried to correct him although she was clearly angry- was she just resigned to the fact that there is little else she could do to change his future? I always thought- couldn't she have looked for him? The Underwood house fire was in the papers and they mentioned the apprentice was being searched for. Did she ever worry about him? Surely something must have been in the papers since- an announcement of new ministers, ANYTHING! Look at how much research Kitty did to find out about Bartimaeus and Ptolemy. I just don't think Rosanna Lutyens cared enough, realistically Nathaniel wasn't hard to find- but he was no longer her responsibility so she could turn a blind eye.

And sadly it's not just her- I know everyone loves Martha Underwood including Nat; but I think her submissiveness to her husband has a negative effect on Nathaniel as well. In AOS when Nat is locked in his room for ages after setting the mites loose, and is forbidden to have any contact with anyone and she won't talk with him. I know she's been told by Mr. Underwood she can't, but it still boils my blood. She's an adult and going along with ignoring Nathaniel because her husband told her to...I can't even begin to imagine the psychological damage that would do to a 10 year old child. (It could be argued she's frightened of the consequences if her husband finds out she's disobeyed him which is fair, he could always be watching through magic- but this is Arthur Underwood we're talking about. He's lazy, oblivious and weak I doubt he'd expend all that energy each day to check up on her.)

And It's even more painful that Nathaniel is often described as fiercely loyal to her and I think to Ms Lutyens as well- he doesn't expect to be treated well by Arthur Underwood but he loved Mrs Underwood and Ms Lutyens so much he started to view them through a rose-coloured lense. He never feels betrayed by either of them, even though they absolutely let him down, because the pedestal he's put them on is too high AND THAT ABSOLUTELY DESTROYS ME.

Would things with Nathaniel have been any different if Mrs Underwood hadn't died? I don't really think so. Do you think she'd see Nathaniel's temper at 14 years old and be reminded of Arthur Underwood? He was awful, absolutely awful to Nat and to her; but he was under so much stress in an underfunded departement, where pressure was being put on him by superiors to accomplish far more than they knew him to be capable of, and he took it out on the easiest target. Nathaniel ends up in exactly the same place and he starts to take it out on the only person around him- Bartimaeus. Would he snap at Mrs Underwood all the time if she were still there? Because he's learnt that behaviour from his father figure, and subconsciously learnt from his mother figure that she'll put up with it. He learnt from the woman he loved so deeply, that if you don't resist, people will walk all over you. So you have to maintain control even if it ends up hurting people you care about because no one will step in to stop the suffering no matter how much you love them, no matter how much you want them too.

It's easy to blame Arthur Underwood and Simon Lovelace and the magicians that actively hurt Nathaniel but I just feel like it's a bit disingenuous not to acknowledge the role of those doing passive harm. It's really mean to say it but even Bartimaeus plays a role- he knows Nat is clinging on to him because he can't 'bring himself to break this last connection' (to his childhood) but instead of bringing it up properly he 'taunts' Nathaniel- a boy who has been taunted for his weakness by his master for years. And even in AOS when Nathaniel tells Bartimaeus he was beaten for the mites incident Bart just kinda shrugs it off. Like I get it, why should Bartimaeus do anything, he's suffered way worse due to the system so he doesn't owe Nat anything right? But from Nat's point of view this is the first and only time he's mentioned to anyone what has happened to him and nothing changes. It's like another lesson learnt: telling someone about it doesn't help. Another nail in the coffin.

And I like all these characters, I feel bad for them. They're all victims of the system, I think the chapter with Ms Lutyens is just the straw that broke the camel's back for me. All of those little opportunities that are insignificant to the narrative over all; the commoners have it worse, Nathaniel is in a privileged position in society, exerting control over others. He's very morally grey, crossing over into objectively bad person territory but I love him with my whole heart and all of those insignificant moments would have been massive to him whether he was conscious of it or not.

And it goes all the way back to the beginning with Nat's parents giving him up to the magicians at 5 years old. I can't get the image of that little boy sat crying all alone in the government building. And he's not going somewhere safer, or somewhere he'll be happier and more loved. Giving your child over to a total stranger, oh he'll be totally fine won't he? He'll grow up to be a magician and far richer than you'll ever be, he'll be happy and comfortable and be grateful he got to grow up in luxury. There's no way a stranger you've never met, who the majority of society is terrified of would ever hurt a vulnerable little kid right? And if they do? Well you aren't responsible anymore, how could you know? What could you possibly do against the magician taking care of him?

Every little thing is another grain of sand tipping the scale. Did anyone else have to analyse An Inspector Calls in school? It feels like that to me- those BIG moments and all the little moments in between that add onto the pile.

