Eager for Information

Te Ao Hou, September 1967, Page 20

Eager for Information The weekend at Evan's Head was spent in discussing the methods of setting up pre-school groups, the nature and purposes of the different kinds of play and the absolute importance of mothers developing insight through a knowledge of the stages of development and through observation and interpretation of their children's behaviour. The Aborigines were eager for the information we gave. They were naturally observant, and as the stages of development were introduced they saw that their children had grown in the same way. From the discussions we had, many things became clearer. These people desperately wanted to help themselves, to make their own decisions. Ours became the supporting role. We would tell of what we had done and from this would come the desire to do the same thing, but in terms of their conditions and needs. Another was that because of their own poverty and lack of Government support, improvisation and the use of local materials were the only means of meeting the need for equipment.