Welcome!

Welcome to the Practically Speaking Blog, a place where we want parents to come to share, connect and learn more about their children by understanding their child's inner world. Haven't you often wished you could find out what your child was thinking, why they do certain things or refuse to do others? Well, we kind of want to show what your child would say if they had the words to express themselves.


This blog is based on 17 years of practical research in the field of child development, and we will be talking to the founder of the Practica Program (http://www.practicaprogram.co.za/), Lizette van Huyssteen, every week to get her thoughts on interesting and everyday topics on raising children. Through her wealth of knowledge, we are hoping that you can learn something new as a parent and perhaps see parenting from a new and exciting perspective.

As for myself, a writer and mother of two, I have been inspired to work alongside Lizette, to 'translate' her years of knowledge into easy-to-digest bite sizes and to put this all down on the blog because I'm inspired. I know that Lizette has amazing knowledge that could make our lives as parents easier, put things in perspective and inspire us with real knowledge.

I'm a dreamer, hoping that parents who are doing better because they know better will raise children who do better and become better citizens of the world. I'm doing this for my children, for their future.

So, beyond the emotional heart-to-heart stuff! Our aim is to post something amazing, something that will change your life, a conversation (or message) that makes you stop and look at parenting in a whole new and exciting way, every Friday. You can then take it home, mull over it, sleep on it, let it find a place in your heart if it serves you to do that. Then, every Tuesday we'll be posting something a bit lighter, more fun, perhaps a bit of advice, maybe an interesting product or website we've found, or even just a quote. Just a little something for the week ahead.

So welcome, from the bottom of our hearts. We truly hope that you find something here, something you can take home with you, something that inspires you, something that changes you in some little way. Welcome.

Words: Loren Stow
when we know better... we do better