Growing Together
About Us
Dreams do come true! The journey to starting Growing Together began with Nanny ‘n Me and big dreams of reaching into township communities.
We believe that every child has the right to play-filled engagement with a nurturing caregiver. Growing Together is a not for profit branch of Nanny 'n Me running groups for caregivers in the community.
Vision and Mission
To empower mothers living in poverty to raise happy, healthy, secure children who can reach their full potential and change their life's trajectory.
We empower caregivers to connect with their child through play, building their baby's brain and bond in the most critical time of development.
History
After hiring a nanny after having her first son Lara Schoenfeld realised that most nannies have never had the opportunity as children to paint or to build puzzles themselves and may feel apprehensive to have to initiate such activities with children they care for. So in April 2012 she founded Nanny ‘n Me. Since then Nanny ‘n Me has trained over 5000 nannies in play and development. Read more about Nanny ‘n Me here.
It was always a dream to be able to help moms living in poverty to know the importance of early stimulation and how to play with their little ones. Zandile Mahola worked in the Nanny ‘n Me Cape Town Head Office for more than 5 years. Her responsibilities included packing weekly kits for a team of over 14 group facilitators, managing equipment and stock, as well as being a stand in group facilitator and running groups where needed. She knows the Nanny ‘n Me curriculum inside out and upside down! She is ECD trained and previously worked at Sikhula Sonke in Khayelitsha with moms and children aged 6 and up.
In 2021, it finally became possible for our incredibly capable Zandile to be able to start running groups in Khayelitsha. Our Nanny ‘n Me curriculum was used as inspiration for the design of a new curriculum with the community context in mind. The Growing Together curriculum uses our research and theory based Play Lessons from Nanny ‘n Me’s curriculum, but uses activities that are appropriate for these moms and children considering the environment that they live in and resources available to them.
Wendy Baston, an OT and mom who has worked for Nanny ‘n Me since 2013, led the curriculum design process for the duration of 2022 until two full sets of curricula were complete - one for babies and one for toddlers.
With existing connections from years prior, Zandile collaborated with Sikhula Sonke in 2022 so that they could provide a safe venue for sessions to take place. After seeing the effectiveness of the program, Sikhula Sonke reached out to partner with us in 2023. (Read more about this under “Our Partners” below).
Who are we?
Lara Schoenfeld
Occupational Therapist, mom of 3, life coach, author, founder and CEO of Nanny ‘n Me
Zandile Mahola
ECD trained professional, mom, previous Nanny ‘n Me workshop manager, group facilitator, Growing Together torchbearer and head of training
Wendy Baston
Occupational Therapist, mom, previous group facilitator, current operations manager of Nanny ‘n Me
Our Impact
Seven caregivers have received part-time employment since being trained by us
Growing Together has taught me to spend time with my child. To show him that he can use his body parts and name them. He used his brain/thinking ability to show that he knows and understands what needs to go where. Even when making a mistake I must not be harsh on him instead I must be gentle and show him.
From Growing Together I learnt how to play with my children, and how to make educational toys at home. I learnt that there is a lot of ways to communicate with little ones and also repetition helps a lot for them to understand. I didn't know that I can do so much with my little one except for bathing and feeding them
We are now a family here in Growing Together and here in our neighborhood we didn't care much about each other and we were minding our own business but since we joined this group we have become acquainted to each other.
I learnt a lot about creativity and that we don't have to buy toys with no meaning. We can play with our children and make toys and allow them some space to explore things on a tray
Our Program
We run weekly group sessions of an hour duration providing opportunities for engaging in age appropriate play for caregiver and child (0 to 3 years). The activities reflect the interests and developmental stage of the child. There is an emphasis on positively influencing the caregiver and child relationship as well as encouraging ongoing input at home where a learning environment is promoted. Caregivers learn about developmental concepts and can receive certificates of participation every 6 weeks.
Our curriculum was developed by OTs and uses lots of recycling based activities and other contextually appropriate materials. Our Baby Curriculum is appropriate for ages 4-14 months and our Toddler Curriculum is appropriate for ages 1-3 years.
Our program also provides social-emotional support to caregivers within the group context as well as on a closed WhatsApp group for group members only. We also provide facilitator training and support so that our group facilitators are well equipped to run the group sessions on an ongoing basis.
Our Partners
We are blessed to work with Sikhula Sonke (SS), partnering with them since January 2023. Zandile is training and mentoring the employed Family Community Mentors (FCM) from SS to facilitate baby and toddler groups in the areas they serve in Khayelitsha. By the end of 2024 we will have trained 8 FCMs to be certified Growing Together Facilitators and with groups running in 4 different areas of Khayelitsha. Each facilitator will run two groups and thereby each serve up to twenty caregivers and twenty children aged 0 to 3 years.
Get Involved
Contact us to donate now or start a Growing Together Program
See a little of what we get up to
Play Training for Nannies
Weekly face to face or online play training that upskills nannies through Nanny 'n Me.
These courses ensure that little ones are stimulated, have some structure to their day, and experience community and socializing with their nanny present.
We love seeing how nannies learn to use play as a tool to build a child’s heart, body, and mind.
Nanny 'n Me is operational in South Africa, Zimbabwe and the Middle East. Find out more about Nanny 'n Me:
Important Links
Contact
+27 84 517 4424
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