In November, 2013 3 families gathered for a week of exploration and coaching around parenting and communication. Two families were local UK families that have been working with GSE for some time around parenting and communication and the third was our Polish collaborator Agnieszka Pawlik and her two sons, Milos 5 and Radek 18 months. We were super excited that Agnieszka was able to join us because we felt this was really in the true spirit of the purpose of the Grundtvig programme – collaborators from other countries are able to be alongside us as we work with families in a natural environment to learn from us and bring that learning back home to their own networks. The families involved (including our own) were:
- Gayano and Jason with Harry (29) and Josie (10)
- Agnieszka with Milos (5) and Radek (18 months)
- Jenny with Danny (10)
- Paul and Beccy with Eliza (7) and Cedar (5)
We lived together and gathered each morning for a checkin space that let us all share a bit about ourselves and what was happening for each of us and then the rest of the day evolved in a spontaneous way. Harry provided lunch and dinner for us each day and everyone loved his food. We got to go on walks around the Welsh hills and one day we took the whole group up to the top of the big hill across the valley. The coaching sessions were often spontaneous and free-form as situations arose and needed tending to by whoever was present. It gave Agnieszka and chance to observe and learn how Gayano and I do a lot of coaching by modelling new choices both to parents and to kids.
