Hope Studio

17/11/2025

Not all screentime is bad!

Co-viewing with your children can allow for lovely family interaction and discussion. However, ensure the engagement happens after the viewing, so as to gain the interactive benefit as well as ensure the screentime is within moderation 📱.

12/11/2025

Digital babysitters 📱

Here are some great tips on how to restrict your child’s screen time and ensure they have time for productive and stimulating activities. 🪴

10/11/2025

Digital Babysitters 📱

Our neurodivergent population is far more likely to spend longer on their screens as opposed to their neurotypical peers.
Studies have shown that screen time exacerbates the symptoms and may cause secondary complications and delays in children with neurodevelopmental conditions.

06/11/2025

Digital Babysitters 📱

What is the big deal?

Overuse of screens can cause many negative effects on our children including:
• poor attachment
• obesity and poor diet
• delayed milestones in behaviour, motor, cognitive, emotional and language areas
• poor executive functioning development

Don’t replace play and interaction with your children for screen time. These devices cannot replace the core developmental skills gained through real-world experiences. 🪴

03/11/2025

Digital Babysitters 📱

Perhaps a controversial topic when it comes to parenting in today’s technological era: Screentime and its effects on our children.
We as therapist acknowledge the inevitable exposure children have to screens, but moderation is key.

Here are guidelines on healthy screentime permitted per age group. As you can see, average statistics far exceeds recommended usage.

Monitor your child’s screentime and follow our next few posts to remain educated on this topic.

23/10/2025

Meltdowns vs. Tantrums: When to Seek Support
We all know that emotional outbursts are part of growing up — but sometimes, frequent or intense meltdowns can signal that a child needs extra help. 💛

Below are some general guidelines on when it might be time to seek professional support from either an Occupational Therapist or other professional. Depending on what your child's triggers are, different professionals may be better suited to assist you through the process.

31/08/2025

Disappointment and failure are tough — for children and for parents watching them struggle. But these moments are also some of the best opportunities to build emotional resilience.

For many of us as parents, much effort was placed on winning and achievement, sometimes to such an extent that we forgot to acknowledge all our effort and the skills we built in the process.
Guiding our children through challenging processes and helping them see all which they've learnt can create an awareness of their developing skills.

✨ Remember: Protecting your child from failure may feel loving, but it robs them of the chance to grow stronger. Guiding them through failure teaches resilience, grit, and confidence for life.

28/08/2025

One of the most important steps to building emotional resilience in children is helping them name and understand their emotions.

Why is this?

When children cannot recognise what they are feeling, their emotions can be overwhelming and very confusing leading to tantrums, meltdowns etc.

When they are able to name their emotions, they are able to begin problem solving their way through a tricky situation and learn how to communicate about what they are experiencing.

Think of it like this: 🌦 Emotions are like the weather. If a child can say “It’s cloudy” or “It’s stormy,” they can prepare for it. Without words, it just feels like chaos.

Teaching children an emotional vocabulary is giving them a map — so they don’t get lost in their feelings, but can find their way back to calm.

20/08/2025

Children learn more from what we do than from what we say. When parents model healthy coping skills, children begin to copy these behaviours and build their own emotional resilience.

💡Remember: Children don’t need perfect parents. They need present parents who show them how to manage life’s ups and downs with courage and flexibility.

15/08/2025

28/07/2025

Play helps our children learn important skills. Sometimes, the skill we wish to teach our children in play, comes with challenges past their abilities, and we need to grade our support appropriately, to help them achieve the best outcome.
As OTs, we call this support *scaffolding*💡.

You can apply scaffolding in everyday play and activities with your children 🧩.

25/07/2025

👀 Why Is the OT Always Playing First? Let’s Talk About Modelling in Play

In occupational therapy, play is more than fun — it’s a way to teach skills through experience.
And sometimes, that means the adult plays first. Why?
Because modelling shows children how to engage — and gives them the confidence to try.

We use modelling to:
✅ Demonstrate new play ideas or actions
✅ Show how to use toys in creative or functional ways
✅ Support turn-taking and social interaction
✅ Encourage pretend play, problem-solving, and language

For example:
👩‍🏫 We might pretend to feed a doll first — then invite the child to copy.
🏗️ We might build the first block tower — then let the child knock it down and rebuild.
🚂 We might roll a car and narrate — then wait and watch the child join in.

Modelling isn’t about doing it for them — it’s about showing what’s possible, then stepping back and supporting as needed.

Because when a child sees play in action, they learn how to connect, create, and grow.