And it goes on to cause problems in wider society too- ab*se is so normalised to the magicians, they casually ask Underwood if he hits Nathaniel like it's nothing. Because to them it is nothing, they've all grown up in the same circumstances and are repeating what they've learnt as children. I can't help but feel a little sorry for them all, especially when they aren't looked at through the black and white lense of 'argh these people are the evil arseholes look at how they treat everyone around them, screw these guys.' When we see those little glimpses of humanity like Simon's anxiety with the amulet; looking to his master and father figure Schyler for reassurance, and what's sad is that Nat is "reminded...of his own master's cold impatience" It's clear Simon looks up to his master, wants to make him proud and loves him. But it seems like Schyler has just trained Simon up so he can get power through him later on. I love the little hints of similarities between Simon and Nathaniel; the anxious mannerisms like fiddling with his hair that Nathaniel starts to develop, the way their master's talk to them. Even though they're actively working against each other in AOS and Simon is placed firmly in the baddies category and Nat in the goodies category at this point in the series; these things always hinted to me they had similar childhoods, how was Simon treated? When he had the imp beat Nat into unconsciousness, was it because he'd had the same punishment used against him? Did he know the magicians in the room would do nothing to stop him because no one stopped it from happening to him? Did he ever have a teacher stand up for him only for it to change nothing in the end because all the negative influences were so much stronger? Is the reason he loves Schyler like a dad because he's almost developed Stockholm syndrome? It looks like love because he's never known anything else.

And Arthur Underwood- who doesn't think his upbringing, and being taken away from his family ever did him any harm- doesn't realise the harm done is that he doesn't even know another way of raising Nathaniel, because he was never shown another way. His childhood may also have been filled with people who hurt him and the people that didn't do enough to intervene.

There are so many psychology studies that show children copy everything they see the adults in their life doing. Nathaniel copies the magicians behaviour towards spirits and on a subconscious level I think he copies all the submissive people in his life. How many times does he end up upset and frustrated with the fact he seems to be going nowhere and how many times does he just hope things will be different rather than taking postive action.

I dislike the actions the magicians end up taking but I also find them fascinating to analyse. I tend to prefer villains in media because they're usually slightly more complex individuals and I love to think about how they ended up that way. They can all be seen as victims of their circumstances in a way, despite all the power and privilege they have had terrible and traumatic childhoods, and if the commoners had no valuable worldy possessions at least they had a sense of togetherness; of love and understanding and selflessness. I wonder if the magicians hated them at least partly because of that. Because out in the sea of faces of the commoners talking about nothing important, doing nothing great and noble- could be the parents that abandoned them. And when your life is on the line daily because of working with spirits, and your colleagues want to stab you in the back, sometimes not being responsible for anything important looks good. But you can't leave your life as a magician, it would be too difficult; you have nowhere to go, no real friends, no one who really loves you. So it's better to stay and be a submissive bystander in your own life because it's so much easier.

Doing nothing is doing something- being passive can be just as harmful.

[gxlden-angels]

Bro I hate fundamentalists and culturally-fundie parents they'll say shit like "spare the rod spoil the child am I right haha yea my parents used to have to beat my ass with a switch almost everyday but I sure did learn my lesson" but like??? no you didn't??? you were hit multiple times for something you very obviously did not, in fact, learn

Like studies about how harmful even lightly spanking children is aside, you're literally contradicting yourself?? Some even admitted they got worse as they got older cause they wanted to see how far they could push their parents before they got punished

And studies not aside, you're gonna get child raising advice from the same book that tells you to stone your wife if her hymen doesn't break on your wedding night instead of the decades of research we have now?? Just say you're a bad parent and move on my guy. Skill issue

[revvnant]

the theory that mike is 'responsible' for william being a serial killer because of what he did to evan is so insanely funny because 1) we had to fight the good fight to even get general consensus on mike being the older brother and evan being dead 2) michael would write this in a psychotic guilt fugue like somehow he's responsible for an adult's actions and 3) i love how it's often used to exonerate william but paints him as a guy who looked at his son's head getting popped like a balloon and simultaneous to like grieving him immensely or whatever was also like this is inspiring i can't wait to do this to completely unrelated children as often as possible and make a bunch of robots to automate the process. like equivalent of reframing guy who drives drunk to guy who drives drunk *vodka literally helps him cope. i hope scott makes this canon just so we can all ruminate on billiam's emersonian mind.

[chengxiansbaby]

*Will and Nico are in the car driving*

Will: *belting out* JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL-

Nico: *lets go of wheel*

Will: JESUS TAKE IT-NICO OH MY GODS WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?

Nico: *yelling* YOU SAID JESUS COULD TAKE THE WHEEL!!! *grabs wheel*

Will: ITS A FUCKING SONG!!!!

[daydreaming-ace]

I think Taranza would want to be a dad, and has wanted this since childhood.

I'm now realizing this kinda conflicts with my shipping of Taranzalor/Magoranza, since Magolor doesn't seem like he'd want to be a parent.

I only realized this while writing a Magoranza fic. How do I do this to myself?

