A Day at the Park...

I love the park!! Monday I met one of our clients there. She is 4 and has really bad anxiety about playing on the jungle gym. After some session work, we decided to meet and try out the park and Tara brought me along...I think she thought Bode was too big for the park!

We got there and the client was excited to see me. We said our hellos as walked around in the sand...what fun!! I am excited again just sharing it with you. After exploring, we went to the smaller of the two jungle gym stations. I quick climbed to the top and sat down. Tara followed but our client stood at the bottom and cried. Her mom seemed scared, so Tara reassured the mother. I walked back down and sat with the client looking at her. Finally she took a step and I went with her, again sitting at her side. We did this for all four steps and then walked across a small bridge. It was so great! There were kids, dogs, people everyone...Tara says to be careful as she didnt know if I was allowed on there, but it was working!

We sat down and played a little and then gave a choice of the tunnel or a slide to get down. We walked to slide and down went our client to her mother. (I took the stairs!) I wanted to see the bigger jungle gym, so we ventured over there next. We walked around and sat at the bottom of all three slides and rock walls. We practiced picking up our feet and then off I climbed to the very top...VERY high! It was so fun. I came back down and our client asked to go with me. Off we went to the top and back down...NO CRYING! She did great!!

We came down and went to the swings were I laid down and the adults and client talked about how proud they were and recounted all the things we did...oh what fun! I want to go back!!

At the end, I got a hug and our client said that I kept her safe...this is what it is all about--showing a child how to overcome fear to have fun!

Play time for all!

~~Abbey