[bonni]

I. already kind of regret choosing to write a huge paper about play therapy as an alternative to ABA. almost all of the research I have found into play therapy treatment has presented it as something that should be provided in addition to ABA for supposed behavioral benefits, which is fucking asinine. the number one goal of child-centered play therapy is to cultivate an environment of self acceptance, and ABA is completely antithetical to that. if I have to read one more fucking article that talks about how play therapy did or didn't have an impact on the amount of eye-contact a child made at home as if anyone should give a shit about that I'm going to kill us all with hammers

[actuallyaj]

I'm so happy! I just made THE BEST sensory bin! It has so many different textures, sensory and fidget toys, and bright stimulating colors! 🥰🤗

[rivilu]

Everyone's on about Miguel beefing with a 15 yo, which sure it's funny, but y'all are letting the Spot, "I now declare this child that MY INVENTION inflicted this anomalous occurrence on, my lifelong nemesis", the ULTIMATE beef haver, to go unchecked.

[hel-phoenyx]

You know, I hate more than anything the "everyone has kids even though they can't take care of them" trope.

That said, a broken character before terrified by children growing around the idea of having kids even though they don't know how to raise them, putting in the effort because they feel it's worth it and ending up on an healing journey because they want to be better for the kid... *chef's kiss*

[vivianseda]

Thank you Dr Vanessa Lapointe, R Psych 💕

Behaviour is communication.

And sometimes, behaviour is born from a bubbling up of emotions that eventually spills over, oftentimes resulting in a flood of angry words, lashing out, and tears. In these moments, we must resist our old programming - we cannot give in to the voice that tells us to “shut it down!” or hisses, “You can’t let her get away with this!”

Instead, these moments are asking for your loving compassion. These moments are asking for you to sit quietly until the tears have stopped flowing. These moments are asking for your patient ears, to hear all of the stories that lead up to this meltdown. These moments are asking for you to connect with your child, and to help them find their way back to a regulated state.

It isn’t always easy, and our own narratives can sometimes trip us up, but you can do this. You were made for this. ❤️

♡ If you would like to be kept in the loop on everything Synergetic Play Therapy or get resources to support you on your therapist journey, submit your details here: https://linktr.ee/synergeticplaytherapy ♡

[asexual-levia-tan]

anyway cold take but people who act like people who dont like children are the devil are so strange to me

[you-have-been-frizzled]

so i was just reminded exactly why i left the actually autistic tumblr a few years back

anything they didn’t like was labeled ableist/infantilizing, to an extreme extent.

all speech tharapy was ableist and tried to push austic people into boxes, social rules where bad, nerotypicals and alistcis did everything to make our lives harder, austim moms where their sworn enemies.

it was ridiculous 

[mawita]

also in a very firm like. Discovery + denial stage about my own identity. Could I potentially maybe be a system, or have I just accidentally done IFS with myself this past forever + being juuuust psychotic enough that I can't trust everything my brain tells me?

[eatliveescape]

How Nature-Based Occupational Therapy Helps Children Regulate Their Emotions

Nature-based occupational therapy offers a unique approach to helping children manage their emotions. By integrating outdoor activities into therapeutic practices, children can develop crucial self-regulation skills in a natural, calming environment. This innovative method harnesses the power of nature to improve emotional well-being and overall mental health in young individuals. Outdoor…

[harganpsychology12]

How Can Play Therapy Help Children with Anxiety?

Play therapy can be a powerful tool for helping children manage and overcome anxiety. This therapeutic approach uses play as a means of communication and expression, allowing children to explore and address their feelings in a non-threatening way.

Here’s how play therapy can specifically benefit children dealing with anxiety:

Understanding Anxiety Through Play

Children often struggle to articulate their feelings of anxiety using words alone. Play therapy provides an alternative means of expression through activities such as drawing, storytelling, role-playing, and using toys. For instance, a child might act out a scenario with dolls or create a story about a character facing challenges, which can reveal their inner fears and concerns. This process helps therapists understand the child’s anxiety triggers and emotions in a way that is comfortable for them.

Developing Coping Skills

Play therapy equips children with practical coping strategies to manage their anxiety. For example, therapists might use games and activities that teach relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing exercises or mindfulness practices, in a fun and engaging manner. By integrating these techniques into play, children can learn to use them during real-life stressful situations, helping to reduce their anxiety levels over time.

Building Emotional Resilience

Through play, children can also build emotional resilience. By confronting their fears in a controlled and supportive environment, they gain confidence in their ability to handle anxiety-inducing situations. For example, a therapist might use a sandbox or art materials to help a child re-enact a frightening experience and then work through it in a safer, more manageable context. This process can help children reframe their experiences and develop a more positive outlook.

Enhancing Communication Skills

Play therapy encourages children to express their emotions and thoughts, which can improve their communication skills. As children engage in play, they might verbalize their feelings, describe their fears, or discuss their anxieties through their play scenarios. This increased ability to communicate can also benefit their relationships with family members and peers, as they become better at expressing their needs and seeking support.

Providing a Safe Space

One of the most significant benefits of play therapy is that it provides a safe and supportive environment where children feel comfortable exploring their anxieties. The therapeutic setting allows children to express themselves freely without judgment, which can be crucial for building trust and openness. This safe space is essential for effective therapy and for helping children feel supported in their journey to overcome anxiety.

In summary, play therapy offers a multifaceted approach to helping children with anxiety. By using play as a medium for expression, coping skill development, emotional resilience, and communication, therapists can provide children with the tools they need to manage their anxiety and improve their overall well-being.